Dec. 1, 1898.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
419 
JAVA QUININE. 
(From the Chemint and Di-ur/f/ist, Oct. 15.) 
PLANTERS' PROSPECTS. 
The f aiure of .Java cinchona need no longer trouble 
the producers. U.S. Consul Sidney B. ^\^r^^^'f. 
Batavia, has taken Java under his w.ng '^'^'^ to d 
his Government how America can bay from Java, and 
be independent of Europe so far as raw quinine 
is concerned. Mr. F. W. Sijtholf, manager of the 
Java Quinine-factory, is Mr. Everett's authority for 
the statement ; but if Mr. Everett's other information 
is derived from the same source, his prophecy must 
be taken cautiously, as he seems to be labouring un- 
der the impression that qainme is stuff worth a tew 
pounds per ounce. "There have (he says) been lu- 
Liced and .hipped to U.S.A. from Java this y<^r 
48 :-!00 oz. of sulphate of quinine, valued at iiU.,.-3.)o,Uoj,_^ 
and "more will follow, of course, but not at that price 
No American citizen is required to pay a dollar tor 
his matutinal quinine-pill, although the^ U'"'''iT,r 
resulted in a rise in quinine quotations. Blr. l^ve- 
[■et 4 figures have Kot mixed somehow ; there are 
lound to he millions in it before a U.S Consul dare 
o?ch a thing, and a paltry 48,300 cz. of quinine in 
face of "North America's annual consumption of 
0 000,000 oz." was too little a thing to go by itself we 
ancv especially as one object of the report seems to 
be to induce Americans to put their money in .Java. 
We fancy, however, that Mr. Everett cannot be res- 
ponsible' or the p 1, 395,055. Now is the linie^^^ 
he =avs, " to begin a new quinme enteipiise. ine 
stock now laid up will be consumed in wo or 
hree years, and the demand will immediately be 
argely incl-eased." (Wo may remark, parenthe- 
tically that cinchona-trees are always growing.) 
fie " cannot conceive of a better investment than 
the planting of cinchona in Java. Concessions of 
and^re not hard to get there, if o^V^sTha^'ofthe 
The climate in the interior is as perfect as that of the 
coast cities is bad. The Dutch Government has 
madl a gieat success of the plant ng, c eanng a 
m-ofit in 18% of over $38,500 from its esta es. ihe 
world's output is only 788,771 lb., of which Java 
p^^^duces about three-fourths." The last sentence 
refers to quinine, not cinchona. _ . 
This invitation to American financiers is not alto- 
eether unreasonable, for the thing that Java cinchona- 
nlanters lack most is the wherewithal to prevent them 
rea sing bark as they dry it. They must ge money 
-they must take what buyers give them for the baHr. 
The successful attempt of last year to .advance the 
unit (which increased threeto'.d from January to 
Decsmbei) resulted in such accummulalion of baili 
that many have been forced to realise tins year ihe 
•esuU being that, so far, a fourth more bark has been 
offered llris is shown by the following fagures, which 
give the results of the auctions for the eight months 
of this year :— 
Average 
Quinine 
per cent 
Quinine 
Quin- 
^\'eight 
Sulphate 
of 
Sulph- 
ine 
Year. 
of 
in 
Quinine 
ate S 
ulphate 
Bark. 
Bark. 
Sulphate. 
sold, bought in 
Kilos. 
Kilos. 
Kilos. 
Kilos. 
1898 . 
. 5,175,316 
257,678 
4-88 to 5-43 
178,539 
79,139 
1897 . 
. 4,005,501 
221,058 
5-26 „ 610 
186,444 
34,614 
1896 . 
. 4,.528,277 
240,309 
5-05 „ 5-83 
202,126 
33,183 
1895 . 
. 4,630,859 
225,867 
4-63 „ 517 
141,314 
84,053 
1891 . 
. 3,443,031 
161,659 
4-61 „ 5-12 
125,727 
35,932 
1893 . 
