478 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan.  2,  1893. 
BARK  AND  DRUG  REPORT. 
(From  the  Chemist  and  Druggist.) 
LondoD,  Nov.  17. 
Cinchona.— Tuesday’s  periodical  auctions  were  of  very 
email  extent,  the  seven  catalogues  including  only  : — 
Packages.  Packages. 
Ceylon  cinchona... 
819  of  which 
819  were  so’.d 
East,  Indian  icnchona 
230 
230  „ 
Java  cinchona 
60  „ 
60 
South  American  cin- 
chona 
511 
318  ,, 
The  assortment  was 
1,620 
rather  above  the 
1,437 
average,  and  com- 
prised  a fair  proportion  of  grey  and  yellow  barks  from 
Ceylon,  but  Indian  kinds  were  very  poorly  represented. 
Competition  was  dull  at  first,  but  gradually  a slight 
improvement  set  in,  and  ultimately  almost  the  entire 
supply  offered  was  disposed  of  at  unaltered  rates,  the 
unit  averaging  from  ljd  to  l|d  for  common  red  to  good 
yellow  barks,  which  is  slightly  above]  that  of  the 
recent  Amsterdam  auctions,  and  not  quotably  below  the 
last  London  sales. 
The  approximate  quantities  purchased  by  the  principal 
buyers  were  : — 
Lb. 
Agents  for  the  Mannheim  and  Amsterdam  works  93,005 
Agents  for  the  Brunswick  quinine  works  ...  ...  61,250 
Agents  for  the  Frankfort-o/Main  and  Stuttgart 
works  ...  ...  41,093 
Agents  for  the  Auerbach  factory  ...  ...  37,150 
Messrs.  Howard  & Sons  ...  ...  30,732 
Agents  for  Paris  factory  ...  ...  13,930 
Sundry  druggists  ...  ...  21,120 
Total  quantity  of  bark  Bold  ...  ...  310,330 
Bought  in  or  withdrawn  ...  ...  31,670 
Total  quantity  offered  ...  ...  312,000 
It  is  worthy  of  observation  that  the  agents  for  the 
American  factory,  for  the  first  time  for  some  years,  did 
not  make  a single  bid. 
— + — 
VARIOUS  NOTES. 
Coffee  in  Selangib. — The  district  officer  of 
Kuala  Langat  (Selangor)  in  hie  report  for  October, 
tells  how,  early  that  month,  he  visited  a small 
coffee  plantation  owned  by  a Tamil  named  Sangilie. 
It  is  a 12-aore  patch  on  a steep  spur  of  the  Jugra 
Hill,  of  whiah  he  has  10  acres  planted  up  with 
about  8,000  plants ; of  this,  6,000  plants  have  been 
in  bearing  for  18  months,  yielding  10  piouls  of 
beans,  and  the  balanae  of  the  trees  are  in  blossom. 
The  beans  he  sells  there  to  a trader,  who  furnishes 
him  with  supplies,  at  23$  per  picul,  or  at  a loss  of 
about  at  least  $10  per  pioul  market  rates.  He 
works  himself  with  Bix  Tamil  coolies,  whom  he  pays 
at  the  rate  of  $7  50  per  mensem,  and  is  quite 
satisfied  with  his  prospects.  The  plants  look 
healthy  and  robust  and  are  heavily  laden,  a matter 
whioh  surprised  that  offioer,  as  the  patoh  he 
seleoted  has  been  oovered  with  lalang  for  years. 
The  soil  is  a composition  of  yellow  earth  with  a large 
proportion  of  decayed  granite  in  it. — Straits  Times. 
Tea  Drying  by  Electricity. — The  praotioe  of 
electrioal  engineering  is  very  different  from  other 
branches  of  engineering— for  instance  hydraulics  anil 
mechanics,  inasmuch  as,  while  the  latter  are  fairly 
well  defined  in  their  scope,  no  one  really  knows 
what  branoh  of  business  electricity  will  not  invade. 
And  in  this  lies  the  great  oharm,  and  the  great 
ohanoe  for  young  eleotrical  engineers.  At  any  time 
an  entirely  new  field  may  open  out  lying  quite 
outside  ordinary  praotioe.  Of  this  we  have  a very 
good  example  in  the  business  of  tea-drying  in 
Oeylon,  now  proposed,  we  see,  to  be  carried  out  by 
means  of  eleotrioity  with  a simple,  dean,  and 
economical  prooess.  Some  gentlemen  resident  in 
Ceylon  have  brought  the  idea  before  certain  in- 
fluential electrioal  and  mechanioal  engineers,  we 
are  told,  in  England,  and  the  idea  beingjfavourably 
reported  upon  may  result  in  transforming  the  prooess 
’—Electric  Engineer. 
