The tropical AGF^IOULtUftlST. [June i, 1892. 
The following are the quantities bought by the prin- 
cipal buyers : — 
Agenta for the American and Italian iworks 
Agents for the Mannheim and Amsterdam works 
Agents for the Frankfort o/M and Stuttgart works 
Agents for the Brunswick works 
Agents for the Auprbach works 
Messrs. Howard & Sons 
Sundry druggists 
Total quantity of baric sold 
Bought in or withdrawn 
Lb. 
142.175 
124,.'= 65 
.56,a60 
.35,112 
40,778 
34,203 
28,250 
461,94a 
44,820 
Total quantity of bark offered ... 500,763 
Essential Oils.— Small sales of Citronella oil are 
reported at Jd, and of Lemongra.-s oil at 1 9-lGths d. per 
oz on the pot. 
THE EXPOET TEADE OF CHINA FOR 1891. 
was the highest in value ever known, even tea show- 
ing a large inorease over the previous year. Curiously 
enough India takes an appreciable quantity of 
China green tea. We quote as follows from the 
China Mail :— 
The total value of exports abrond for the year aggre- 
gated Hk, Tls. 100,947,000, which is the highest point 
ever reached, and shows an advance over tbe figures of 
1890 of Hk, TIb. 13,800,000. The majority of produces 
enumerated in the table of txports ou page 10 compare 
very favourably with the siiipmenta of the previous 
year ; but the three great staples — tea, silk and cotton 
— contributed mo!<t to the increase iu the total given 
above. In value sni quantity the grin in favour of 
1891 yielded hy teas of all ^0it<! was Hk. Tic 4,365,000. 
White and yellow silk added Hk. Tis. 5,928.000, with 
24,574 piculs over the expert gi^en in last jear's re- 
turns, and silk piece goods, Hk. Tl--. 1,143,000, repre- 
senting 2,028 pionla above the total of the previous 
twelvemonth ; while raw cotton, with an increased 
export to Japan of 56,698 p!culs over 1890, added 
Hk. Tls. 852,000. Wool, camels' nnd sheep's, from 
the northern ports exceeded the shipments of 1890 
by 86,625 piculs, estimated at Hk. Tis. 258 000. The 
other articles, which should be j ot^d as f bowing 
conspicuous gains ovpr previous statialic.i, are paper 
for Chinese consumption abroid, camphor Irom For- 
mosa, matting from Canton, and mnsk — each of these 
exports contributiog more than Hk. Tl. 170,000 over 
the figures of the previous year to the total for 1891. 
The shipments of raw silk werf : white and yellow 
silk, 84,948 picu's; wild silk, 17,043 piculs; and refuse 
silk, 60,703 spicule — these amounts being much over 
those of 1890, a low rate of exchange favouring the 
consumption of Cbi' eso silks in Ear .pe, 
The export of tea of all kinds, inoludii g the ship- 
ments from Kow'oon nnd Lappa to Hongkong and 
Macao, amonnt^ed to 1,750,034 picnls, phowing an ad- 
vance of 84,638 picnls over the total f r 1890. From 
Kowloon and Lappa the export of black tna in janks 
to Hongkong and Mncao in more than double that 
of the previous year, the large increase being ascribed 
to a reduction in the provincial duty on th .t art'cle 
^hen shipped by junks. The addition of this 
jnnk-borne tea to the total quiintity eect abroad in 
foreign vesselB raises the export to more th<n the 
ehipmenls of 1890, nnd for the time being has arrested 
the decline which characterised the black tea trade 
of recent years, the excess in favour of this year being 
52,565 piculs above the crop of 1890, which is returned 
at 1,149 311 picnls. Green tea al o 'hows an improve- 
ment of 7,"<!.56 piowls, and briolt tea for Knssian account 
31,693 picnls. Hussia appears to bo the ot ly large 
market in Europe where the demand for China blsok 
tea ia maintained. Snpplies ctontinue to be sent hi sea 
in increasing quin'i'i'^s, shipments having risen from 
93.467 picnls in 1887 to 189,025 piculs, or double the 
quantity ; and wbile thecoosii;rimenta by aea and land 
to KuBHin in 1887 ogKregaled 267,000 piculn, they now 
am'innt to 287,000 piculs, lepreFenting a gain of over 
20,000 picnls. l< i' worthy of note thut the d'm'tnd 
for '^hina tea fcliiclly green) from Indin has doubled 
witliin the last (i'/r' yofirs — 13,917 I'icuKs boing credited 
to the Empire in IBMlj, against 30,819 pioule during 
tbe 7«»r uQdet notice. 