. 3,930,594 
172,982 
4-23 „ 5-02 
97,679 
75,303 
These sales also reveal the fact thai this year's quality of 
birk has senstbly deteriorated— a condition which often 
accompanies deplantation, or indicates that careless- 
ness ontlie part of the planters which results from 
unprolitablo eutorpriHe. However that may be, it is 
regrettable to see any sign of deterioration in a 
place where it is so easy to keep up the quality . These 
are considerations of practical utility to the American 
investor. It is astonishing how the consumption of 
quinine goes on. The above figures do not, perhaps, 
convey much, but when we say that at Amsterdam 
a fortnight since the baik sold represented 35 tons 
of quinine sulphate, and that one quiniue mannfao- 
turer bought two-thirds of it, everyone can grasf- 
how important in volume the quinine ' trade has be 
come of recent years. It is also worih noting that 
although quinine is chenp, and the British Pharma- 
copreia has de-ofiicialifjeed cin o honidine, the latt- r 
alkaloid is growing in demand and is rapidly coming 
to the price of quinine. 
MINOR PRODUCTS REPORT. 
London, Oct. 6. 
Coca-Le.wes. — Pair green Truxillos leaves can be 
had on the spot at 8 per oz. 
London, Oct. 13. 
Camphor. — The crude market is in a peculiar posi- 
tion. Wednesday's cabled advices from the East gave 
107s to 110s per cwt for Japan, but buyers laugli 
at such prices, and refuse to buy. There is no quota- 
tion for Chinese. It is notable that no crude camphor 
of any kind arrived in Europe last month, and it 
loolts as if Eastern holders were to starve the home 
market in'o the higher prices. Refined firm but 
unchanged. A consular report on the trade . f Hingo 
and Osaka during 1897 states that there was a mani- 
fest falling-off in the quality of the Japanese pro- 
duct, which was not observable in the Formosan. 
Consequently the latter was preferred for the Eu- 
ropean maiket, whilst the American market, less 
discriminating, took more than double the export of 
1896. India took an increasing proportion of re- 
fined camphor, Europe and America of crude. The 
exports from the above two ports in 1897, were 
1,524 tons, valued at £132,472, as compared with 
936 tons, valued at £118,443 iu 1896. Hongkong 
advices dated September 3rd report the stock at 
7,500 cases, with sales of 750 cases at 833 6d per cwt, 
c.i.f , and arrivals, since August 20th 1,031 cases. 
The exports from Canton and Hongkong to the 
United Kingdom since January 1st 1898, have been 
nil ; 1897 nil ; 1896 756 boxes ; 1895 5.989 boxes ; to 
the Continent since January 1st 1898 12,935 boxes; 
1897 20,329 boxes; 1896 16,6-44 boxes ; and 1895 17,019 
b xes. 
Cinchona, — At the London auctions on Tuesday 
the Fmall supply of 1,740 packages was offered, the 
whole of which was practically cleared with a brisk 
demand on a unit basis of 13-16d to gd, equal to 
about 41c Dutch. Barks containing cinchonidine sold 
at about twenty per cent higher rates. Nine brokers 
offered supplies, the aggregate of which was aa 
follows : — 
Packages offered. Packages, 
Java cinchona .. 755 of which 755 were sold. 
Bast India cinchona . . 471 do 365 do 
African cinchona .. 260 do 260 do 
Ceylon cinchona . . 148 do 108 do 
South American cin- 
chona . . 106 do 106 do 
1,740 1,594 
South Amekicans. — Fair to good Bolivian cultiva- 
ted Calisaya, 4Jd to 5id per lb. 
Java. — Ledgeriana red stem cliips 25d to 3d ; root 
IJd ; branch chips Id to 2Jd ; ditto fair to good 2gd 
to 3jcl ; and rich 4d to IhA per lb. 
CEViiON, — Succirubra : Fair to good natural red stem 
chips and shavings 2Ul to 25d ; ordinary renewed 
ditto 2d to 2:td, OlVicinalis : Natural stem chips 
2id to 2iid per lb. 
