286 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  i,  1892. 
efieot  in  convincing  my  brother  planters  of  India 
and  Java  of  the  value  of  my  advioe — “ Work  to- 
gether, and  co-operate  with  the  merchants  and 
brokers.”  Shortly  such  co-operation  must  be  and 
will  be  effected,  and  I am  certain  it  will  not  harm 
either  the  retail  ohemist,  the  wholesale  druggist, 
or  the  manufacturer.  The  purchasing  public  will 
have  to  pay  more  for  their  ounce  of  quinine,  but, 
considering  the  amount  of  manual  and  brain  work 
an  ounce  of  quinine  represents,  and  the  immense 
benefit  the  publio  derives  from  a judioious  use  of 
the  drug,  there  is  no  hardship  in  the  consumer 
having  to  pay  a shilling  or  two  more  for  the  many 
doees  contained  in  an  ounoe  of  quinine.  While 
upon  this  latter  subject— i e.  the  consumer's  point 
of  view— I would  advise  your  constituents,  if  they 
wish  to  inorease  their  sale  of  quinine,  to  suggest 
its  being  taken  in  ginger  wine— say  3 grs.  to  a 
wineglassful.  Taken  in  this  way  it  is  agreeable, 
and  quite  equal  to  a sherry  and  bitters. 
COLOMBIAN  INDIARUBBER. 
(Sapium  biylandulosum,  Muell.  Arg.) 
The  United  States  of  Colombia  have  long  been  recog- 
nised as  a subsidiary  source  of  Indiarubber.  Colombian 
rubber  has  been  generally  known  in  commerce 
from  the  place  of  export  as  “ Carthagena.”  It  has 
been  supposed  to  be  the  produce  of  a species  of 
Castilloa,  and  this  may  to  some  extent  have  been 
actually  the  case.  The  larger  proportion  of  the  ex- 
port found  its  way  to  the  United  States. 
In  the  following  correspondence  Mr.  Robert  Thom- 
son, formerly  in  charge  of  the  Cinchona  plantations, 
Jamaica,  and  now  settled  at  Bogota,  gives  an  in- 
teresting account  of  a tree  which  yields  the  india- 
rubber,  known  in  commerce  as  “Colombia  Virgen.” 
This  has  the  peculiarity,  unlike  all  other  known 
sources  of  this  substance,  of  growing  at  high  eleva- 
tions, and  therefore  in  a comparatively  cool  climate. 
From  the  indications  furnished  by  Mr.  Robert 
B.  White,  and  subsequently  by  Mr.  Thomson,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  the  tree  is  one  of  the  multi- 
form varieties  of  Sapium.  b iglandulosum,  a member  of 
the  family  Euphorbiaceec,  to  which  the  trees  yielding 
the  Para  ana  Ceara  rubbers  also  belong.  This 
widely  spread  and  extremely  variable  species  extends 
from  Mexico  and  Panama  to  Colombia,  Venezuela, 
Guiana,  and  Brazil.  The  variations  which  it  presents 
in  habit  are  probably  a.s  extreme  as  are  to  be  met 
with  in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  And  it  is  probable 
that  its  rubber-producing  qualities  may  be  equally, 
variable.  In  the  West  Indies  it  exists  in  forms  which 
are  probably  conspecific.  But  though  recognised  as 
abounding  in  a milky  juice  it  has  never  been  regarded 
in  that  region  as  a source  of  caoutchouc,  at  any  rate 
in  appreciable  qualities. 
In  British  Guiana  the  species  occurs  in  two  forms, 
which  have  been  carefully  studied  by  Mr.  G.  S.  Jenman, 
f.l.s.,  Government  Botanist.  The  form  which 
occurs  on  the  Ponieroon  River  is  known  in  Carib 
as  Touckpoitg,  in  Arawack  as  GumalcabaUi.  The 
examination  of  the  caoutchouc-like  product  of  this 
tree,  conducted  at  the  works  of  the  Indiarubber, 
Gutta  Percha,  and  Telegraph  Works  Co.,  Limited, 
at  Silvertown,  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  S.  W. 
Silver,  f.l.s.,  were,  on  the  whole,  unsatisfactory 
as  regards  its  utilisation  for  any  commercial 
purpose.  This  was  due  to  the  presence  of  a 
resinous  substance,  which  seriously  deteriorates  its 
characteristic  properties.  There  can,  however, 
be  no  sort  of  doubt  as  to  the  value  of  the  Colombian 
rubber  yielded  from  the  same  species,  and  this 
would  make  it  desirable  to  give  the  Guiana  trees  a 
fresh  trial.  M.  Sagot,  the  well  known  Guianan 
botanist,  to  whom  Mr.  Jenman’s  specimens  were 
submitted,  knew  nothing  of  the  caoutchouc-producing 
properties  of  the  species  beyond  the  fact  that  the 
aborigines  of  the  West  Indies  used  the  sap  as  a 
bird-lime  for  catching  birds. 
