Feb. 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL 
monthly about 30,000 cow hides, 10,000 buf- 
falo hides and 2,000 sheep skins were 
tanned here. The large outside demands 
soon clear the warehouses. For instance, this 
morning our representative observed over 5uO 
butfalo skins fully tanned and prepared being des- 
paiehed to Messrs Clark Young & Co., for export. 
There was also observed in process of tanning the 
skin of a large boa-conslrictor or rather python, 
certainly measuring over 12 feet. Also there were 
about 30 cheetaii skins excellently cured and well 
adapted for rugs. Altogether W D Carolis' 
business established in 1879 and which has 
obtained seven Ceylon medals for its manu- 
factures, not to mention a silver medal and bionze 
medal at the recent Paris Exhibition, is one' of 
the most important houses, of the leather trade in 
the East. 
^ 
ABOUT JAVA COFFEE. 
Mr. B F Sherburne writing in a recent issue of 
the Eureka Standard says ; — 
The first cargo of Java coffee has yet to be 
brought to the United States, but every grocery 
store in the country is selling what they believe to 
be the real article, sometimes mixed with imaginary 
Mocha. 1 was in the East India trade six years, 
sailing from Boston with a miscellaneous cargo to 
Batavia, Singapore and Penang. Part of the cargo 
I sold in Batavia, such as was in demand there, 
buying such produce as was required by our home 
market, goiog thence to Singapore and Penang for the 
same purpose, fiuishiug our home cargo at the last- 
named port. While in Batavia I purchased, among 
otlier things, a few thousand Java bags, or pockets, 
that would contain half a picul (about sixty-six 
pounds) of cofiee ; when in Singapore I would purchase 
a hundred tons or so of coffee, raised in Macassar, Rhio, 
and other islands (very good coffee too), employ coolies 
to pick it over, discarding all dirt and imperfect berries, 
I would then fill the Java bags and take it to Boston, 
where it was sold as "Java" coffee, and no one could 
tell the difference as there was no Java coffee to com- 
pare It with. The coffee raised in Sumatra is 
probably as good as that raised in Java, which 
is all shipped to Europe. But the Sumatra coffee is 
shipped to all countries, being bought at auction 
from the Dutch Government at their annual sales. 
The Dutch rule their subjects with an iron band in 
India. In Sumatra, where the bulk of their coffee 
id raised for foreign shipment, the plantations are 
leased to the natives and an inspector visits them 
all and compels them to raise a certain amount 
of coffee on pain of having their plantations taken 
away from them. This crop the government agrees 
to pay a certain price for, to be delivered at the 
port of Padang, where agents of purchasers assemble 
to buy from the government at auction, and the dif- 
ference between the price, or what it is sold for, 
and what the government gives the natives, is their 
profit. No purchaser can buy more than a certain 
amount at that time, all being served alike. Erom 
Padang the cofiee is shipped to this country and 
Europe. It is nearly as good coffee as that grown in 
Java, and is sold as such m the United States. 
JAVA CINCHONA. 
From the report for 1900 on the Government cin- 
chona plantations at Java to hand, we learn that at 
the end of the year the number of plants standing in 
the ground was 2,930,000, compared with 2,567,000 
at the termination of 1899. The increase waa—not 
attributable to the area under cultivation bjirfng ex- 
tended, but to the filling up of the spaces in the ex- 
isting plantations, and, but for the unfaiourable 
AGRICULTURIST. 53| 
weather prevailing throughout the 12 months, it 
would have been greater. In the nurseries the plants 
totalJed 1,731,01)0 or 24,000 more than at the end of 
the previous year. The total area cultivated by the 
Government was 1,179 hectares (hectare=2'17 acres), 
consisting of : Cinchona ledqeriana, 744 hectares ; 
hvbrid species, 155 hectares; and cinchona succirubra, 
280 hectares. The total crop for the year was 1,123,530 
half kilos of bark, of which 756,907 half-kilos were 
shipped to Holland, 2,404 half-kilos were taken by 
the-medical profession, and 364,219 half-kilos were 
handed to the Bandong Quinine Factory. With the 
exception of 2,336 kilos, of sulphate quinine delivered 
to the Government Army Medical Stores at 
Batavia, the production of the factory will 
be sold by auction during the current year at the 
latter city. The crop the previous year amounted 
to 798,991 lb., so that the increase was 324,539 lb. for 
1900. The total expenditure for the whole year waa 
123,826 florins (florin = Is 8d). The net profit on the 
sales of the produce of 1899 at the different auctions 
in Amsterdam in 1900 was 305,568 florins. Daring 
the year experiments were made with so-called 
" boengkil," the residue obtained in making oil from 
the Jiicinus spectahilis ; the beneficial influence upon 
the verdure and growth of the plants was very marked, 
and to a less degree upon the quantity of the alkaloid, 
in which a slight increase is noticed after the first 
year. In consequence of the greatly enhanced demand 
for this manure, its price has gone up 300 per cent, 
so that the directors of the Government cinchona 
plantations are planting the liicmus spectahilis on 
considerable tracts of land, so as to be able to them- 
selves prepare the "boengkil." The oil they will obtain 
can be utilised by the State railways. Other experi- 
ments were alao made with chemical manures manu- 
factured at Rotterdam. 
It will be remembered the first quinine factory 
in Java waa established in the year 1899. The first 
of the public auctions took place on February 28th,' 
when the average price realised was 23"24 florins 
per kilo — the price in London is given in the report 
as Is 4d per oz. or 28 22 florins per kilo, in the 
subsequent monthly sales the price fluctuated some- 
what, but in December it sunk to 19 07fl., when the 
London price was Is l|d per oz. or 24"25fl. per kilo. 
The total amount of quinine that changed hands waa 
29,506 kilos., and the average price realised for the 
whole year was 22.50f. per kilo. At first, as might 
be expected, the quantities obtained and the colour 
of the alkaloid were not all that could be desired, 
but, thanks to the zeal of the manager. Dr. Van 
Linge, the establishment is now not only obtain- 
ing an excellent yield, but is manufacturing a 
product that is able, says the report, to compete with 
the old marks. The report states that if the planters 
content themselves with a moderate crop, and limit 
the shipments to Europe, the produce of Java, which 
contains the highest percentage of quinine, will 
improve in price. At the various sales during the year 
the total amount of sulphate of quinine sold at Batavia 
was 29,505-80 kilos. The total shipments of bark from 
the whole of Java in 1900 were about 600,000 lbs less 
than in 1899, and the average percentage of alkaloid 
was also slightly lower, being 5'26 per cent., com- 
pared with 5-38 percent At the 10 public auctions in 
Amsterdam last year, 5,262,142 kilos, of bark equal 
to 298,140 kilos, of quinine were offered ; for the pre- 
ceding year the figures are 5,583,393 kilos of bark 
equal to 271,259 kilos of alkaloid. The production 
of the whole world is stated to have been, in 1900, 
8,367 metric tons, compared with 8,218 tons in 1899, 
The consumption of quinine for the whole world is 
estimated at 390 metric tons. 
We ascertain from the report that the Government 
of British India has made arrangements for selling 
small packets of quinine — 25 centigrams in weight — 
at the various post offices throughout the country, 
w th the view of counteracting the ravages of fevers 
amongst the native population. This is an example 
