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THE TROPICAL AGRICDLTURIST. 
[Apiiil 1, 1901. 
TEA "REFUSE" AND CAFFEINE; ALSO 
CINCHONA PROSPECTS, 
Mr. F. L. Seely, — the very v/orthy nivl 
well-inforiiied repi-esentative of a big Auiei'i- 
can drug- house— lias been giving ns some 
useful information about tea refuse and 
caffeine. Mr. Seely is cliiefiy inteiv-sted in 
cinchona and quinine, and he tells us plainly 
that Java commands — and must for many 
years connnand— the "bark" market with 
her 25,000 acres of old trees, chiefly Calisaya. 
which, if the price iustined the export, 
could supply five or s'x million lb. in place 
of the normal one million lb, of hark, each 
month. Last year Java supplied 12,000,000 lb. 
of cinchona bark and manufactur-jd one- 
tenth (one million ounces) of the world's 
supply of quinine. There is, tlierefore, no 
special encoiirap;ement to grow cinchona in 
Ceylon, save as an adjunct to other 
products ; and in this direction, a good deal 
may be safely done, because the Java 
planters are bound to keep up the price 
for their own protection. Mr. Seely ran up 
to Kandy, Hatton and Blair Athol ; but 
finding it took him four hours to licd as 
many cinchona trees (!), he thought he had 
better hurry over to India. 
But now to turn to refuse tea and 
caffeine, Mr. Seely estimates that the 
world's requirements in caffeine equal 50 000 
lb. at least and may shortly rise to 100,000 lb. 
To produce this quantity, chemists requ!;?e 
from five to ten million lb, of refuse tea. 
The firm of Messrs. Bohringer, as repre- 
senting the great Mannheim Chemical 
Manufactory, have hitherto been tlie chief 
purchasers of such refuse ; but they And a 
difficulty in dealing with planters, because 
of their fear lest any of the tea should be 
sold for food consumption. Of course, such 
an idea is absurd in the case Of a house 
of the standing of Messrs. Bohringer. But 
Mr. Seely suggests a very easy check. 
The addition of some lime to refuse tea 
would yirevent its use for food consumption, 
while it would aid, even expedite, t' e work 
of the chemist. If, therefore, the planters 
consigned their refuse t"a to Messrs. 
Bohringer'ss store in Colombo, a represen- 
tative of the Planters' Association or 
"Thirty Committee" could, once a month 
or once a quarter, check the cfinsignments 
and see the lime duly added. We give 
this suggestion for what it is wor'^h. 
Certainly the transfer of some 5,000,000 lb. 
of refuse or rubbishy teas to the chemist 
ought to be an object worthy of attention 
from the Association and Chamber's Com- 
mittees. 
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE : 
THK NEW LOCAL INDUSTRY. 
( Communicated.) 
Of late years, manufacturers in soiue yjarts 
of the world have complacently claimed the 
credit to themselves of giving to tlie con- 
sumer an article of diet of great excelience, 
as if the excellence was not in the 1)1;, n iiself 
before it went into the manufacturer's hands. 
Long befoi^e the days of elaborate machin 
ery and the necessity for laws against 
adulteration of foodstuffs the Mexican 
ground his cocoa paste in the primi- 
tive grindstone of the aborigine ; and 
in golden goblets, we are told, did the 
kings sip this ambrosia of the gods. If, 
therefore the manufacturer could take credit 
for aught he could of a verity only claim 
credit for leaving well alone. To him, indeed, 
could a discriminating public say in these 
days of popularised science — for he can take 
.away much of the purity and strength of 
cocoa with the aid of starch, as he could 
increase its solubility by the addition of 
deleterious ciiemicals :— " Nothing extenuate, 
put down nought in malice." The medical 
faculty may, in the case of those with a 
weak digestion, demand a reduction of the 
natural fat found in the cocoa. But this is 
readily extracted by the use of a press, 
while the cocoa is still in .a liquid state, as it 
flows out of the mill, and the confectioner 
as rea lily takes it away at double the price 
paid for the nib. The residuum is what the 
manufacturer isjil^&ed to call essence ! Such 
is the romance which attaches to cocoa. 
OUR VIEW OF BARK AND A BROKER'S. 
Keadera who have followed our articles on cinchona 
and quinine during the 'ast three years will be 
especially interested in a letter recently issued by 
Messrs. Woodhonse & Co., the well-known bark 
br okers. There is nothing remarkable in the fact 
that this firm interprets the fij^iires relating to cin- 
chona, as we do, for it is difficalt to see how anyone 
tnkiu2 a wide survey of the sit :ation can come to any 
other conclusion. The only people who doub' the 
evident conclusion are those who expect that it the 
na'ural position of an article is strong the article 
should stand any amount of rushing by speculators 
without having reactions. Messrs. Woodhonse's way, 
howev(-r, of putting certain points are, perhaps, 
cariously like ours. As the letter is lengthy, we can 
only, of course, refer here to scattered passages. 
First, the fact is noted that 1900 is memorable as 
being tne first for m?ouy years in which the value 
of the unit in bark did not fall bflow Id per pound, 
and the pjice of quinine below Is per ounce. The 
average units for bark were, for 1900, 10.13 cents in 
H' >lland and 2d in London, as against 7.0.1 cents and 
lid in 1899, and 4.78 cents and 15-16d in 1898. One 
noteworthy point to which we drew attention is here 
empliasi^ed — viz., that whereas in 1899, at the point 
when the unit reached 10.90 cents, manufacturers 
raised quinine to Is 9d, in 1900 the alkaloid was 
never above Is 7d, though 12.25 cents was the unit 
in Si'ptember. A calculation is also made, showing 
cost of quinine in bark, this cost plus that of manu- 
facturing, and the selling price. Taken in the order 
named these factors are: — 1900, Is, Is 4d, Is 5^d ; 
1899, 8d, Is, Is 3d ; 1898, S^d, Q^d, lid. This reveals 
at once how the general trend of bark and quinine 
has been strongly upwards, and how a healthier 
situation is being promoted by the closer approach 
of cost and selling price. In the broker's letter the 
cost of manufacture is put at 4d per oz ; we think 
8d is a fairer figure. 
Turning to the question of consumption and pro- 
ducti in, some carefully compiled ts^bles are given, 
which, however, we will leave for later coi sideration. 
At present we may simply say that the conclusion 
from these is the one we have repeated again and 
again, viz, that consumption has o^iertaken produc- 
tion. In these tables the production is probably stated 
rather too low ; indeed, alkaloids other than quiniqe 
