688 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[May  i,  1893. 
stand  the  figures  which  in  all  Dr.  Romburgh’s  calcu- 
lations work  out  to  above  100:— 
Water  «•  <0  ••  »•  ••  •<  18.5  % 
Catechin 57.0  about 
Catechutannic  acid  (absorbed  by  hides)  1.6 
Matter  (organic)  insoluble  in  boiling  water  2.5 
Matter  (organic)  insoluble  in  boiling  alcohol  8.5 
Matter  (organic)  insoluble  in  boiling  alcohol  1.8 
Ash 2.6 
Organic  matter  other  than  the  above  . . 20'0  about 
Total. ..112'5 
Some  of  this  Bangka  gambir  was  sent  by  the  Factorij 
der  Nederlandsch  Handel  Mijners  to  some  experts  (mer- 
chants) in  Singapore,  who  reported  that  the  gam- 
bir was  boiled  too  young  and  was  mixed  with  dedal; 
(rice  dust),  quite  unsuited  for  export  to  Europe  and 
only  fit  for  consumption  in  Java.  Dr.  Romburgh 
thinks  that  this  supposed  appearance  of  deduk,  of 
which  he  declares  there  was  not  a trace,  was  possibly 
due  to  the  product  being  richer  in  catechin  which 
separates  in  larger  crystals,  either  because  the  product 
is  pure  or  has  been  less  agitated  on  settling. 
Adulteration. 
A good  deal  of  complaint  has  risen  lately  about 
the  inferiority  of  the  gambir  exported  now,  which 
has  been  stated  to  be  much  adulterated.  I cannot 
find,  however,  that,  excepting  in  a certain  class  of 
chewing  gambir,  there  is  any  adulteration  properly 
so  called.  In  chewing  gambir,  made  in  Negri  Sem- 
bilan  and  elsewhere,  rice  dust  called  deduk  is  often 
added,  rather,  I believe,  to  give  a whitish  colour 
than  to  increase  the  bulk.* 
It  is  the  excess  of  water  that  is  most  complained 
of.  Mr.  W.  N.  Evans,  of  Bristol,  writes  that  the 
ordinary  block  comes  over  with  30  to  50  per  cent, 
of  water  in  it.  This  seems  an  enormous  excess  and 
could  certainly  be  reduced.  It  was  reported  to  me 
that  it  was  a common  practice  of  the  Chinese  town 
toiokay,  who  purchases  the  gambir  from  the  manu- 
facturer, to  open  the  sacks  and  pour  water  upon  the 
gambir  pounding  it  in  to  increase  the  weight.  To 
test  this,  I sent  Mr.  Evans  some  gambir  which  I 
took  out  of  the  manufacturers’  shed,  and  which  had 
not  passed  through  the  tmvJcays’  hands  at  all.  This 
he  analysed  and  I append  the  analysis  of  this  and 
one  of  gambir  after  it  had  passed  through  Singapore. 
Ordinary  block  gambir  Sample  from 
from  Singapore.  the  field. 
Tannin  . . 14.63  . . . . 11.48 
Organic  matter  42.26 
Water  . . 31.89 
Ash  . . 6.34 
Loss  . . 4.88 
30.11 
53.39 
4.46 
.56 
100.00  100.00 
The  organic  matter  contains  catechin  and  other  or- 
ganic acids  not  precipitated  by  gelatine.  Prom  this  it 
can  be  seen  that  there  was  absolutely  more  water  in  the 
manufacturer’s  gambir  than  in  that  of  the  tmokay,  and, 
therefore,  it  is  probable  that  this  adulteration  does  not, 
in  the  general  state  of  things,  take  place.  Mr.  Evan 
then  suggested  that  I should  dry  a quantity  of  the  leaves 
in  the  shade  and  export  them  to  England  in  order  that 
the  gambir  might  be  extracted  from  them,  and  so  the 
heavy  loss  due  to  the  excess  of  water  might  be  avoided. 
I was  not  so  sanguine  as  to  the  results  of  this 
experiment  as  he  was,  for  in  the  first  place,  a case 
of  dried  leaves  is  very  bulky  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  gambir  which  could  naturally  be  expected 
to  be  derived  from  them,  and  in  the  second  place, 
from  the  taste  of  the  dried  leaves  and  from  what 
the  Chinese  told  me  I was  convinced  that  the  drug 
absolutely  disappears  on  drying,  and  this  indeed 
proved  the  case.  1 found  it  impossible  to  dry  the 
leaves  in  this  wet  climate  in  the  shade,  as  they 
merely  decomposed,  and  so  had  to  use  artificial  heat 
which,  however,  I kept  very  low.  The  leaves  on 
being  tested  by  Mr.  Evans  did  not  contain  a trace 
* Couperus  says  that  in  his  time  the  people  of 
Patabakan  mixed  a portion  of  the  boiled  leaves  with 
the  gambir  to  increase  the  weight.  Those  of  Kampar 
(Sumatra)  cut  the  cooked  leaves  as  fine  as  flour  and 
mixed  them  io,  and  the  Siak  men  added  sago  flour 
of  gambir.  As  a matter  of  fact  it  is  essential  to 
treat  the  leaves  as  soon  after  plucking  as  possible ; 
after  twenty-four  hours  they  become  brown  and 
worthless. 
