Nov. I, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
34t 
Crop PuospEcTa Ooorg : very fair. — Mr Limbert, 
Honorary Secretary of the Coorg Planters' Aasooia- 
tiou writes: — With regard to th« crop prasppcts and 
season in Coorg, ttie crop in N. Oourg promises to 
be a good one generally, the crop in S. Ooorg i? 
average, but is better on Iho Sidap'ir siJe than on 
the Polli Betta side. The season has been a good 
one, and coffee is lookiag very well a'l over Coorg. A 
little leaf disease is showing here and there, but nothing 
of a serious nature. Borer has been bad this year, 
umisaally so.— /S'. I. Observer. 
" An Account op Tea Cultivation and 
Mandpacture in Ceylon by J. A. & W. E. Hen- 
derson," — a copy o£ which has reached us is a 
neat little brochure of 38 pjges which ia in- 
trcduoed by the {oUov/ing. — 
Prefatory Note. — It was at the instigation of a 
number of friends, who, on various grounds, are 
interested in the tea enterprise of Ceylon, that 
the following pages were written. Their contents 
are largely matter of compilation, and there is 
no pretence to originality in them. A full list 
of the sources from which wo are conscious 
of having drawn will be found at the end ; 
but we would mention here that the writings of Mr. 
J. Ferguson, Mr. J. Paton, Colonel Money, and Mr. 
H. K. Kutherford are those from which the borrow- 
ing has been largest. In general, quotation marks 
have been purposely omitted, it being thought 
tliat their frequent appearance would have consti- 
tuted an interruption of comfort in reading. 
The chapters ara :— -Introduation (a brief historical 
acoount of tea); Part 1. — S'ield-work on a tea 
estate ; p irt II tea manufaotute ; and a short 
concluding chapter besides two or three illustrations 
and useful tabular statements as appmdiocs. 
Altcgather for the purpose of giving our Aus- 
tralian fellow-"o!oni3ts or Anierioau cousins a 
proper notion oi Oeyloa tea, this little pamphlet 
id admirably aaapted. 
Ojncuona in Java. — -The Ohemi-'it and Druggistsums 
up the case of the Java Bark exports as loUowa : — 
According to Mr. Van Gorkom's statements there 
are at present in Java no fewer tlian 149 companies or 
private proprietors who grow cinchona bark, and 
who, together, possess about 283 plantations. These 
figures are much in excess of those given by the Java 
Planters' Association, and even if tliey should turn 
out to be somewhat in access of the actuality, they 
show that the exhaustion of Java in consequence of 
unreniunerative prices will be but a slow process. 
Another factor which renders many Java planters 
able to bear iip against low prices for a prolonged 
period is that on a large number of the plantations 
cinchona is only a culture of secondary importance, 
and where that is the case the planter can refrain 
from harvesting his bark until happier times are in 
prospect. Unfortunately, the conditions upon which 
the land of other plantations has been leased by the 
Clovornment preclude the lessors from planting coffee, 
the alternative crop for which the soil is suited, and 
Mr. Van Gorkom urges that under the present distressed 
conditions of the cinchona industry the Govern- 
meut should abolish that disability. lie a'so sug- 
giists the restriction of the output ot the Govcrumcat 
plantations, which ia now sold in Amsterdam in 
competition with private lirms. This is a suggestion 
that bai also been made by the Amsterdam Cham- 
ber of Commerce, but to which the Govornmeut does 
not appear inclined tj listen. Tho Government 
plantations are the richest in tin island, and their 
produce represented in 1.S92 about 10 par cent in 
weight and about 1.3 per cent of tlic quinine sold at 
tlio y^msterdam Ructi Jns. It should not bn lost sight 
of, however, that tlie main obifot ot tbe Government 
in cstahliehing p'.aula'ions in Java was not to assist 
private plnntsrs in making a profit, but to insure the 
CJiiBtaut supply ot cheap quinine — an object which 
has ccrlaiuly boon fully attained. Up to iho prei-eut 
time, it appears, tho Jnvabirk at die Amsterdam 
SDilcs has heon much below tlie quiuiuo richness that 
may bo expeotol from it when tim market conditions 
nra onca more such thnt only mature trees will ba 
harvested. In thoir hurry to grow cioobona many 
growers have planted their trees too cloijely together, 
thus preventing the nliialoids from attaining tbeii 
natur.il proportioQ.s, Tho immature trees aro now 
being uprooted in largo unmbers and their bark keeps 
dov/u the gfiuoral level. Aliogother the prospects do 
not seem very favourable for the planters, aud during 
the present year, at any rate, the continuation of a 
cheap quinine aud bark supply spema well assured. 
Oriental Bank Estates Company. — We call 
attention to tho full report of the Ohairman's 
addieas at the annual meeting given on page 321 
aa affording en interesting account of the 
position of the Company, We are averse to the 
conjunction o£ sugar estates in Mauritius and tea 
coffee or cacao plantations in Ceylon under one Com- 
pany. The case of the Ceylon Company, Limitsd, 
was a warning that ought not to be forgotten, and 
we think it would be far better i£ two Companiea 
divided the propeitioB and interests now held byihe 
abjVo institution. No doubt there would beeharehold- 
ers ready to back up both Companies freely ; far the 
Mauritius properties appear to be valuable and 
to have been got as good bargains; but then share- 
holders who know about Ceylon interests — aa 
General Massey and Mr. Lawrance— are apt to ba 
suspicious of Mauritius, and no doubt, vice versa. 
It seems to us that a division should result in 
better and more eoouomioal management ; but ot 
coursa, this is a matter for the shareholders aud 
Directors themselves. Our London Correspondent 
made a rather dubious reference to one of the 
Chairman's ultersnoes which we may as wdl 
correct— it was not aa regards the "management," 
but the details of "expenditure" that the Chair- 
man objected to give in public full particulars 
and for obvious reasons. Meantime, the Company 
has undoubte.ily to ba congratulated on the ac- 
cession to their Directorate of two such well kuown, 
reliable men as Messrs. H, K. Butherford and 
Norman Grieve. The Chairman (Mr. Criohton) 
alluded to the format aa follows:— 
Few persons, I believe, have a better knowledge 
or judgment with regard to the management of tea 
estates in Cayloa than Mr. Ilntherford, and I think 
the Company is fortunate in obtaining tho bauelit of 
his advice aad co-operation. 
Both Messrs. Eutherford and Grieve are about to 
visit the island, and there will no doubt be a care- 
ful inspection of the Ceylon properties with ad' 
vantageous results to the shareholders. 
SULPUATE OP QUININE AND ELECTRICITY,— Qui- 
nino his many uses, and it would be a very 
good thing if these could be even mora extended. 
We see in tho Engineer of last week that the 
sulphate of your production is being used to illus- 
trat-3 electrical action, but it may well ba doubted 
ii this use would prove one likely to raise tbe 
price of your product in the market. Tha 
fact, however, ia not without its scientific in- 
terett. The object of the use of sulphate o£ 
quinine after this new fashion is (o make visible 
lines of electric force. The sulphate ia intro- 
duced into a chemical mixture which need not ba 
here specitied and on passing the electric current 
through this the crystal of the sulphate form 
beautiful curves, shov.ing the directions in which 
the current is passing with mora or less intensity. 
The Scientific American says that on sending 
a series of discharges through a mixture of 
quinine and oil of turpentine, " a clearance ia 
produced at tho positive pole, and the particles 
cluster round tho negative pole, airanging ihem- 
stlves in streamers directed along the lines of 
force." Wo presume it is the extreme lightness 
of tho sulphate of quinine which has led to its 
ficlolion for uso in these interesting cxporimeiita. 
