402 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURIST [December i, 1891. 
good when applied to the soil in its present con- 
dition ; bat Dr. Sobafer anticipates that when 
very much older it can be profitably utilized, 
pointing in evidence to a layer in another direction 
which as it decomposed after a good many years, 
got a covering of vegetation over it.* Of course, 
it may be said what an argument have we here for 
a system of extracting the alkaloids roughly in 
Oeylon, India or Java— such as the Java planters 
are said to be now proposing — and so saving all 
the packing, transport and freight of so much 
useless material. But in the days of cheap quinine, 
even more than in the past times of a dear article 
— strange to say — is this unlikely to be profitable ; 
for no one who has seen, as I now have, the 
multiplied and elaborate processes by which the 
Blkaloids are secured on a large scale, can expect 
any works that may be established oolonially to 
compete with the European manufacturers. The 
great object in these days is to prepare a very large 
quantity of quinine in the most economical way 
possible, and in this work the Waldhof establish- 
ment, thanks to the skill of chemists and its 
elaboration of new improved processes, has secured 
pre-eminent success. Freights, too, have fallen 
greatly of recent years, and altogether there is 
reason to believe that the Java planters will only 
bum their fingers by sinking capital in local 
works, even to secure the alkaloids in the rough, 
and that they cannot do better than continue to 
ship to Amsterdam which now, and henceforward, 
is likely to supersede London altogether as the 
great cinchona bark depot and mart. 
It may be supposed that I am merely here re- 
echoing the sentiments of European manufacturers ; 
but I heard very little on the subject at Waldhof, 
and am rather giving the impression left on me 
from the inspection of the manufacturing processes 
on a large scale. Bat I have thus plunged into the 
middle of my subject before entering the works : at 
the same time, even if I were capable, it cannot be 
expected that I should give a detailed account of 
ftU I saw. Mr. Bohringer in his sanctum— in 
the Library of which the " Ceylon Handbooks ' 
and Tropical Agriculturist occupied a prominent 
plaoe^introduoed me to Mr. Mehl who, for many 
years, has represented the firm as the buyer of 
bark in the London market; but whose vocation 
aa " English buyer" has almost disappeared, so 
much have the sales dropped in importance, through 
the falling-oft in Ceylon exports, while those of 
Amsterdam have risen correspondingly with the 
greatly increased import of Java bark. For instance, 
the London sales following my visit were pointed 
oat as to be absolutely insignificant for the quan- 
tity of bark offered; while Java had just made 
an unpreoedentedly large export (for week or fort- 
night). The Waldhof firm is, of course, kept 
telegraphically informed by its Agents of the 
shipments of bark from all ports of any importance, 
and the Assistant in charge was at once able to 
give me the latest figures for Ceylon, Java, &o. 
They have also the best available information as 
to planting, crop prospects, estimates, &o. I could, 
of course, give only a poor account of Ceylon, in 
view of the low prices prevailing for bark, and 
remarked how astonished John Eliot Howard would 
be, it he "revisited the glimpses of the moon," 
at the marvellous fall in price of quinine which 
had taken place and at the failure of his prophecy 
that Ceylon would always find a profitable market 
» Mr. Mcbl afterwards told mo that Mr. Whiffin 
of Lonc'on baa found a good market for some of his 
obomioal refuse— for instance that of " Nnx Vomica " 
from which Btrychnine had been extracted, as a 
covering for (jarden walks, to prevent the growth of 
weeds or other vegetation. 
for a good bark yielding two per cent and upwards. 
I did not hear much at Waldhof to encourage the 
expectation of a speedy revival of better quotations ; 
but it was stated that consumption had certainly 
been stimulated by the cheaper rate for quinine, 
and that in south-eastern Europe and America — 
the firm has lately opened a special branch 
house in Cedar Street, New York — the demand 
was very satisfactory. Still, it is supposed, there 
is a good deal of quinine, though not bark, held 
back in London, from some years ago; and it is 
impossible, Mr. Mehl says, to get exact information 
on this point. If it were known as a fact that 
all such back stocks had been cleared off, the 
market would probably become more buoyant and 
encouraging, though the large shipments of " Java" 
more than counterbalance the diminished exports 
from Ceylon and India. Meantime, at Waldhof, the 
profit is looked for through the improvd means of 
turning out large quantities of quinine in its various 
combinations, cheaply, rather than through any 
marked improvement in the present low rates. But 
it would be a great mistake to suppose that the 
Waldhof works, any more than those of the Howard's 
or Whiflin, are dependent solely on quinine. 
Nothing more astonished me than the great 
number and variety of chemical preparations — 
some of them requiring separate buildings altogether 
and distinct staffs and their trade, or volume of 
business, being perhaps of more importance than 
that in quinine. For instance, such preparations 
as glycerine and salicylic acid are in very extensive 
demand (partly for fruit preserving), especially in 
America ; and in their latest " Market Report and 
Price Current," Messrs. Bohringer report of the 
former that " there have been large quantities 
contracted for, so that for the moment we are 
fully engaged." 
Here again however, I am forestalling. After 
our talk on the producing countries, exports and 
markets, we were introduced to, and handed over 
to the care of, Dr. Schafer, the head of the scientific 
staif , who, in the full vigour of his robust frame, 
one could see at a glance was a man of keen per- 
ception and power. He spoke English well — as 
did all the other gentlemen we met — and had seen 
the cinchona-producing world in South America, 
where besides superintending or inspecting planta- 
tions for a time, he had penetrated to some of the 
primeval groves of the tree in its native habitat. 
Dr. Sobafer occupies a most responsible post at 
the head of the staff in the various departments 
included in the Waldhof works, and the great 
variety and extent of the operations may be judged 
from the fact that there are under him about a 
dozen qualified chemists (all holding a Doctor's 
medical degree I believe) and most of whom keep 
so strictly and continuously to their own laboratories 
and the chemical works to which they are attaclred, 
that they never enter any other's. In fact, as 
Dr. Schafer mentioned, anyone knows nothing 
of what the others are doing, and we were honored 
by being taken over a whole establishment which 
is a mystery and a thing unseen and unknown 
by eleven out of the twelve doctors and perhaps 
299 out of 300 employees in the place 1 The 
workmen employed are also strictly bound by 
engagements and conditions and I suspect are too 
well off to care for change, much less to give 
oSenoe, In some departments, a good many young 
women are employed, and those we saw all looked 
bright and contented. The works consisting of a 
long stretch of strong and high masonry buildings 
with detached structures for special preparations 
and the inevitable lofty chimney stalks for the 
stoam engines, are by no means shut in or walled 
round. Not far off, a glass manufaoturiog 