This  being  so,  it  is  obvious  that  the  gambir  must 
be  manufactured  on  the  field,  and  the  water  should 
be  extracted  there.  There  should  be  no  difficulty 
about  this  in  ordinary  circumstances,  but  as  a rule, 
little  trouble  appears  to  be  taken  with  this  matter. 
Very  few  of  the  Singapore  plantations  possess  even 
as  simple  a press  as  that  described  by  Couperus, 
and  the  Gambir  is,  in  fact,  not  pressed  at  all. 
Mr  Finlayson  tells  me  that  the  shrinkage  of  bale 
gambir  is  per  cent  by  steamer  to  London.  If 
this  shrinkage  could  be  saved  a higher  price  could 
be  paid  for  gambir  here,  and  certainly  it  ought  to 
be  possible  to  extract  at  least  this  amount  of  water 
before  shipping  it.  Some  gambir  that  I have  seen 
which  was  supposed  to  be  fit  for  sale  in  Singapore 
was  so  wet  that  in  a day  or  two  it  was  covered 
thickly  with  a dense  crop  of  mildew.  This  contained 
nearly  50  per  cent  of  water. 
(To  be  concluded.) 
BARK  AND  DRUG  REPORT, 
(From  the  Chemist  and  Druggist.) 
London,  March  2. 
Cinchona.— A cable  from  Java  announces  that  the 
exports  for  February  have  been  light  3-0,000  Amst. 
lb.  against  420,000  Amst  lb.  in  February  1892. 
Cinnamon.— At  the  quarterly  periodical  sales  held  on 
Monday;  1,006  packages  Ceylon  bark  were  offered.  About 
one-half  of  this  sold  with  good  competition  at  an  ad- 
vance of  about  Id  per  lb  00  medium  and  ordinary,  and 
2d  to  3d  per  lb  on  good  fine  qualities.  The  following 
prices  were  paid  Ordinary  to  superior  firsts  8d  to  ts 
7d ; ditto  seconds  7ji  to  Is  3d:  ditto  thirds  6jd  to  Is; 
fourths  ej<l  to  lOd  pc-r  lb. 
Annatto.— Seed  is  still  declining.  At  today’s  auc- 
tions 2d  per  lb.  was  accepted  for  12  bags  'good  bright 
seed  from  Madras,  while  for  another  parcel  from  Co. 
lomto  2\d  per  lb.  was  the  highest  bid  obtainable.  This 
was  rejected. 
Oalumba.— Slightly  easier,  25  bags  sold  today  at  29s 
per  cwt.  for  very  very  good  bright  yellow,  and  20s  for 
rather  dark  mixed  sorts. 
Essential  Oils.— Lemongrass  osl  keeps  steady  at  2d 
per  oz  on  the  spot,  or  l£d  c.i.f.  for  Ceylon  oil.  From 
Ccchin  none  is  offering  at  present.  Citronella  does  not 
move  off  so  well.  The  spot  price  is  fd  per  oz.,  aDd  the 
c.i.f.  quotation  10^d  per  lb.  for  tins  and  10-Jd  per  lb 
for  drum. 
Silk  Worm  Rearing.— The  Calcutta  Silk  Com- 
mittee are  be  congratulated  upon  the  success  which 
has  attended  their  tfforis  to  improve  the  Bengal 
silkworms,  says  a Calcutta  paper.  Their  little 
silk-rearing  establishment  in  Kidderpore  is  a 
pioture  of  neatness,  and  the  big  basketwork  trays 
laden  as  they  were  a few  days  ago  with  golden 
coooons  from  which  the  moths  were  expected  to 
appear,  make  a sight  that  is  calculated  to  astonish 
anyono  who  has  been  used  to  the  solvently  methods 
of  native  rearers  in  the  mofussil.  What  is  of 
most  interest,  however,  is  the  quality  and  size  of 
the  oocoons,  which  differ  almost  as  widely  from 
the  native  product  as  the  sludbred  horse  from  the 
ticca  garri  tat.  The  native  rearer  as  is  well  known, 
takes  an  immense  amount  of  trouble,  and  often 
travels  great  distances  to  obtain  good  silkworm 
eggs;  but  the  uncertainty  produced  by  disease 
combined  with  the  unmethodical  habits  of  the 
Bengali,  when  working  for  himself  have  hitherto 
been  fatal  to  any  proper  system  of  selection  suoh 
as  is  generally  pursued  elsewhere.  In  the  Kidder- 
pore establishment,  the  element  of  disease  has  been 
to  a great  extent  eradicated  by  the  treatment  which 
has  proved  bo  successful  in  Europe,  aDd  this  has 
enabled  the  selective  system  to  be  followed  which 
in  the  hands  of  the  horse  breeder  has  produced 
the  thoroughbred  and  in  those  of  the  market 
gardener  has  turned  the  sloe  into  the  plum  and 
more  than  doubled  the  amount  of  sugar  storefl 
up  in  the  beetroot.— Pioneer 
