824 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[June i, i89r. 
may well be congratulated on their prospects of a. 
good crop in the coming season, which will, it is anti, 
cipated, more than make up for the pretty genera 
cult ure of the crop of 1890-1S91. Estates generally 
are in capital heart, and are looking better Ih-m they 
have done for years. A friend from the Periar writes 
me, “ I have had three splendid blossoms, but I did 
not see a single bee, except during the last blossom, 
and then only a very few.” This scaroity of befs stems 
general, and honey is consequently very si arce. The 
hill men say they have never known so bad ja year. 
Tea is doing wonderfully well ; several estates have 
yielded an average of 400 to 5001b. of made tea per 
acre, for the past 12 months. “ Arnakel ” however 
‘ takes the cake ’ with the fine outturn of COO lb. Two 
of the largest properties have most Ciimplete steam 
machinery, and another younger estate is, I hear, fol- 
lowing suit. All existing factories have either been 
lately, or are in course of being enlarged, and fresh 
land is being opened up on nearly all the estates — verb, 
sap. Most places have lately been pruned down and are 
only just beginning to come on again, bub I have just 
heard that last week’s ordinary plucking on the “ Mai 
Mulli ” Estate — one of the highest, by the bye, in the 
district — yielded on average of 70 lb. of made tea per 
acre. Money is undoubtedly being made, and there 
appears to be every sign of a return to the prosperity 
that the district enjoyed in the good old days of 20 
years hgo,— Madras Times, 
THE POLICY OF DEPEESSING QUININE. 
To the Editor “ Chemist and Druggist.” 
Sir, — We note in your valuable article on “ Quinine 
and Java Cinchona ” the following sentence : — 
“ The avowed, it unintelligible, policy of at least one 
of the English manufacturers to depress quinine,” 
&C-, &o. 
This is certainly news and fresh intelligence to 
Yours, &c., Howards & Sons. 
Stratford, near London, B., March 21st. 
In our oorrespoudenoe columns will be found a 
letter from Messrs. Howards &Sous, taking exception, 
BO far as their firm is conceined, to a paragraph in 
our Editorial Note of last week on “ Quinine and Java 
Cinchona.” The paragraph spoke of “ the avowed, if 
unintelligible, policy of at least one of the English 
manufacturers to depress quinine.” As Messrs. 
Howards & Sons deny having pursued such a policy, 
wo, of cou'se, accept their assurance as a fact. But 
we may, perhaps, be allowed to point out that tho 
feeling that they did pursue a policy ol depressing 
quinine has not been confined to ourselves. It pre- 
vailed very widely on ’Change and elsewhere in the 
early days of this year. In our report of January 
3rd last we recorded that: — ‘‘Quinine . . . has been 
in good request, and prices improved slowly until to- 
day, when the market again became noticeably 
weaker. This morning it was announced that Messrs. 
Howards & Sons had rednoed their quotation by Id 
per oz., their brand in bulk being reduced to la 6d, 
and in vials to la 7d per oz. The announcement of 
this reduction appears to have created soma sur- 
prise.” Until Messrs. Howards redueed their quota- 
tion that day the price of German quinine was 
slowly creeping upwards, and speculative brands ia 
second hands had advanced from 12d to 12Jd withiu 
a few days. 
We may here point out that the figure 46,400, 
which is given as representing the prolnotiou of nine 
ciiiohona plantations, should have been 464,000. 
Further, though this does effect the argument, tho 
well known line runs : “ All that we know is, nothing 
can be known,” not ” nothing can be done .” — Chemist 
ami Druggist, March 28th. 
♦ ' 
JAVA PRODUCE. 
Tho exports of tho piiueipal drugs and spioes 
from Java during the last live years (January 1st 
to Deoember 31st) have been as follows : — 
1836 1887 1888 1889 1890 
Cinchona 
Amst 
lb. 2,272,394 
2,905,785 
3,666,028 
4,839,370 
6,628,307 
Cubebs pels. — 
— 
] 8 
1,114 
1,873 
Pepper 
„ 35,006 
19,644 
27,989 
41,024 
35,432 
Nutmegs 
„ 912 
2,314 
1,850 
4,899 
1,667 
Mace 
„ 107 
356 
549 
698 
.306 
Cloves 
.. 923 
355 
131 
1,741 
306 
Cinnamon and 
cassia 
pels. 3,250 
2,211 
774 
1,679 
2,601 
— Chemist and Druggist, 
^ 
THE CEYLON TOBACCO COMPANY. 
