88 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1890. 
1. The quarters being built of concrete throughout, 
walls and arched roof, can be erected almost anywhere. 
2. The materials, lime, saud, broken stone, or 
brick or kuukur, are nearly everywhere procurable 
locally. 
3. Very little skilled labour is necessary. 
4. The cost is one-half that at present paid for 
the same area of stone or brick-built accommodation. 
The quarters are water-tight and, if properly con- 
structed, should never require repair.s ; those erected 
some years ago having withstood every test. The 
natives prefer the above, as being cooler than stone- 
built houses. 
The style of construction adopted is specially 
suitelto the natives, who are accustomed to light 
work, progressing by easy stages; it has also this 
advantage that, with the usually scanty supervision 
available in India, the due inspection of each course 
laid, is rendered possible, less opportunity of inferior 
materials being passed and a better guarantee secured 
that the work will be substantially carried out, than 
would result if European methods were pursued. — 
Indian Engineer. 
BARK AND DRUG REPORT. 
(From the Chemist and Druggist.) 
London, June 5th. 
OtNCHOtfA. — The auctions held here on Tuesday were 
the smallest which have taken place for many mouths, 
the total weight of the bark offered being less than 
two-tifths of what is announced for sale in Amsterdam 
on Thursday. The assortment of bark offered was 
rather a good one, one or two catalogues offering several 
very handsome parcels. The tone prevailing at the 
auctions was a very strong one indeed, and though it 
oannot be said that there was any actual alteration in 
value, the lots sold were well competed for, and holders 
showed no inclination to accept lower rates. 
The following was the assortment offered: — 
Packages. Packages. 
Ceylon bark ...562 of which. ..243 were sold 
East Indian bark 
...312 
292 
»♦ 
Java ,, 
... 11 
V 
11 
South American bark 
...634 
93 
12-3 
99 
Total ...1,519 „ 668 „ 
The unit is generally placed at Ifd to IJd per lb. 
The following were the principal buyers : — 
Lbs. 
Agents for the American, French, &o., works ...28,314 
„ the Brunswick works ...19,819 
„ the Frankfort o/M. and Stutt- 
gart works ...11,580 
„ the Auerbach factory ...14,390 
Mr. Thomas Whifien ...18,410 
Agents for the Mannheim and Amsterdam works. ..22, 215 
Messrs. Howards & Sons ...26,109 
Sundry druggists ... 2,560 
Total amount of bark sold ...153,397 
Bought in or withdrawn ...276,000 
Total quantity of bark offered ...429,397 
It should be well understood that the mere weight of 
bark purchased affoida no guide whatever to the 
quinine yield represented by it, firms who buy a small 
quantity of bark by weight frequently taking the 
richest lots, and vice versa. Analysis of the catalogues 
gives the following prices for sound bark : — 
Ckylon Baiik. — Original. — lied varieties : Fair to 
good quilly cliips 2d to 3d ; rather dusty, bul bright 
shavings 3^d ; bold and dusty mixed root 22-dto 3d per 
lb. Yellow varieties: Good bold quilly chips 7d to 
8Jd ; small branchy chips 5d ; bright,but dusty mixed 
cniiis and shavings 7d ; dull, but rich root 7Jd to 9^-d; 
low pale quillings 3d per lb. Smallauddull grey chips 
2Jd to 3d; dusty to hold root 4Jd to 7d per lb. Hybrid 
chips, small and dusty to good strong 3id to fid per 
lb, Kenewed.— Red varieties: Ball woody chips 3d 
to id ; good bright aud mixed with smali quill d^d to 
6d ; fine bright .shaving.s 7d per lb. Grey : Good chip® 
Cd to 7|d ; fine bold bright quilly ditto 84d to 9d per lb' 
Hybrid chips 6d te 75d per lb. 
