364 
THE TROPICAL A'QRIOULTURIST [Nove mber 2, 1891. 
Quinine.— The market remains dull, but at the 
olose of last week a email transaction in second-hand 
German bulk at g^d per oz was reported. Since then 
buBiness has been suspended in anticipation of the 
result of today's work sales in Amsterdam. On 
September 25th one of the German " speoulative" 
brands was being ofiered in New York by the manu- 
facturer at 19i cents (9^d per lb.) for contracts all 
over 1891. That manufacturer certainly does not 
entertain sanguine views with regard to the future 
of the article. The following are the manufacturers' 
present quotations :— Howard's, in tine, Is Id to Is 
3d; in vials, Is 3d to Is 4d; Whiffen's, in tins. Is 
Id: in vials, Is 3d; Pelletier's in vials. Is lOd; 
Milan in vials. Is 2d ; in tins. Is ; Zimmer and Jobst, 
in tins, lljd ; other German brands, in tins, lOJd per 
oz.— Chemist and Druggist, Oct. 10th. 
Cinchona.— Having regard to the meagreness of 
our bark sale* of late, the supply of nearly 1,500 
packages this week seemed almost abundant. The 
quality of the bark offsred, too, was superior to what 
out buyers have had to content themselves with lately. 
The catalogue consisted of 
Pkgs. Pkgs. 
Ceylon bark 1,001 of which 1,001 were sold 
Indian bark 138 „ 105 
Jftva bark 84 „ 74 „ 
South American bark 214 ,, <^ „ 
Total 1437 „ 1,885 „ 
There was a very fair demand throughout the ftuotion», 
in which the majority of the manufacturers' agents 
participated, and with steady competition all the 
Ceylon as well as the bulk of the Indian and Java 
barks were disposed of at an average unitof Ijdper 
lb. for good mannfactnring barks. 
The following are the approximate quantities pur- 
chased by the principal buyers: — 
lbs. 
Agents for the Mennheim and Amsterdam works 67,15 
„ Auerbach factory 55,687 
Messrs. Howards & Sons 46,303 
Agents for the Frankfort of M. and Stuttgart 
works 42,755 
„ Brunswick works 29,150 
„ American and Italian works ...26,910 
Sundry druggists 10,169 
278,150 
53,870 
Tolal quantity of bark sold 
Bought in or withdrawn 
Total qnautity of bark offered ... 332,020 
It should be well understood that the mere weight 
qf bark purchased affords no guide whatever to the 
quinine yield represented by it ; firms who buy a small 
Quantity of bark by weight frequently take the richest 
lotf, and vice versa. The following prices are shown 
by an analysis of the catalogues to have been paid for 
Bound bark : — 
Ceylon Cinchona.— Original ;— Red varieties, ordi- 
nary woody to good bright stem and branch chips, 
l}d to 3d ; a few fine lots, 4d ; dust, Id ; dusty root, 2d ; 
ordinary weak quill, 3d ; fair to fine bright spokes 
shavings, l|dto 4d per lb. Yellow varieties, common to 
good bright quilly Ledger chips, IJd to 4d per lb. 
Yellow varieties, common to good bright quilly ledger 
chips, IJd to 6Jd ; good to fine bright shavingp, 4d to 
7d ; dull root, 3d ordinary Calisaya chips, 2Jd to 2id ; 
root, 3d per lb. Grey varieties, ordinary dull to fjood 
bright quilly branch and stem cliips, l|d to .'^d ; fair to 
good root, 3d to 5Jd per lb. Hybrid chips, IJd to 4d ; 
root, 3Jd to 4d ; shavings, 2^i] to 5|d per lb, Renewed: 
Ked varieties good to very fine rich shavings 3|d to 
6id ; poor to good btera nnd branch chips, l^d ; to 3^d 
((ood quillj chips, 4d per lb. Yellow common chips, 
aid ; fair shaviogB GjdtoC^^d per lb. Grey varieties, 
poor to good quilly stem and branch chips, 2id to 5^d 
i(,T lb. Hybrid dusty to fair stem and branch chips, 
ii to 4id per lb. 