Celery  Coffee.— A company  has  been  organized 
in  Glasgow,  Sootland,  as  we  learn  from  the 
London  Vegetarian,  to  manufacture  celery  ooffee. 
The  celery  is  dried,  roasted  and  ground,  being 
sold  in  the  form  of  a brown  powder  from  which 
a beverage  is  made  which  is  considered  exceed- 
ingly wholesome  and  valuable  for  dyspeptioa, 
rheumatics  and  sufferers  from  nervous  prostration. 
It  is  described  as  “ free  from  those  strong 
stimulative  elements  whioh  render  tea  and  coffee 
so  dangereue.”  The  oelery  growers  should  take  the 
hint  and  use  Iheir  trimmings  for  this  purpose. — 
American  Grocer, 
Value  of  Chehicil  Manure?. — The  experiments 
which  continue  to  be  carried  on  at  the  Cawnpore 
Experimental  Farm,  judging  by  the  last  report  of 
the  Director  of  Agriculture,  appear  to  have  but  little 
practical  value,  and  absolutely  no  effeot  in  im- 
proving the  indigenous  methods  of  agriculture.  It 
has  been  found  that  ohemioal  manures,  and  the 
more  expensive  manures  generally,  have  a less 
marked  effect  in  increasing  the  outturn  than  the 
ordinary  farm-yard  manures  which  are  within  the 
reach  of  the  native  agriculturist,  but  it  has  been 
satisfactorily  proved  that  the  reduction  of  farm-yard 
manure  to  ashes  seriously  reduoes  its  fertilising 
value.  Anything,  therefore,  that  oan  be  done 
towards  enabling  the  ryot  to  conserve  his  one 
valuable  fertilising  agent,  by  providing  him  with 
cheap  fuel  in  another  form  deserves  enoouragement. 
The  Assistant  Director  advooatea  the  use  of  saltpetre, 
but  has  to  confess  that  the  value  of  saltpetre  earths 
for  manurial  purposes  is  already  well-kDown  to  the 
native  agriculturist. — Indian  Engineer. 
Indian  Tea  and  Thibet.— The  Statesman  says:— The 
question  of  introducing  Indian  tea  mto  Thibet  is 
now  exeroising  the  minds  of  the  plenipotentiaries 
engaged  in  oonductiDg  the  interminable  negotia- 
tions between  the  Indian  and  Chinese  Governments. 
It  is  demanded  on  the  Indian  side  that  the  produce  of 
Darjeeling  gardens  should  be  admitted.  The  Chinese, 
on  the  other  hand,  deoline  to  admit  the  possibility 
of  Indian  tea  competing  with  that  of  Szeohuen, 
which  now  holds  a monopoly  of  the  Thibetan 
market.  The  “ oup  that  cheers  ” is  unknown  on 
the  northern  slope  of  the  Himalayas.  Coarse 
China  tea  is  imported  in  oompressed  oakes. 
These  are  broken  up  and  boiled  with  water  and 
mutton-fat,  and  the  resulting  soup— for  suoh  it  is 
— is  greatly  appreciated  in  the  valleys  of  Thibet. 
Indian  tea  is  not  suitable  as  a basis  for  this 
decoction  ; and  a planter  who,  some  years  ago, 
was  at  the  expense  of  importing  machinery  for 
oompressing  his  leaf  into  brioks,  reaped  nothing 
but  disappointment  and  loss  from  the  venture. 
The  inhabitants  of  Bhootan,  Sikkim,  and  Thibet 
will  have  nothing  to  do  with  Indian  tea  in  any 
shape,  averring  that  it  deranges  their  digestions. 
It  is,  in  faot,  too  strong,  too  rioh  in  tannin  and 
theine,  to  be  oonsumed  in  their  fashion.  China 
tea  is  aotually  sold  in  the  Darjeeling  bazaars  at 
a prioe  considerably  above  that  of  good,  honest 
Indian  leaf  from  the  neighbouring  gardens.  A 
sample  was  sent  home  two  years  ago  and  an 
eminent  firm  of  London  brokers,  after  subjecting  it 
to  a minute  examination,  informed  the  exporter 
that  it  was  a speoies  whioh  they  had  never  pre- 
viously met  with,  It  strongly  resembled  the  leaf 
which  was  produced  by  Ceylon  in  the  earlier 
stages  of  the  manufacture  there.  With  care  and 
soiemifio  treatment,  they  wrote,  considerable  im- 
provement might  be  expeoted,  but  they  deprecated 
the  addition  of  another  field  of  supply,  as  likely 
to  be  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  an  industry 
which  was  already  suffering  from  over-production 