East Indian Bark. — Orgnl. — lied varieties : tsmall to 
fair quilly mixed chips 2yd to 3d; fair bright shavings 
dull weak branch l;,d; dusty root 2Jd per lb. Yellow 
chips, dull and small 3i^d to 4Ui ; good bold bright 
ditto 5d to fid ; good bright quilly shavings 5d per lb. 
Grey quilly chips 4Jd to 5d per lb. Hybrid chips 44d to 
5d ; fine bright shavings 61d per lb. Re newed.-^Rod 
varieties : Small and dull to fair quilly stem chips 
3Jd to 5Jd ; good bright, but small shavings 5.|d per 
lb. Yellow chips good quilly to fine bright strong fi^d 
to lOd per lb. 
South American Bauk. — Of 32,330 lb. cultivated 
Bolivian Calissya 12,110 lb. sold ; good strong brown 
and grey quill 9^1 ; medium ditto 7d to p<^r lb. 
A parcel of 34 serous old dull dusty Pitayo sold at 
3|d per lb., and of 321 packages Cuprea 47 bales im- 
ported in 1883, sold at 2^d per lb., the remainder being 
held for 3d to 4d per lb. The imports here are rather 
heavy, 1,316 packages having been entered from all 
quarters since our last report. VYe understand that 
over 200 packages bought in at Tuesday’s auctions have 
since changed hands at full prices. 
Quinine. — The speculative business has continued 
during the early part of this week on a moderate scale, 
about 50,000 oz. B & S and Brunswick bulk, first-hand 
changing bands at la 1J1 for November-December, 
and Is Ijd per oz. for August-September delivery. 
The A & S agents now say that they do not care to 
sell any more, and quote Is 2d per oz. nominally. 
Meanwhile the market has become inactive, and the 
position today is about as follows: — Spot: Buyers 124d ; 
sellers, 13d; August-September, buyers, 13d; sellers, 
l3Jd; November-December buyers, 13Jd ; sellers, 13Jd 
per oz. ; no business. 
THE AMSTERDAM CINCHONA AUCTIONS. 
{Telegram from our Correspondent.) 
At today’s auction 3,082 packages were offered for 
sale, and these were all disposed of with the exception 
of 5 packages. Holders offered freely, and the result of 
the heavy quantity thus pressed upon the market was 
a decline oi fully 10 pec cent as compared with the 
previous Amsterdam sales, and some slight fall on the 
last London prices. The average unit value was fully 
8 cents per half-kilo, or a fraction below Ijd per 
lb. The following prices were realised: manufactur- 
ing barks in quils, entire and broken, and in chips, 
from 4 to 78 cents (= |d to Is 2d per lb.) ; manu- 
facturing root 11 to 64 cents (= 2d to Hid per lb.) 
Druggists’ barks, chips and quills, broken and whole, 
11 to 78 cents (= 2d to Is 2d per lb.) ; ditto, root, 
12 to 25 cents 2d to 4Jd per lb.) The principal 
buyers, m order of their purchases, were Messrs. 
Mathes & Bormeester, of Amsterdam ; Messrs. C. L. 
Schepp & Zonen, Rotterdam; the Auerbach Quinine 
Works and the Amsterdam Factory. 
In addition to the analyses of the bark offered to- 
day, already given in last week’s issue, the remaining 
48 tons of bark were found to contain about 2 tons 
sulphate of quinine, so that the whole quantity of manu- 
facturing bark offered today, viz., about 246 tons, oon- 
tained about 335,000 oz. sulphate of quinine, or about 4 
percent of the average. 
4 ^ 
Abtificul Gutta-Percha. — We are inforlned by 
Dr. Purcell Taylor that he has succeeded in making 
a new insulating material, having all the properties 
of gutta-percha. The new substance is very tough 
and elastic. A piece of iron covered with this 
“ Purcelhte ” was, he states, hammered out flat, 
then bent and twisted until it broke, without even 
cracking the covering. The cost is said to be 
considerably less than that of gutta-percha.-— 
Electrician, 
