March  j,  >893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
573 
of  ihevsrirus  breeds  by  so  experienced  a sportsman. 
..r,d  it  would  srem  that  tbe  jaur  was  of  en  shot  and 
i'  ft  fo  decay  in  'be  jungle.  There  mav  pos-ibly  be 
reasons  for  this  which  ore  rot  stated.  The  killing  of 
elephants  also  appears  to  have  been  indiscriminate; 
but  ibis  has  probably,  since  those  days,  been  regulated 
by  Government. — Athemmm. 
THE  EUCALYPTUS-OIL  INDUSTRY. 
Of  all  tbe  minor  benefits  to  the  community  that 
came  in  the  trail  of  last  year’s  visitations  of  influenza 
and  cholera,  the  magnificent  business  opportunities 
which  these  epidemics  afforded  to  the  originators  of 
sundry  new  remedies  were,  perhaps,  the  most  clearly 
definable.  Scores  of  enterprising  manufacturers  knew 
how  to  take  occasion  by  the  hand,  and  have  waxed  fat 
accordingly.  Among  these  the  eucalyptus-oil  dis- 
tillers and  their  agents  occupy  a distinguished  position ; 
but  while  these  gentlemen  have  reason  to  feel  some 
measure  of  gratitude  for  the.  epidemics,  they  have 
probably  long  ago  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was, 
for  them,  an  ill-starred  speculation  that  caused  the 
price  of  eucalyptus  oil  to  advance  for  a few  brief 
spring  weeks  in  1892  from  3s  to  12s  per  lb.  What  most 
people  foresaw  has  come  to  pass.  The  production  of 
the  drug  has  out-distanced  the  demand  at  an  enormous 
pace,  and  today  the  commercial  outlook  for  the  oil, 
from  the  producer’s  point  of  view,  is  as  bad  as  it  has 
ever  been.  There  are  few  brands  of  pi  oved  excellence, 
the  proprietors  of  which,  aided  by  clever  and  free- 
handed advertising,  have  obtained  a hold  on 
the  market  so  firm  that  it  will  carry  them 
through  the  period  of  over-production  upon 
which  we  have  entered ; but  the  mass  of  smaller 
or  less  enterprising  producers  who  have  shut  up  like 
weeds  in  all  quarters  ut  the  world  will  assuredly  have 
to  face  > xtinetion  after  an  ineffectual  struggle  !o  make 
their  in  ustry  pay.  Only  a few  weeks  ago  we  announ- 
ced the  inauguration  of  several  new  distil  cries  in 
Tasmai  ia,  but  in  the  neighbouring  colony  of  Victoria 
the  eucalyptus  mania  is  developing  still  more  alarming 
symptoms.  All  the  Australian  colonies  are  passing 
through  a cycle  of  commercial  depression  almost  un- 
exampled even  in  new  coun  ries  ; and  it  is  therefore 
but  natural  that  industries  which  in  better  times  at- 
tracted comparatively  little  attention  should  now  be 
resorted  to  with  something  like  the  energy  of  despair. 
Still,  the  news  that  within  the  last  few  months  lrom 
30  to  41)  Dew  eucalyptus  distillers  have  beens'arted  in 
the  Victorian  districts  of  Bendigo  and  Gippslaod,  de- 
notes a recklessness  on  the  part  of  the  persona  con- 
eerned  which  is  only  ascribable  to  tbeir  absolute  ignor- 
ance of  the  extent  of  the  field  of  consumption  of  ihe 
oil.  It  is,  therefore,  in  the  interests  of  the  misguide  I 
over-crowders,  quite  as  much  as  of  the  established 
traders  in  the  drug,  that  the  new-comers  should  be 
warned  not  to  cherish  any  hope  whatever  of  making  a 
living  by  the  venture.  There  is  much  more  eucal\ ptus 
oil  produced  now  than  there  is  an  outlet  for  at  present. 
We  quite  recognise  that  the  Australian  distiller  com- 
manding plenty  ot  practically  gratuitous  material  on  the 
Crown  lands  of  his  colony , which  it  only  requires  a still 
of  some  sort  to  convert  into  what  wo  will  by  courtesy 
call  eucalyptus  oil,  can  produce  cheaply  ; but  that  is 
not  all  that  is  required.  Most  of  the  new  distillers, 
if  we  ore  rightly  informed,  have  little  or  no  knowledge 
of  tbe  variety  or  quality  of  oil  they  produce;  and, 
unlike  the  well-organised  Australian  and  Californian 
companies,  they  caDnot  ship  direct  to  London.  They 
are  dependent  upon  some  trader  in  Melbourne  or 
elsewhere  who  can  only  afford  to  pay  them  a star- 
vation price,  and  who,  in  his  innocence,  mixes  to- 
gether all  that  he  buys  from  his  various  clients  and 
consigns  the  whole  to  Europe  to  be  eo'd  as  well  as 
may  be.  There  are  lots  cf  ouch  couoi„nnieuta  in  the 
market  here  now;  they  come  in  tins,  in  cases,  and 
in  kegs,  they  obtrudo  themselves  to  weariness  at  the 
pti'  lic  sales,  and  if  sometimes  they  are  ostentatiously' 
“knocked  down”  at  one  auction,  it  is  only  to  bub 
up  serenely  again  on  a subsequent  occasion.  There 
is  more  than  one  bolder  who  would  lake  2s  per  lb. 
gladly  for  his  stuff  if  he  could  but  get  an  offer.  But 
b«  cannot,  Wholesale  and  retail  dealers  almost  with- 
out exception  have  stocked  themselves  full  in  antici- 
pation of  fresh  epidemios  this  spring,  and  it  would 
take  an  influenza  on  the  scale  of  one  of  the  plagues 
of  Egypt  to  create  a fresh  scaroffy  of  eucalyptus  oil. 
