Dec. 2, 1901.] 
THE fKOPlOAL AGRfCtJ'LTtRISf, 
a?5f 
This 10 per cent, yields 1,000,000 oz. of quiniae pet 
l^ar,' arid will very_aoon be inoreased to 2,000,000 
Mr. Seely found tiie Jav£^ (^uinirie-factory to be 
particnlarly attractive, a* his dv?n yusiness-interast 
ia quinine is eqaal to the annual dutp'dt o'f , the 
factory. It was a sarpriae to him to fiad so flue'ly 
equipped a laboratory, and especially to receive from 
mtnaoer.-^ ^ad owners suoh courtesy as belied the 
eurreat tales of mystery about the Bandong works. 
Mdat people know that the manufacture of quinine 
Hsis ftls^ayfi been treated as a Very profound secret, 
and probably triers is riot a (Juiriine-faotory in the 
world, outside Java, where a atiange'r would be 
permitted to learn anything of the projes^ of niauu- 
faoture. For this reason it was naturally difiloult 
for the Bandong works to secure chemists who were 
conversant with the maoufaotnre of the article, parti- 
cularly on account of their being so far removed 
from civilised countries where chemists usually are 
found. In the first instance, the Bandong factory 
Was placed in the hand of a mm who was not 
familiar With the manufacture of quinine, though 
he had had d, liirge ejsperience in augar-making, and was 
otherwise a rriiu of scientific a'tainments, so the 
quinine first produced Wiis not up to oommerical 
atandird. The eutarprise Went through a trying 
experience for about three years, and, although it 
wan a hard strugs;le, it continued to exist and to 
manufact'-ire quinine — suoh as it was. The owners 
were firtunate, however, in securing the serifioes of 
Di'. A. R. van Linge, who had studied under Dr. de 
Vrij, as manager and head chemist for the Bandong 
factory. He is the moving spiiit of the enterprise 
now, and not only has he perfected the processes 
of manufacture, but has invented and personally 
supervised the onstruction of the machinery and 
apparatus ujel in the works. 
Mr. Ssely saw about 4,000 oz. of quinine made per 
day, which he could not distinguish when placed 
among the bast-kno'vn European brands, and, in 
addition to this, every lot of quinine the factory 
manufactures is tested by the director of the Govern- 
ment plantations, and he was present at one of these 
examinations, where he saw for himself that the samples 
were above the requirement laid down in the Phar- 
macopoeia. The quinine is sold at open auction. 
A word as to the process of manufacture. When 
the bark reaches the factory every parcel is assayed, 
and the natives mix the various lots so that an average 
strength of alkaloid is represented in each day's 
work- Tods of bark are gronnd np every day and 
sifted by very improved machinery, after which it 
is moistened with an alkali and pumped into 
immense digesters containing hot crude petroleum. 
There are agitators inside the digesters, which mix 
the bark well with the oil, and the oil extract the 
a kaloid which the alkali seta free from the bark. 
The bark is then allowed to settle out and the 
oil is decanted off and washed with sulphnrio-acid 
water, which again takes the alkaloid from the oil. 
■ The oil is returned to the storage-tanks to be used 
J over again. The crude quinine sulphate crystallises 
from the hot solution as it cools, and is afterwards 
purified by reorystallisation, the mother-liqunr3, of 
course, being worked np too. It is a beautiful sight 
j to see the immense rows of big porcelain cryatallising- 
! pans, hundreds in number, full of the crystallised 
i sulphate, which looks like snow in water;- and it 
I was » delight to Mr. Seely to run his hand down 
through the sol'd crystals and squeeze the water 
out as one would in miking a snowball. 
Aftsr the crystals have formed in the pans and 
the solution is throughly cooled, their contents are 
dumped into centrifugal extractors, which throw the 
water out and leave the quinine sulphate nearly 
dry. The last crystallising solution (distilled water 
with a trace of quinine sulphate in it) is returned 
to this main building through underground pipes, 
Eulpburic acid is aiided to it, and it becomes the 
first washing-aolution aa above described. The 
^riinioe is then taken oat of the centrifngal macbineg 
and spJead U'pon trays to dry. Nearly every drnggist 
knows that qdinine sulphate should contain between 
14 and 16 per cent, water of crystallisation. One of 
the most delicate operations in the manufacture of 
quinine is to produce the article without too much 
i^r too little moisture in the finished product. The 
Bandong factory follows a process, invented by Dr. 
van hiage, Which enables the workers to regnlate the 
air and other conditioDS in the drying-room, to the 
extent that the product exactly meets Pharmacopoeitb 
requirements. 
After the quinine sulphate has been properly dried 
it is accurately weighed, under the supervision of a 
Eiuropean chemist, like all other operations in the 
laboratory. The photograph of the operation of pack- 
ing thef salt in the tins shows the chemist whose 
duty it is to look after this part of the work. 
The crystallising building, in which all of this 
work is done and in which no manufacturing opera- 
tions are carried on except the purifying and crys- 
tallising of the quinine sulphate, is the most perfect 
specimen of absolute cleanliness Mr. Seely has ever 
seen. The floors are covered with porcelain-finished 
tiles, which are kept aa clean as dishes, and he 
noticed that if the smallest dripping of solution waa 
spilt on the floor it had hardly landed before there 
waa a nafive after it with a cloth. The machinery 
and apparatus are kept in prefect order, and even 
the porcelain-lined crystallising-pans are washed with 
soap and water every time the solutions are changed. 
Cloths are stretched over each row of pans to keep 
out the dust and light. 
The quinine sulphate, after being put into tins, 
is sent to the stock-room, where it is put in casea 
which are manufactured by natives on the ground. 
After the goods are placed in the cases, a sample 
is extracted from each lot that is represented 
in the finished product, and the director of the 
Government cinchona-plantation, who has spent 
twenty-five years in the ferviee and who ia a dis- 
interested party, comes to the laboratory and ap- 
plies the pharmacopoeial testa to every sample. 
The quinine then goes to Batavia, the principal 
business city and port of Java, where it is aold at 
public auction about once a month- The factory 
owners have no interest in tbe fjales, as they do no 
business except with the planter himself, who pays 
the factory a stated sum (8j. for every 35 oz. for 
manufacturing costs), for it must be borne in mind 
that the pUuter owns the bark, and sends it to the 
factory simply to have the quinine taken from it, 
which is done on a guarantee that he iball receive 
the quinine that the bark assays, and he is at 
liberty to have assays made on hii own account 
before he sends the bark to the factory. The quinine 
which comes from the bark belongs to the planters 
until it is sold at public auction. The factory 
owners have agreed not to enter into the manufac- 
ture of quinine on their own nccount. 
The auctions in Batavia are carried on by Mestrs. 
Tiedeman & Van Kerchem, the oldest-established 
bankers in Java. The quinine is bid for by various 
brokers, who act for any one that wishes to employ 
them, and who charge a stated commission for their 
work, but do not speculate. So strict are they with 
the auctions that a broker must mention the names 
of the persona for whom he is purchasing. The 
quinine is then shipped to various parts of the world.—- 
Chemist and Druggist, 
NOTES ON PRUNING. 
By A. DEaPEisaia. 
Numerous enquiries reach the Department of Agri- 
culture every season on the matter of pruning. The 
subject has already been discussed with detail in 
previous publications, and to Parts 4 and 5. Vol. V., 
1898, of the Producert' Gazette and Settlers' Record 
I must refer those in search of more definite infor? 
mation op this subject. ' 
