Jan. 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
463 
situation. It has been carefully calculated that 
the cost of a lb. of tea, f.o.b., will not be more 
than 25 cents. Thus, while produce will be 
put on the market at a low rate, it should be 
remembered that all the tea will be high grown 
from 4,700 feet to 6,500 feet, that it is all grown 
in magnificent forest land and that therefore 
botli yield and prices should be high. It is true 
that, at present, prices realised are not very 
sumptuous, but this is partly due to Travancore 
teas not as yet obtaining the attention 'they 
deserve in the market, a position that will 
remedy itself as a larger supply creates a larger 
demand ; partly it is due to inadequate factory 
accommodation, a matter which is being remedied 
as fast as possible ; partly it is due to all the 
tea here being young and siving a cup of in- 
sufficient flavour and strength. The fact that 
the Company possesses considerable Cinchona 
estates in full bearing is slurred over in the 
article ; these should, during the present year 
alone, give a nett proht of some £23,000. Speak- 
ing generally the estates and the district should 
be seen and compared with others of a like age 
before an attempt is made to criticise the Com- 
pany's present position and future prospects. 
Armchair criticism of flgui'es is an easy matter, 
but no doubt, these figures were carefully con- 
sidered before they were sanctioned and under- 
taken. 
But it is further impossible to look upon 
this large concern merely from the point of 
outlay representing so and so many acres opened. 
There are the huge reserves of land not yet 
dealt with and they represent a large share in 
the capital outlay, dormant at present, but which 
will in time undoubtedly be utilised. Thus, 
apart from the reserves of forest suitable for 
* coffee, tea, and cinchona, there are large areas 
of land suitable for rice and other food products 
where some day the Company will be able to 
grow all that is required to feed its estate 
labour. 
Then there is a large area of higher grass land 
in the Kundale valley close to the wire rope 
outlet, eminently suited for a Hill station sani- 
tarium situated at 0,000 feet above sea-level with 
a rainfall not exceeding 50 inches with magni- 
ficent scener3^ and well watered by the clearest 
and coldest of streams, this should become 
a favourite retreat for the man from the plains. 
For this to come about and the land to become 
valuable for settlement purposes, the long- 
deferred railway from Amniayanaykanur will first 
have to appear. But as that also will again mean 
a reduction in tlie cost of tea, f. o. b., there is 
no doubt Messrs. Finlay, i\Iuir& Co., will see to its 
coming. Then there is the magnificent water- 
power, at present running to waste, but some 
day, though perhaps not in the immediate future, 
to be utilised in conjunction with the almost pure 
iron lying beside it. In conclusion, it is my be- 
lief that, in spite of the large capital drawn at- 
tention to in the article, the estates being well 
opened will pay well and that many years will 
not pass before this is one of the most flourish- 
ing among Planting Districts. 
.1. VON Rosenberg. 
— Plantuig Oiy'mion, Nov. 17. 
^ 
CINCHONA TROSPECTS. 
We direct the attention of all interested 
in cinchona (and we are glad to think the 
number is increasing in Ceylon) to the long 
letter given in our last issue— with which 
Baron von Rosenberg, of , North Travancore, 
has favoured us. Our correspondent is 
well-known as one of the most enterprising 
planters of cinchona trees in Sotxthern India, 
cvnd as a proprietor who, through good and 
evil report, has adhered to his first love and 
who has therefore, merited a better return 
for his capital and labour than has, we 
fear, as yet been secin'ed by him. But the 
Baron well knows that he is only one among 
many tlfotisands of planters who failed to 
realise their expectations in cinchona. No 
more romantic story has ever been written 
in connection with planting enterprise in 
the tropics than could be penned in the 
history of cinchona planting in India and 
Ceylon from the day Clements Markham— 
still hale and heartj' in England — brought 
the first precious plants from far Peru 
to the Nilgiris and Hakgala, forty years 
ago. At first utterly despised as only 
a " medicine " plant by the ordinary 
tropical planter, or put out as a quick- 
growing, handsome shrub for avenue or 
v.'ind-belt purposes, — with the failure of 
coffee and the harvesting of the first bark 
from the said belts, (realising as much as 
10s per tree nett of crop), there came a wild 
rush into "cinchona" with the disappoint- 
ing result only too well remembered even now 
in Ceylon. Not only were planters bitterly dis- 
appointed, if not ruined, when the enormous 
export in one year from Ceylon of fifteen 
million lb. took place ; but cinchona dealers 
and brokers in London — who at one time 
monopolised and made a good thing out of 
the trade— found themselves utterly at sea 
in their estimates and with large unsaleable 
stocks in hand, and had to wind up and dis- 
appear. Even quinine manufacturers 
suffered severely and several factories also dis- 
appeared. If ever, therefore, any men had 
full warning as to the need of caution, they 
are the planters of cinchona, the dealers in 
bark ancl the manufacturers of ciuinine ; and 
yet our correspondent today thinks a farther 
and special word of warning not to be out 
of place. He holds that we are in now for 
a period of decreased production extending 
over the next five or six years— and this we 
can quite believe— and simultaneously, that 
the demand for quinine during this same 
period is likely to increase steadily. The "unit" 
should, in our correspondent's opinion, be 
well maintained if not increased during this 
period, and that would enable planters to 
do jtistice to their trees, and would also 
encourage further and careful planting, 
especially in India and Ceylon. There is 
much good sense in all this. We have to 
guard, on the one hand, against a temporary 
"boom" in prices leading to a rush into 
harvesting and even into "prospecting" in 
South America ; and on the other, against 
such a fall as would discourage planting alto- 
gether. Baron von Rosenberg thinks that 
the happy medium is found in 2^6.. as the 
price per unit in bark and "is. 6d. as 
the selling price per otmce of quinine. 
If that be the case, long may such rates 
be maintained. Our correspondent winds up 
by giving a much-needed warning as to the 
seed used by cinchona planters. That seed 
generally has deteriorated, is only too true. 
We think that seed from old trees in Java, 
Ceylon and India should only be used when 
interchanged and that none should be 
utilised in the country of its growth, 
except under entirely new conditions» 
