688 
THE tROPICAL AGRlCULTUlilST. 
GERMAN STOCKS OF BARK AND 
QUININE. 
Let us begin by sayirj;; tliiit our li«uie.s 
are obtained from Government sources, and 
tlie German Government is generally credite<l 
with being as precise In its records as any Govern- 
ment. The statistics do not simply take tiie 
purchases of ljuyers in Amsterdam and agents 
in London and add the two together ; they take 
cognisance from within Geimany of all cinchona 
bark comincr over the borders arid of all (ininine 
passing out of tlie territory, and this is rthat 
they say when collated properly :— 
Cinchona Bark. " Quinine and 
Quinine Salts." 
o< cu ^ ^ a. su 
S * c. X C 
5 W ^ W 5 
Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. 
1.889-94 29,882 
1395 2,021 
1890 3,466 
1897 4,205 
1898* 3,53U 
500 29,;582 1,017 
121 l,90a l.VJ 
131 3,335 196 
89 4,11« 251 
94 3,442 201 
40 
6 
4 
5 
34 
I- 
Tons. 
971 
153 
192 
9.i6 
iy7i 
Total 43,113 935 42,178 1,821 GIJ 1,759J 
We thns arrive at a net im))ort of bark of 42,178 
tons, and a net export of quinine, iVc. of 1,760 tons. 
The bulk of the bark imported into England 
and exported to Germany has been for a num- 
ber of years East Indian oHicinalis, Ceylon 
succirubra, and African succirubra. If we take 
the total alkaloidal content of the first and 
the total alkaloidal content of tlie second and 
third (which amount together for the la.^t five or 
six years to nearly as iniicli as the lir.~t) we shall 
see a close approach to the alkaloidal figure of the 
Java baric. Ledger bark contains a rich per- 
centage of quinine, but it contains jirecions little 
of anything else. "Red" bark, on the other 
hand, contains little quinine, but fetches up con- 
siderably with other alkaloid. We have before 
us some long strings of olticial analyses (which 
■will be succinctly summarised later) of Java succi- 
rubra where, whil.«t the percentage equivalent 
of quinine sulphate it contains runs something like 
this: •2-8.j 1 61, IS-t, 1 84, 2-85, 2-08,1 81, 2-25, 2-15, 
&c., that of the total alkaloid goes U'40, 6'51, 
5-73, 5'73, 6-40, 6 95, 5 58, 6 -20 and so on. One 
does nob expect Ceylon bark to come up to this, 
but in the case of otKcinalis the East Indian bark of 
even 20 years was shown (in an examination) of 20 
samples by De Vrij to give results which we average 
at six per cent of total alkaloids. So that in 
tliis rough reckoning we are getting towards a 
more even percentage than some of our commer- 
cial readers anticipated. It is a case in which 
they can be assisted by the records of chemical 
investigation, but this must be c:)nductffd much 
more caiefuUy than has been done here. However, 
we have said sufficient to show that the figures 
ior the "quinine" exports of Germany are not im- 
possibly high. It is well to remember in these 
things that if theories and facts conflict, it must 
be the lot of the theories to be abandoned.— .B. 
aiicL C. Druggist. 
* Of the 3,536 tons imported in 1898, 1,021 tons 
came from the United Kingdom. 2,170 tons from the 
Netherlands, 292 tona {roto t^je Putcb ludies, »Qd 
§ tQua Urn iPeiUj 
TEA PLANTING fN CEVLON. 
To begin with, tlie tea industry is not %»hat it 
was, owing chiefly to high exchange, low jiric^-s at 
Mincing Lane, ovur production «nd In k of u*w 
markets. As regards the actual work of (Su- 
perintendents of te* estates, «e may say I'lat 
manual labour on llie part ol European.-, ix prac- 
tically unknown, chielly for climalic re;»hons, but 
at tlie same time the duii«-h are by no means 
light, and are at times somewhat iiksome. T(m< h- 
ing on salaries paid to .Supennlenuenn. we con- 
sider that in the majoiiiy of c.a^s^:^ they aie 
grossly ina-lequate. es|.ecia!ly in the case ..f l^:. 
ginneis. For in^lance, a fellow coining out lieiv 
wouM in all probability hi.ve to pay a lar-e 
premium, say from £iw to £2<X> a year for 
the privilege of learning tea planting, after 
which, having learnt his work he may. or may not 
get a billet, carrying with it the enormoui, balary 
of from K80 to KlOO a month. His initiation would 
take from six months to a year, and he would 
probably draw the above salary for another year 
after which, provided of courr-e that he i« a 
hard worker, he would probably get a rise of salary, 
and after some years might in time obtain a fairly 
comfortable |)osition. The gini of the whole 
matter is. that owing to the wretched pittance 
exiled by courtesy a salary— on which beginner* 
commence, he is unable to make both ends meet 
for some years, and the result is that a gieat 
many fellows are so di.-heartened with their 
pro.spects, that they give it up »s a failure. Apart 
from this, there are already far loo many Kuroi^jans 
in the island for the number of billeti*,' ami several 
Companies are retrenching by reducing their 
European stall, and replacing tliem by native 
conductors at half the salary, and who' are able 
to hye upon curry and rice. On the other hand. 
t!ie life out here is very jolly iiideetl, and one 
nieets the very best of fellows ; in fact the Cevlou 
planter is famed lor his hospitality, and if 'one 
could only make both ends meet on (ir-t coirmen- 
cing, there would be little to complain of We 
have not written this letter for the purpose of 
running down Ceylon, as we like the Colony 
and the life very much, but rather 'o warn 
College fellows that though the life here is com- 
paratively easy it isn't necessarily the " soft 
snap some fellows think it to be. The men to 
do well here are hard working, steady and easy 
tempered men. Concluding, we urge any Colle"e 
fellows, who are thinking as a livelihood to 
consider gravely all the facts of the case l^fore 
coiinng here. Wishing all prosperity to yonr-elves 
and the old College, where we both spent some of 
the happiest days of our lives, Ac."— From a 
young Ceylon planter in the Colonial Colleat 
Magazine, for December I80ji. 
'■ The Agricultl-p,.4l Gazette ' of New Sonto 
Wales for January 1899 has the following contents •— 
Farmyard Manure ; ImproTement of the New Sobtil 
Wales Live Stock ; Insect and Fungus Disease of 
Frnit Trtes and their Eemedies ; Some Ex. tic 
GrasseB; Useful Australian Plants; Some Nat-ve 
Australian Fodder Plants ; Botanical Notes • In. in . 
nous Drugs ; Explanations of Some Scientific Terfui 
met with in Agricultural Literature ; Tick F.ver • 
The Common ^hite Butterfly; The Hatcbine SeJ 
1898; Lactic Acid Ferment ; file an| low 
to Manage Them ; Bee Calendar' fer tebrufry^ 
rarm Not*, for Fcbrnary-North Eirers ; fii»eriM 
District; Hawkesbury District; Orchard Notea* 
Practical Yegetablc ao4 J'lower Growing ; Gc8«»i 
