39° 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec i, 1894. 
offered and accepted the chairmanship, and Mr. Wil" | 
liam Austin, who is not only one of the oi igin.il : 
Shareholders in the Company but is the largest holder 
of the ordinary shares, was eleuted a Director to fill 
the vacancy caused by the resignation. 
CINCHONA AND QUININE, 
London, Oct. 18th, 1894. 
It is satisfactory to note that the exports of quinine. 
dec, from Germany are slightly larger this year than 
last, although Manufacturers have raised their prices, 
and their quotations have been tor totne time peel con- 
siderably above the price of second hand quinine on 
the spot. 
On the 4th instant, the large supply of 7,:t00 packages 
Java bark was offered in Amsterdam but met with a 
very slow demand, and only about one-fifth sulci, at a 
decline of fully 23 per cent, on previous sale ; the average 
value of the unit being :il to :{£ cents, (equivalent to 
about |d per lb.), agaihet 4. 50 cents on .list August. 
This depression was no doubt mainly due to telegraphic 
advices that shipments from Java during September 
amounted to 1,1011,000 Amsterdam lb., against 540,000 lb. 
last year. 
In Londeii public sales of i.aik wen- held laflt Tues- 
day after an interval of a month, the supplies offered 
were moderate and chiefly consisted of Druggist Bark 
which mostly sold at about steady prices, there was not 
enough manufacturing bark up to make a market, but 
the unit of quinine may be quoted ;d to Id nominal. 
The following resolution was passed at the sales, I i/.. : 
— " With the decreased and decreasing interest in London 
Bark market now otters to quinine manufacture, the re- 
maining auctions for Ib'.U should be held on November 
13th and December nth, and that throughout 1805 the} 
should be held not oftener than monthly, and as nearly 
as possible on such dates as will fall midway between 
the periodical Amsterdam auctions to be eventually fixed." 
Quinine has been dull of sale, closing with sellers of 
German on the spot at lljd per or.. 
Stock of Quinine 30th September . . 2,91">,984 or. 
The present value of British Sulphate of Quinine 
(Howards') in bottle is Is 4(1 to Is 5 per oz. against l- 
2d to Is 3d per ox. last year. 
The present value of German Sulphate of Quinine (best 
marks) on the spot is lljd per oz. 
(.'., M. &• (.'. WOODHOUSB. 
PROF. WARD'S NEW BOOK- CEYLON TEA 
PLANTATION CO — PLUMBAGO. 
London Oct. 19. 
I'UOl-KSSOK MARSHALL WAHD 
has part edited a new edition of Professor 
Hartig's valuable work mentioned " Text-Book of 
the diseases of Trees." This new edition includes 
a preface written by your former fellow-colonist. 
The work is so well-known among foresters, that 
it cannot be doubted that this new edition will 
be welcomed by those of that professor practis- 
ing among you. 
the Ceylon plantation company. 
The directors of the Ceylon Plantation Com- 
pany have declared an interim dividend of 7 per 
cent (being 14s per share) on the ordinary share 
capital. 
The many who are concerned in the 
plumbago 
trade of Ceylon Avill find much to interest them 
in the following extract from a scientific journal:— 
An improvement in the manufacture of plumbago 
or graphite has been described in a recent patent 
specification. Graphite crushed and passed through 
a sieve of from 120 to 150 meshes per inch, is stirred 
into a saturated solution of alum or aluminum sul- 
phate at '212 deg. Fall.; steatite is then added, and 
more water if required. After mixing, excess of water 
is evaporated until a consistency suited to grinding 
in a cnilled steel or other mixer is obtained. More 
graphite may here be added; then, after thorough 
grinding, the material may be compressed into cakes 
tor household use, or is ready for the manufacture of 
pencils or crucibles. The average formula for the mix- 
ture is : Graphite, 80 ; steatite, soapstone, or talc, 14 ; 
alum, 6; but this varies with the purpose to which 
the material is to be applied. "When several different 
kinds of graphite have to be employed, the richest in 
carbon is first mixed into the alum solution. By 
this process graphites previously regarded as in- 
capable of being compact are utilisable, and are 
improved in polishing power ; for pencil*, the material 
may he hard without being brittle, and black without 
being soft ; while crucibles made from the treated 
graphite are at once harder, more durable, and lighter. 
The process dem-rilied in it is likely, it Me tm to 
me, to cause a demand for qualities of the mineral 
that have not hitherto been deemed marketable ; 
or, if they do at present find purchaser* only at 
a rate that must considerably lessen the profits now 
made in the industry. — London Cor. 
FARMS, GARDENS ANT) FHl IT IN 
.MIDLAND AND (SOUTHERN ENGLAND. 
KEW AND in. MORRIS, C. It G. 
A COMPLIMENT To "Upton's In 7d TKA. 
Extract* from « letter from Vr, II'. Xork- of //n/</<i"u 
* dated Htow ebl idge. Worcestershire. IHth Oi l. J 
The weather is very cold just now and we feel it 
a good bit. The leaves are falling very fast and the 
trees will soon he quite bare. There has been but 
little summer weather this year and the fruit generally 
has been far behind in flavour. Apples are very 
scarce everywhere, but pears are abundant and there 
is a lot of perry being made about here this year. 
Hops have been below the average in Worcestershire 
and Herefordshire. Farmers are dreadfully down about 
the low price of wheat and if it does not command a 
better price they say there is no profit in it. I have 
been to a good many gardens of all sorts but have been 
rather disappointed in most of them, as there has not 
been the improvement I expected in the last 6 years. 
Some noblemen's gardens have gone down very much 
and a great many are now little better than market 
gardens. 
Kew was looking well and very much improved in 
every way and the authorities as courteous and kind 
as ever. Our old friend Mr. D. Morris, now Dr. 
Morris. C. M. G., had a very bad turn of illness last 
vear, but is now getting quite strong again. I have 
been down to Ashton Court, near Bristol, to see Sir 
Greville Smyth's place. It is very grand and beauti- 
fully well kept. He keeps 30 gardens at this one 
place. You will no doubt remember he spent 8 
months in Nuwara Eliya 2 years ago. He took the 
"Priory'' from Mr Hamlin. 
Lipton's teas are beginning to be U6ed largely about 
here now. His Is 7d is really a very good tea and 
I recommend it to all my friends, f inquired about 
it at his agency in our little town of Stowebridge and 
I find that two years ago he only sold 2 cwt. a 
week but he uow sells from 5, 8 cwt. and he teUs 
me that when a person once has it he is sure to 
come again which I think says a good deal for it. 
IMPORTED COFFEE. 
In the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, Mr. 
Barlow. Minister of Agriculture, in reply to a ques 
tiou stated that coffee plants or seeds for planting pur- 
poses had been prohibited from entering the colony 
from any place whatever since 1892. excepting by 
special permission and through the Department of 
Agriculture. — Australian Agriculturist. 
CINCHONA-SAMPLING IN AMSTERDAM. 
The recent decision of a few prominent importers 
of Java cinchona in Amsterdam to revert to the old 
system of sampling instead of continuing to have 
samples drawn by the officials of the "Kina'' esta- 
blishment, which is the chief clearing-house for the 
drug, has caused a good deal of grumbling among 
parties interested in the cinchona trade. The Cinchona 
Association of Amsterdam have addressed a circular 
to all the quinine makers asking them whether they 
prefer the old or the new-, method of sampling. The 
replies were publicly read at a special meeting of the 