It is mentioned in connection with the Gibbs Drj'er 
and patent Fitter Stoves, that the tea from the gardens 
of the Jokai Assam Tea Company, Limited, which 
fetched the top price in the " Lane," were passed 
through these dryers, and that the fermentation was 
fixed by these machines. — Home aud Colonial Mail. 
Me. Barton's Tea Diseask, for which he 
was to provide " a perfect cure, " turns out, as 
we expected, to be a caEc of much ado about no- 
thing. Trees badly planted in shallow holes with 
their roots turned up, cannot make healthy growth 
and in shallow and moistureless soil, even tea 
cannot enjoy a healthy existenoe, — that is all. In 
euch large expanses of tea as exist in Ceylon, 
gome bad planting in good soil and some planting 
in unsuitable soil is inevitable and so there are 
some unhealthy plants on every estate, apart 
from those Effected by symplocos fungus. Dr, 
Trimen's deliverance on the subject, as conveyed 
in response to queries from the " Independent " 
editor, is as follows : — 
The leaves at the ends of the shoots are dry, often 
puckered and torn, yellowish, discoloured with brown 
spots and lines, and they seem to ultimately dry com- 
pletely Bnd fall off. The twigs become dry and are 
often quite dead at their summit ; lower down, though 
apparently healthy outside, the young wood and inner 
bark show a brown discoloration and decay. Such ap- 
pearances might be due to the ravages of a sucking 
insect, but I see no trace of any. Fortunately our 
Ceylon species of Helopehis does not seem to attack 
tea. The brown discoloratious of the leaves are not 
at all like those produced by any parasitic fungus, nor 
is any tuoh to be discovered on them. I cannot fiod 
any web of red spider or any other trace of that insect. 
The appearances clearly point to some failure in root 
EC' ion, and that this is their cause is probable from an 
examination of the roots sent. 
In the larger lush (No. 1) which is apparently 
a " sturap " with a main stem nearly 7 in. 
iu circDmference, the large tup root is, at a distance 
of lets than 8 inches below the col'sr, bent at right 
angles, and runs horizontally for 3 feet, at whicti 
length it has been cut off in digging the pl.nt. Just 
below the crown, there are many other horizontal 
branches also spreading out to as great a length 
laterally as the tap root, and like it cut off. 
In the smaller bush (No. 2) the state of things 
is nob 80 bad, the tap root extending down- 
wards for 12 inches, and then branching hori. 
zontally ; in this also there are a large 
number of thick spreading horizontal branches 
immediately below the surface of the ground. 
This state of the roots is such as should be found 
in no lea bush grown under proper favorable condi> 
tions, and shows conclusively that the plant is unable 
to obtain a sufficient supply of fcod, and specially of 
water. These two bushes must have been planted 
in soil far too shallow for so deep rooted a plant as tea. 
The oases before me then are practically 
cases of starvation, and want of sufficient 
water to supply the evaporation from the 
leaves. I see in them no evidence of disease 
in any other sense than this. The condition of the 
bushes is individual to each, and has nothing of an 
epidemic character. 
I am, of course, able to speak only as to the material 
before me. The minute rootlets have necessarily been 
all destroyed in removing the foil, and 1 am thus un- 
able to say whether the condition is aggravated by 
" grub," but it is fully explained by the evidence of 
unsuitable conditions supplied by the roots. 
The real ciiuse is careless planting. Tea should 
never be put out in places where there is no possibility 
of its tnp loot taking its natural direotioa, though of 
course something may be done by cutting it off. I 
am sure, too, that coolies very often turn the root 
up by planting in holes that are too slulluw. Tea is 
a very hardy plant; hut it feels droufjlit, and in our 
hot, sunny c'imate, the root-system must be largely 
developed to supply tho great evaporation. 
