Jan. 1, 1904.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
479 
SIR A SWETTi^NiCfVJI AND COTTON 
GROWING, 
His Excellency the Governor has given the 
Berbice Cotton Growers' Committee the sum of 
§50 as a prize to be competed for by the peasant 
farmers tlironghout tlie colony up t ) the SOtii of 
June nest, for the largesf area of land under 
cotton cultivation. — Demerara Daily Chroaicle, 
SOME FACTS ABOUT QUININE. 
We recently annoanced that the cheapening of the 
coat of production of quiaine had enabled the Govern- 
ment to increase th-; quantity of quinine sold in the 
pice packets from 5 to 7 grains. Xhat beius; quite a 
new depart:ire this is an opportune moment in which 
to enquire into the conditions under which the 
cinchona industry is maintained in this and other 
countries. In this connection the Memorandum on 
b«rk and quinine by Mr 'vV M Standen, Director of the 
Government Cinchona Plantations, which has just 
been published, is interesting. From it we learn that 
the Madras Government manufactured 15,711 lb of 
quinine in 1902 and the Bengal f ictory 11,927 lb, or a 
total mmnfaoture in India of 27,G38 lb Excluding this 
17,153,000 lb of cinchona bark, the raw product from 
which quinine is msiuiifactured, were exported in the 
Bame year from Ceylon, India and Java viz, from 
Ceylon 407,000 lb, from India 2,020,000, and from Java 
11,726,000 lb ; and the arrivals in London during the 
same period from Africa and South America amounted 
to 179,872 lb and 775,003 lb respectively. The total 
amount of bark available for manufacture in 1902 was 
thus 18,107,872 lb, which it was estimated contained 
861.812 ib of quinine. In addition 43,705 lb of quinine 
were manufactured in and exported from Java. 
The quinine production of the world in tha 
year 1902 may, therefore, be estimated as follows ; — 
From Ceylon, Indian, Javan, South American and 
African barks 861,812 lb ; quinine exported from Java 
43,750 lb; quinine produced at the Government factories 
in India 27,688 lb ; or a total of 933,200 lb. 
There are 20 quinine factories in the world viz' 
3 in England, 2 in Germany, 1 in Holland, 5 in 
France, 2 in Italy, 4 in America, 1 in Java, 1 in 
Bengal and 1 in this Presidency. The most important 
markets of the world are, however, Amsterdam and 
London. In the early days of the bark industry, the 
London market was well supplied with back from 
South America and Ceylon: but since the decline in 
exports from these countries, and the steady increase 
of production from Java, the Amsterdam market has 
beoome a far more importan'; centre for the sale of 
bark. During 1902 the quantity of bark sold in 
Amsterdam was 14,322,659 lb while the quantity sold 
in Lsndon during that year was only 2,850,000 lb. 
Those interested in this wonderful febrifuge will 
have noticed that the price of quinine in the London 
market is always quoted at ao much per unit. This 
nuit is the price of i-lOOth of a lb of quinine sulphate in 
loark form. For example, if the precentage of sulphate 
of quinine in the bark ia three and the price paid 4Jd 
the unit is 14i. When the unit ia l.\d the, cost of 1 lb of 
Bulphate of quinine in bark form Is 1. 5d X 100=il50d 
or 123 6d. The difference between this figure and 
the selling prices of quinine per lb represents the 
coat of mauufaccure aud tha manufacturers' profit. 
In 1902 the average unit price was liJ and the 
average price of Howard's quinine was 1'2^ per oz. 
There are two points of controversy between the 
Director of the Governmfint Ciuchoua Plantations and 
the private planters. The one is the allegation by 
the latter that they are at a disadvantage owing to 
Government competition; the other the variation ia 
the analysis of samples of their bark by which their 
sales to the Government faotory are regulated. With 
legard (9 the fgrmcr, Mr Sttvudeu poiuta gut that 
Hince 1882 the imports of quinine into India have 
rapidly increased, in spite ot the fact that during this 
period the Government Hospitals and Dispensariea 
and Medical Deputs have been supplied from the. 
Bengal and Madras factories. The imports in 1879 
were 5,910 lb, in 1882, 10,650 lb , and in 11 months of 
1902, according to Messrs Woodhouse, they were 
.'37,250 lb. It cannot bo said, therefore, saya 
Mr Standen, that the manufacture of qui- 
nine by Government has adversely affected 
the trade in quinine. With regard to the 
second bone of contention Mr Standen says : — • 
With a material like cinchona bark the value of 
which consists of its alkaloidal contents, the question 
of obtaining a representative sample of the bulk is one 
of great importance. That it is a matter of consi- 
derable difficulty, it not of impossibility, to obtain a 
sample which accurately represents the value of a 
large bulk can be realised, when it is remembered 
that the bark of one tree may contain 1 per cent, of 
quinine, while that of a similar tree of the same age 
and grown on the same field may yield 10 per cent. 
This extreme degree of variation is quoted for the sake 
of illustration, but in actual working, the range of 
value between one tree and another on a good field of 
oiKcinalis bark may well be from 3 per cent, to 6 per 
cent, of quinine. In the case of a consignment of 
20,000 Iba of bark in ICO bales, the bark miy be the 
produce of 10,000 trees, each differing in alkaloidal 
yield from the others, and each bale may contain the 
bark of lUO trees. It ia evident, therefore, that, unless 
care is taken to thoroughly mix the 200 lb. that are 
required to fill the bale a sample of one pound drawn 
from the contents of this bale is not likely to represent 
with accuracy the whole 200 lb. 
Blr Standen points out that in Java the bark ia 
pounded in small chips and well mixed before being 
packed, "but in India this pounding and mixture of 
the bark before packing does not appear to have 
received the attention it deserves. It is not surpri- 
sing, therefore, that complaints about low analysis are 
heard from time to time." — 31. Mail, 
* 
PROFESSOR HERDMAN'S REPORT ON THE 
CEYLON PEARL FISHERIES. 
In the list of new hooks for the week is the Re- 
port to the Government of Ceylon on the Pearl 
Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar, by W A 
Herdman, U Sc. F R S with supplementary Re- 
ports upon the Marine Biology of Ceylon by other 
naturalists, 12 x 9]:. 37 J page?. Twenty plates. 
The publishers are the Royal Society, Following 
(says the Times) on Mr Herdman's historical, 
biological and descriptive record are more special 
reports by various writers, by far the largest being 
on " Copepoda " by Mr L Thouipson and Mr. 
Andrew Scott. Further reports will be published 
in 1904, aud the remaining parts, dealing with 
other groups of annuals, will appear, it is hoped] 
in the following year. —iio)/ie Cor., Dec. Hh, 
The Asphalte Deposits of Trinidad.— 
Professor Henry Louis, of Newcastle, who was 
sent out by the Government to investigate the 
as[)halte deposits of Trinidad, addressed a 
meeting on the subject last night at Newcastle. 
It had been sugL'esced that the so-called pitch 
lake from which 120,000 tons of asphalte were 
dug annually was inexhaustible, but Professor 
Louis said he had been able to prove that this 
was not so. The level of the lake had sunk to 
a degree corre sponding exactly with the quantity 
taken from it. If they knew the depth of the 
lake they would know to a tou how much asphaltQ 
wa^ in ic,— London Tii)ics. 