Mr.  rJL’ hours  vn  iu.  his  LMg:  states;— 
I have  established  in  this  country  daring  the  last 
live  years  a plantation  of  this  rubber  consisting 
of  about  70,000  trees,  this  being,  I believe,  as  yet 
the  only  plantation  made  of  this  sort.  Under 
cultivation  this  tree  thrives  admirably,  growing  with 
great  rapidity,  and  averaging  about  five  feet  a year. 
Crops  are  obtainable  in  from  six  to  eight  years, 
but  a tree  five  years  old  yields  as  much  as  1 lb.  of 
rubber.  It  is  a large  forest  tree,  the  trunks  attaining 
six  and  seven  feet  in  circumference.  Four  arrotas 
(100  lbs.)  of  rubber  have  been  extracted  from  a 
single  tree,  but  the  average  yield  is  far  less. 
1 would  undertake  to  convey  to  India  a supply  of  plants 
and  seeds,  the  germination  of  the  latter  to  be  ensured 
on  the  spot,  and  to  deliver  the  same  iu  Sikkim,  the 
Nilgiris,  or  Ceylon.  The  supply  of  plants  thus  to 
namber  from  10,000  to  50,000,  which  1 would  deliver 
for  the  sum  of  1,000?.—  Kcw  Bulletin. 
TEA  TRADERS’  TALK. 
CHINA  TEA  AND  TEA  TRADE. 
[By  Consul  Bedloe,  of  Amoy.) 
Tea  culture  is  assuming  large  proportions  outside 
of  the  Chinese  boundaries.  The  Spanish  authorities 
have  tried  to  raise  it  in  the  Philippines  ; the  Dutch 
iu  Sumatra,  Java  and  Borneo  ; the  English  in  the 
Straits  Settlements,  and  the  French  in  Cochin-China. 
Nearly  all  these  experiments  have  been  failures  ; the 
only  successes  reported  being  from  mountain  coun- 
tries, where  there  was  moisture,  good  soil,  and  not 
an  excess  of  warmth.  The  Dutch  have  turned  this 
discovery  to  account,  and  now  confine  their  efforts 
to  the  nigh  mountainous  districts  with  which  their 
colonial  possessions  abound.  While  good  tea  has 
been  produced  in  a number  of  places  under  these 
auspices,  the  quality  has  been  very  inferior  to  the 
fine  growths  of  Formosa  and  Foochow. 
The  reports  from  other  tea  districts  of  China  are 
all  assuring.  The  Congous,  which  come  from  north 
of  Amoy,  are  certainly  equal  in  quantity  and  quality 
to  those  of  last  year,  and  probably  a trifle  better. 
The  Pekoes,  from  the  south,  are  up  to  the  average. 
The  northern  teas  are  reported  as  better  than  ever. 
This  will  not  affect  the  American  market,  as  they 
are  bought  up  in  advance  by  the  Russian  merchants 
and  command  prices  that  seem  the  height  of  extra- 
vagance. Chops  running  from  §100  to  §300  per  picul 
are  not  uncommon,  while  now  and  then  extra  fine 
pickings  find  customers  who  pay  from  §10  to  §50  a 
pound.  In  Russia  and  Japan,  and  above  all  in  China, 
there  are  epicures  more  dainty  as  to  their  daily  tea 
than  wealthy  connoisseurs  are  over  their  Madeira 
and  Burgundy.  The  Governor  of  Formosa  pays  from 
§10  to  §20  per  pound  for  his  tea.  W'hen  I dined 
with  him  I justified  the  extravagance.  The  perfume 
of  the  tea  filled  the  palace,  and  the  exquisite,  in- 
comparable flavor  lingered  upon  my  palate  hours 
after  the  meal  was  over.  After  drinking  such  tea 
the  finest  comet-growth  of  Burgundy  seems  coarse 
and  savage. 
Tea  drinkers  at  home  may  revel  in  the  fact  that 
they  will  have  better  tea  in  1891-92  than  they  have 
had  for  a long  time.  They  are  the  only  Americans 
who  derive  any  benefit  from  the  tea  industry.  At  one 
time  it  poured  a stream  of  wealth  into  our  land,  but 
somehow  or  another  we  grew  careless  and  allowed 
the  channel  to  be  diverted  to  other  nations.  The 
spectacle  is  very  painful  to  a patriot.  The  heavy 
capital  with  which  the  crops  are  raised,  the  experts 
who  taste,  and  the  dealers  who  buy  the  leaf,  the 
lead  in  which  it  is  cased,  the  steamers  in  which  it 
is  carried,  the  companies  which  insure  it,  and  the 
banks  which  attend  to  the  financiering  are  all  foreign, 
chiefly  British.  When  we  pay  for  it  in  money,  we 
send  the  amount  to  be  shaved  in  London ; and  when 
we  pay  in  kerosene,  flour  and  manufactures,  we  pass 
them  through  almost  the  same  line  of  hands  from 
New  York  to  Amoy. 
The  American  people  will  spend  over  §11,000,000 
for  Chinese  tea  in  1891-92.  Of  this  vast  sum  the 
planters  will  receive  #3,000,000,  the  tradesmen  and 
* hqme  dealers  #2,500,000,  and  foreigners,  with 