ANNUAL MEETING, 
Of the annual general meeting of the Ceylon Tobacco 
Company Limited which took place yesterday atEandy, 
we published a telegram last evening containing tho 
general result. Today we are in a position to give a 
fuller rrporthaving received a copy of the minutes from 
Mr. A. Philtp, the Secretary, which after the usual 
preamble, stated that the shareholders present were, 
the Hon. Mr. T.N. Christie, Chairman of the Board of 
Directors who presided and Mr. R. Boustead represent- 
ing Mrs. Alice Page Boustead, Wattegama, Mr. A.G. K. 
Borron, Mr. David Fairweather, Awisawella, Mr. H. K. 
Rutberford. by his Attorney Mr. L. P. Fisher, Mr. 
Alexander Tair, M«dulkelle, Mr. T. 0. Owen (Director) 
Wattegama, Mr. Hugh Fraser, Matale, Mr. Alexander 
George SetOD, Agrapatnas, Mr. 0. Spearman Armstrong 
(Director) Hewahelta, Mr. James Hill (Director) 
Kotagala, Mr. J. Alexander, representing Mrs. Mary 
Parry Alexander, Mr. A. Philip, Secretary of the Coih- 
pany. The following gentlemen held proxies for share- 
holders absent: — Mr. James Hill for Messrs. Wm. Mills, 
Haputale, Wm. Hunter Reid, Rosila, Miss Mary C. M. 
Hill, Hon. T. N. Christie for Mr, Jas. Tennant Emerson, 
Mr. H. Diummond Deane and Mr. Charles Minto 
Gwatkin. 
The notice calling the meeting the minutes of the 
last annual having been read and confirmed. 
The rep -rt of the Directors was submitted by the 
Secretary as follows : — 
The interim Report circulated to Shareholders, on 
15th Deoember last explained the unfavcmrable nature 
of the operations connected with the tobacco crop of 
last year, and the Directors have at present little 
to add to what was then stated. The final fermenta- 
tion of the crop is now a' most completed, and the 
tobacco will be disposed ol as soon as possible. Tho 
only sample submitted to experts, has with some 
qualification been favorably reported on, but it is 
remarkable that Ceylon samples have been generally 
thought well of, and called forth encouraging reports 
and valuations, while, for some nuknown reason, the 
sales of the leaf have, with few exceptions, been 
most disappointii.g and unremunerative. The Direc- 
tors, though holding to the opinion that Ceylon to- 
bacco cau be grown to rival that of Sumatra in 
quality, have felt that they would not at present be 
justified in .devoting the Company’s money to ex- 
tensive operations in connection with such an nn- 
oertain-prietd product, when the fine quality of the 
lands owned by the Company afford every promise 
for the successful cultivation of products, which have 
been proved to be permanently remunerative. For 
this year, therefore, it has been decided to devote 
great attention to the formation of valuable cooonut, 
cacao and tea estatee, and only crop about 50 acres 
with tobacoo to utilize the existing sheds. At Matale 
Estate, another 100 acres have been prepared, chiefly 
for cacao, and planting will be done whenever the 
S.-W. monsoon rains sot in. That estate will then 
comprise over 200 acres of opened laud, about S in 
cacao and J in tea. At Arampolla 260 acres have 
been cleared, and made ready for coconuts, bringing 
that estate’s acreago of opened land to over 320 — all 
in cocounts. On both these estates, Liberian coffee 
is to be extensively planted, interlined with cac ao or 
coconuts. A now estate called ” Rjtwattie ” is being 
formed on the Company’s Ukkuwella land, and over 
100 acres of fine land are now being pnt into tea 
there. Tho total expenditure on Arampolla, for the 