Much  attention  has  lately  been  paid  to  the  chemistry 
of  this  oil,  and  careful  investigations,  if  perhaps  rot 
carried  out  altogether  in  the  spirit  of  the  philosopher 
to  whom  science  is  its  own  reward,  have  elucidated 
many  points  of  considerable  commercial  value  to 
those  handling  the  article.  Tbe  researches  of  Helbing 
and  Passmore,  for  instance,  to  go  no  further,  have 
established  that  an  oil  of  eucalvtus  t*1  be  medicinally 
trustworthy  should  yield  “about  40  per  cent  of 
eucahptol  by  crvstallifa'ion  from  tbe  fractions  ob- 
tained above  172°  0.  ; and  it  is  generally  believed  that 
the  oils  of  higher  density  should  yield  less  than  5 per 
c nt  of  distillate  below  170°  O.,  with  only  traces  of 
aldehvdic  bodies” — a condition  which  necessitates 
careful  rediBtillation.  According  to  the  same  investi- 
gators, the  manifestation  of  irritating  action  on  the 
mucous  membrane  when  inhaling  the  odour  of  a sample 
showing  itself  in  a tendency  to  produce  coDgbing 
indicates  the  presenceof  a volatile  aldehydio  compound 
which  constitutes  an  impurity.  Whether  this  opinion 
is  correct  or  not  is  another  matter,  but  it  at  least 
deserves  consideration. — Chemist  and  Druggist. 
COFFEE  CULTIVATION  IN  MEXICO. 
The  Bulletin  du  Musee  Commercial  of  Brussels  for  the 
29th  October  extracts  the  following  information  res- 
pecting coffee  cultivation  m Mexico  from  a report 
addressed  on  the  30th  September  last  to  the  Belgian. 
Department  for  Foreign  Affairs  by  M.  Fedor  Berns. 
The  cultivation  and  export  of  coffee  will  become 
very  shortly  one  of  the  largest  sources  of  wealth  in 
Mexico.  The  climatic  and  topographical  conditions 
of  the  country  adopt  themselves  marvellously  to  the 
cultivation  of  coffee  of  superior  quality,  equal  to  tbe 
best  Java  product. 
The  districts  where  the  best  Mexican  coffee  is 
produced  are  situated  on  the  slopes  of  the  “ Sierra 
Madre,”  as  well  as  in  the  valleys  to  the  north  of 
Sinaloa  and  on  the  coasts  of  Yucatan  and  Tamauli- 
pas.  A large  proportion  of  Mexican  territory  consists 
of  elevated  masses  formed  by  the  extension  of  the 
Cordillera  and  declining  gradually  to  the  Atlantic  on 
the  east  and  the  Pacific  on  the  west. 
The  whole  of  this  vast  stretch  of  land  forms  one 
of  the  richest  and  most  fertile  zones  in  the  world. 
Owing  to  its  geographical  position,  it  enjoys  a tropical 
vegetation,  and  its  altitude  above  the  level  of  the  sea 
secures  for  it  an  unrivalled  fertility  and  an  enormous 
variety  of  natural  products. 
It  has  been  sufficiently  shown,  by  trials  for  more 
than  50  years,  that  the  lands  and  climate  of  Mexico 
are  adapted  to  the  production  of  fine  coffee ; these 
trials  have  also  shown  that  the  profits  for  the  coffee- 
grower  slid  the  quality  of  the  product  cannot  be 
surpassed  by  any  country  in  tbe  world. 
The  lands  suited  to  the  cultivation  of  coffee  in 
Mexico  are  almost  unlimited.  Labour  is  cheap, 
rarely  exceeding  25  centavos  per  workman  per  day. 
The  best  coffee  in  the  world  is  at  prest  nt 
grown  at  Cordoba  (Vera  Cruz)  and  at  Sinaloa,  as 
well  as  in  those  lands  of  Guatemala  which  border 
on  the  States  of  Chiapas  and  Tabasco,  to  the 
south  of  Mexico. 
The  first-mentioned  districts  produce  the  best 
coffee,  but  the  quantity  of  it  is  limited,  whilst  the 
others  produce  more,  but  the  bean  is  of  inferior 
quality.  Cultivation  is,  however,  very  backward, 
and  the  modern  methods  are  not  employed  for 
growing  and  | reparing  the  coffee  for  market. 
In  the  territory  of  Tepic,  coffee  is  grown  which 
rivals  that  of  Mocha,  and  Cordoba  produces  a coffee 
superior  in  aspect,  colour,  and  taste  to  the  best 
Java.  The  coffee  of  Oaxaca  surpasses  in  quality 
that  of  Jamaica  and  of  the  island  of  Ceylon,  whilst 
that  of  Michoacan  is  superior  to  the  different  kinds 
of  Maracaibo  and  to  the  best  Indian  coffee,  so 
much  appreciated  in  the  English  markets.  The  fact 
that  Mexico  does  not  occupy  the  first  place  among 
countries  producing  and  exporting  coffee  is  due  tq 