From the North-China Herald we tike the figures 
for tea exports, with comments on the still great 
tea tracle of Chica : — 
1891. 1890. 
Hk. Tla. Ilk Tls. 
Te\ Bbck 24,979,259 20,579,818 
I, Crren 3,545,911 3,700.488 
-1 Brick 3 328,755 2,136 720 
The three great ftaplep, tea, tilk, and cotton, gave, 
it will be sf en, the highest; increases, J»pan being the 
iDOSt eag' r cu.ttomer for cotton; the large increase in 
silk is to be attriluted to a grefit extent to the lowness 
of exchange ; but the larjje increase in the value of 
the black tea expo'te'l nil! come as a surpr'se to many. 
Ju'lgiog by the falling off in the demai.d for China 
tea in England we have come to think of the whole 
China trade iu tea as a di.-clining one ; but fortunately 
for China she has cua customer, RusMa, th»t has 
not yet been affected by the crsze fo- Indian and 
Ofy'on tea?, and thus the export i r 1891— altboujh 
none of the rumerous suggestions that foreigners 
have made for the refcabilitati'-n of the trade have 
been put into practicr — from all ' h na shows an ac- 
tiaal advanc.-i of pis. 52,565 over th.nt in 1890. Green 
tea also shows an improvement of pis. 7,256, and 
brick tea for Rupsian srcouot pis. 31.693. The pro- 
pr rtion of ti-a sent to Rnsfia by steamer via Odessa 
continues to increase rapidly, for while only pis. 
93,500 were sfnt by that route in 1887, rather more 
than donble thst quantiiy took that route in 1891. 
Of the krge consumers of tea we find that the prin- 
cipal were in 1891 : — 
Russia, Siberia, and Russian 
Manchuria. Pis. 636,000 
Great Britain, Hongkong, 
and India...- „ 540.000 
United States „ 276,000 
Australia and New Z aland , 106,000 
In the Ru.»si»n figures are included some pis. 330,000 
of brick and tablet tea; bnt they do not include 
some p's. 50,000, which are sent from Hankow up the 
Han river for overland carriage to Siberia. The totil 
export to foreign countries of pis. 1,750 034 in 1891 
has to be compared with pie, 2,217,295 in 1886, the 
largest in the past ten years. 
, — ' — — — 
THE ALLEGED QUININE SYNDICATE. 
We have received the following from Germaoy, 
dated, by the way, April 1: — "A project has been 
formed by London importers to establish, in con- 
junction with the Amsterdam importers, a ring for 
the maintenance of the price of quinine. The 
capital to be invested in this object is .B00,000 
florins (25,000/). The representative of a large 
London firm has been staying in Amsterdam since 
the beginning of this week to bring the project to 
a conclusion. If he succeeds in his object the 
quinine-makers might easily be forced, through the 
reticence of the bark-holders, to ask for quinine a 
price very much in excess of the present one. It 
is reported from America, by certain persons well 
acquainted with the market, that some German 
quinine-makers have sold large quantities of quinine 
(1,, 500,000 oz.) for future dehvery at from 17Jto 18i 
cents, ci.f. New York. Such sales would prevent 
any substantial increase in the price of quinine, 
as quantities of such magnitude placed upon the 
market at regular intervals would provide second- 
hand holders with an abundance of cheap material." 
THE AMSTEEDAM VIEW OF IT. 
We have mbde inquiries from some of the best- 
informed persons in Amsterdam concer'hine the truth 
of the report above alluded to. and are told that it is 
believed to be a fact that a London gent'cman in- 
terested in cinchona has tried to persuade the chief 
importers in Holland to consent to the formation of a 
combination, to embrace planters in Jaca, Oeyloa, 
and British India, for the object of strengthening the 
bark market. It is no^ denied that "something like 
a meeting" may have bnen held with th s objer t just 
before the last Amsterdam bark sales, and that this 
meeting may bave bad eometbing to do vitb (be 
