334 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1900. 
grows with indulgence, and is stimulated by op- 
portunity and low price. The inhabitants of India, 
unlike the inhabitant.* of China, cannot yet be 
included anionfi; the tea-drinking populations of 
tiie earth, i^ut ihis may not always be the case, so 
that at no distant dfite a great demand for tea for 
consumption in all parts of this country may set 
in, and be difficult to meet. But for the present 
tea is cultivated primarily for export, and the 
growing of it gives profitable employment to 
620,000 labourers in India, and adds some 5s 
millions sterling per annum to the value of India's 
exports. It also contributes considerably ^,0 the 
incomes of shareholders, mostly resident in the 
United Kingdom, in Indian Tea Companies. — 
MdvasMail, Oct. 10. 
THE CAMPHOR-MONOPOLY. , 
The British Consul for the district of North For- 
mosa, in his annual report for 1899 (F. O. 2,525, Id.) 
gives some iuteresting facts concerning the working 
of the camphor-monopoly, and as the bulk of his in- 
formation has been received direct from the Formo- 
san Government, it may be taken as official. There 
is now no camphor-trade to be done in Formosa out- 
side that of the monopoly, and as we have already 
reported, the foreign merchants had entirely with- 
drawn from the business before the monopoly was 
instituted owing to the difficulties connected with the 
working of the camphor still in the interior. We now 
learn that the Formosan Government are assiduously 
planting young trees to make up deficiencies caused 
by consumption, and that a new Government refinery 
is to be opened tliia year, which it is expected will 
have a capacity for a daily output of 8.0001b. What 
has so far been refined is said to be of good quality, 
though it appears to be somewhat riclr in oil. It will 
be remembered the.t Messrs. M Samuel & Co., of 
London, wrote to this journal on April 7, pointing out 
that the Japanese Government did not intend to com- 
pete witlr liritish refiners, by refining camphor ; so 
we presnme the Consul's remarks apply solely to 
" half-relined " or " pressed " camphor. 
Tlie report next traces the steps which were taken 
by the Government to establish the mocojooly which 
occasioned much suffering to the natives and otliers 
interested in the factories, but by degrees other em- 
ployment has been found for them. A signifioant 
remark in the report is that the Government main- 
tains a staff of guards and rangers who supply funds 
for keeping up friendly relations with the savages, 
so that it would appear that the industry is not 
conducted without a certain amount of danger, which 
may diminish as time passes. The total amount of 
camphor purchased from the licensed producers or 
manufactured between August 5, 1899 and March 81, 
1900, was 20,437 cwt., and 15,535 cwt. of camphor oil. 
The report goes on to say that hitherto Formosan 
camphor was losing its good name in foreign markets 
'owing to crude methods of p''oduction, but that the 
monopoly has done away with all these disabilities, 
inferior qualities having been got rid of, and more 
atteution paid to the superior grades. As a proof of 
this the following table is given showing the amount 
of camphor produced under three grades, month by 
month, from August, 1899 (when the monopoly came 
into force) to March, 1900:— 
1st Class. 2nd Class. 3rd Class. 
1899. Catties Catties. Catties. 
Auguat 16,361 29,686 3,371 
September ... 38,404 50,892 15,635 
October 95,075 116,638- 21,829 
November .. 1.56,722 103,856 21,807 
December .. 147,597 100,223 14,934 
1900. 
January.. .. 171,165 88.218 16,250 
'February ... 126,802 .52,656 6,207 
• March 241,098 74,819 7,925 
Total 
993,227 
616,988 106,461 
INDIAN GOVERNMENT CINCHONA. 
Mr. "W. M. Standen, director of the Government 
Cinchona-plantations, Nilgiris, has submitted to 
tlie Indian Government his annual report on the 
working of the ciuchona estates and quinine- 
factory, for the year ending March 31, 1900. We 
gather from this that the sea.son was altogether 
abnormal owing to the failure of two monsoon, 
but the drought has had no deleterious effect 
on the trees. The report shows that Mr. Standen 
lias lost no time in utilising for the improve- 
ment of the factory and the plantations the 
valuable informatiou he gathered in Java last 
year, as he is now conducting experiments in 
connection with the shading of the stems of the 
trees from the direct rays of the sun in order 
to produce a higher preeentage of alkaloid in the 
bark. Mr. Standen wishes particularly to as- 
certain whether it would pay to protect the 
stems of old trees for this purpose, and he has 
accordingly selected a plot of six acres in an ex- 
posed position, and closely covei'ed the stems o£ 
the trees with grass. Tiie trees being large, the 
cost of the vvork was high, aniouuting to -oSr. 
2a. lOp. per acre ; but the effect of tlie grassing 
on the appearance of the trees was most bene- 
ficial. The bark will be analysed when the trees 
have been under the protection of the covering 
for two years, and it wiil then be possible to 
show whether this mode of increasing the 
alkaloidal value of the bark is profitable or not. 
Another interesting experiment is being made 
to ascertain the yield of alkaloids from specially- 
m;inured jjlot--. During the year 40,000 plants 
died, as against 47,600 in the previous year, nearly 
all the casualties taking place on the Hooker 
estate. Out of a total of 19,345 trees uprooted 
or coppiced on the estates for bark, 10.588 con- 
sisted of sickly and dying trees on this estate. 
It is observed that the land, originally poor grass- 
Ifind and unfavourably situated, has been under 
cincbona for thirty years. 
The total quantity of bark harvested on the Gov- 
ernment estates during 1899-1900 amounted to 
110,279 lb., or about 40.000 lb. luore than in 
the previous year, the increase beirg largely due 
to the heavy coppicing that was necessitated. 
In addition 'to this, 223,811 lb, were purchased 
in the local market. One magnifolia tree, thirty- 
four years old, was coppiced, and yielded no less 
than 120 lb. of dry bark. The total quantity of 
bark worked up by the factory during the year 
was 344,3121b., consisting of 318,881 lb. crown and 
hybrid barks, and 25,431 lb. red bark, and the 
alkaloids extracted amounted to 10,188 lb. 
(163,008 oz.) quinine sulphate, and 4,6151b. (73,880 
02.) of febrifuge. The output was less by 38,640 
oz. quinine sulphate than in 1898-99, but the idea 
was to make out 10,000 lb. of quinine sulphate, 
whereas during the previous year an effort Avas 
made to show how much quinine could be pro- 
duced in the factory inoneyefir with the present 
machinery. The output in future is likely to be 
restricted to about 10,0001b., as this is reckoned 
to be sufficient for all requirements, unless the 
demand should largely increase. The amount of 
quinine di.stributed during the year was the 
highest on record, being 7,378 lb. (118,048 oz.) com- 
pared with the previous year's 2,7 18 lb. (43.968 oz.). 
This increase was due partly to a considerable 
increase in the requirements of the Madras medical 
stores and of Native States. The issue of febrifuge 
amounted to nearly 1,000 lb. more than in the 
previous year, being 2,6761b. Upwards of 561,000 
5-gr. quiiiine-sulphate powders, at 3 pies per 
powder, were retailed to the public from the post- 
offices in the Presidency. The Government found 
itself able at the close of the year to reduce the 
price from 3 pies to 2 pies— a reduction which 
it is hoped will encourage larger numbers of the 
poor to avail themselves of the benefit of the 
