April i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
845 
Brazil that it bus attained a magnitude far beyond that 
of any other country in the world. Year after year 
it has steadily grown in area, and the reputation of 
its product has «one out through the world in almost 
as great a proportion. Apparently it lacks no single 
element which can contribute to the successful devel- 
opment of a great industry ; but is this really the 
case? Some months sinco we visited the municipality 
ofS. Fidelis, in the valley oi the Parahyba, where the 
late minister of agriculture found coffee production 
dying out through the ravages of some mysterious dis- 
ease. We had derived an impression from the accounts 
given of this coff e plant disease that it was a new one, 
and that efforts were to be made to prevent its spread- 
ing into other municipalities. The real facts of the 
case were, however, that this disease had existed in 8 
Fidelis for some twelve or fourteen years, and that no 
efforts whatever had been made to suppress it. From 
small beginnings in the municipality tho disease had 
been gradually spreading in all directions — southerly 
into the fertile municipality of Santa Maria Magdalena, 
northerly into that of S. Antonio de Padua, west- 
erly into the famous coffee-producing district of 
Cantagallo. In response to our inquiries we were 
told that it was the business of the government to 
study and check the disease, because the public treasury 
derived a largo revenue from it. Wo could not find two 
persons who agreed as to the peculiarities of tho dis- 
ease, nor could we hear of one single person who had 
made an effort to destroy it. The simple remedies 
used fy fruit-growers to protect their trees, such as 
lime, salt, tobacco, or carbolic acid washes, had never 
been thought of, nor was any one disposed to employ 
them. Everyone was waiting for the government 10 
do something : either to study and destroy the dis- 
easo, or to substitute a sugar usine, with guarantee of 
interest for the dying coffee industry. And in the 
meantime the oneo highly productive coffee orchards 
of S. Fidelis have become a thing of the past, and the 
planters are patiently waiting for the government to 
set them up in some other kind of business. 
This illustration — and it is but one among the many 
in the moat flourishing industry of the country. Who 
knows but what it would have been possible to 
have stamped out this disease twelve years ago 
by the simple application of an inexpensive 
wash ? And yet, no one seems even to have thought 
of such a thing. A few simple experiments might 
have saved this industry to the municipality, and 
added incalculably to its wealth. As it is, the fatal 
policy of waiting upon Government aid has destroyed 
the industry, and impoverished the planters ; and 
still further, it has even prevented the substitution 
of another indnstry. 
In another sense, this same mistaken policy is 
bringing a crisis upon the coffee industry which pro- 
mises to end in serious loss and disaster. What 
planter knows that there is nearly three-quarters of 
a million bags of coffee accumulated at Uavre, that 
there is an aggregato of 1,873,000 bags in the prin- 
cipal ports of Europe, and that the consuming markets 
of tlu world are actually glutted 1 And yet theareaof 
production is being steadily increased, tho cost »f 
production tends upward, and there is no improve- 
ment in quality. Notwithstanding an inciea-od ex- 
port the planters find themselves with an enormous 
stock on hand ; and so they come to tho govern- 
ment for assistance in introducing their product to 
new consuming markets. In tho faco of over-produc- 
tion ami glutted markets they aio personally help 
less, and like children seek for paternal aid and counsel. 
Wo do not speak of theso things with any spirit 
of unfriendliness. Tho evil — aud it is n serious one 
—is the legitimate outgrowth of that policy which 
centres so much power in tho ministerial departments 
of the Government. The pi 
left to the municipalities an 
tered here iu ilio de Janeiro, 
without seeing and feeling 
of the imperial government 
have been compelled to com 
everything, and have very iu 
mid be 
all cen- 
le or go 
I power 
people 
icnt for 
led to 
expect corresponding assistance and protection in all 
their needs. Instead of studying the plant diseases 
and insect plagues, which afflict his industry, the 
planter turns to the minister for help, aud actually 
sees himself impoverished and ruined in the wailing. 
When over production occurs, instead of turning his 
attention to other products, oi improving the quality 
and decreasing the cost of his product, he helplessly 
turns to the government for succor. It is needless 
to argue that all this is radically and dangerously wrong. 
SYNTHESIS (POSSIBLE?) OF CINCHONA 
ALKALOIDS. 
We all know what analysis of the alkaloids means, 
or, at any rate, of the bark which contains the al- 
kaloids. Analysis is just the separation of a com- 
pound into its constituents, while chemical synthesis 
is the union of elements so as to form a com- 
pound. Analysis must first, however, reveal all the 
elements of a compound, before a successful attempt, 
can be made at construction or re-construction. But 
all the constituents of the cinchona barks have not yetre 
vealed themselves to scientific tests however searching. A 
new alkaloid has just been discovered, and scientific 
men themselves feel that more remains to be dis- 
covered before nature can be imitated in the " anti- 
dote" she has provided for the "bane" of paludal 
and malarious fevers. Indeed the popular belief is, 
and we suppose it is correct, that chemists already 
kuow all that can be known of the elements of beef : 
and yet, iu the production of beef, Liebig, were 
he living, would have to confess himself surpassed by 
the most stupid ox that ever grazed the mead and 
"ruminated" without a thought of science. Tho 
chemist when he had done his best lo produce a steak or 
sirloin, would have to sing in the words of the old song 
"There's something wanting." But of the ciuchoi a 
! alkaloids science, a- yet, knows even less than she does 
of beef: less 
does of his bi 
the alkaloids, 
imitated by < 
skilful. Some 
as quoted in 
published, th 
ost valuable medicine than she 
For ourselves we doubt if ever 
y grown barks can be perfectly 
recesses, however elaborate and 
be wanting. Dr. Hugo Midler, 
. report of the Kew Gardens 
), not only admits the cheni- 
ical difficulty, but he very shrewdly points out that, 
I if bark from which as much as 10 per cent of alkal- 
| oids are sometimes extracted can be cheaply pro- 
duced, the pecuniary temptation for science to exert 
horself in tho direction indicated will not exist. Dr. 
ThiBtelon Dyer writes, in his preface to Dr. Midler's 
opinion, as if perfect substitutes had been discovered 
for vanilla and indigo. Our impression is a very 
opposite one. Science has extracted the most ex- 
quisite colours and the sweetest odours from tar, no 
doubt ; but we have yet t>> learn that vanilla as a 
flavour, or indigo as a dye has been superseded. Indigo 
planters and tho cultivators of the vanilla pods, have 
| certainly nut OOOlidorad thur occupation gone, Our 
