Aua.  1,  1895.1 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICCILTURIST. 
121 
]^i;r(;  hkpout. 
(l‘'r()iii  C/ii'iiiist  (Hid  JJriK/i/i.sf.) 
l.umtoii,  .(une  0. 
QciMNH— Tho  last  business  vepovteil  before  the  holi- 
days was  at  the  rate  of  125(1  per  oz  for  15  ami  S or 
Brunswick  quinine  on  the  spot,  and  at  13Jd  per  oz  for 
ditto,  October  deli>  ery  ; the  London  stock  has  a^ain  been 
considerably  reduced  in  the  course  of  tlie  last  month,  the 
warehouse  figures  being  : — 
oz. 
Imports  in  May  - 21,202 
Deliveries  in  May  - lol),784 
Stock  on  Jlay  30  • 2,332,104 
No  business  is  reported  this  week,  and  125d  per  oz  remains 
the  general  spot  quotation. 
Oaki'KINE — Very  scarce  on  the  spot  ; business  has  been 
done  this  week  in  small  (luantities,  at  27s  per  lb  on 
the  spot,  and  tve  hear  ' that  one  of  the  makers  has 
sold  at  2Is  per  lb  for  August-SeiJtember  delivery.  On 
the  other  hand,  another  nianufactnrer  is  said  to  be 
willing  to  accept  10s  per  lb  for  delivery  not  before  end 
of  July. 
ClNCnoN.t — The  expoi-ts  of  cinchona  from  Ceylon  during 
the  periods  from  January  1st  to  May  Cth  have  been— 
1895  1894  1893  1892 
lb  lb  lb  11) 
270,220  827,879  1,723,379  2,130,843 
Coco.t-nt'TTEK — On  .Tune  4th  about  70  tons  of  Van 
Houten’s  cocoa  butter  were  sold  by  auction  in  .Amsterdam 
at  an  average  price  of  04  73c  per  half-kilo,  the  lowest 
price  realised  by  any  lot  being  04|c,  the  highest  or^c.  The 
tone  .at  the  auctions  was  quiet. 
Cocaine— The  reduction  in  the  convention -in-ice  an- 
nounced Last  week  was  followed  on  June  1st  by  another, 
and  still  more  drastic,  move  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
bined makers,  tlie  price  then  being  reiluced  l)y  Is  0(i  per 
oz  at  the  time— viz  from  16s  to  14s  Cd  per  oz  for 
lots  of  at  least  100  oz,  and  from  IGs  Cd  to  1.5s  per  oz 
for  .smaller  (luantities.  The  cause  of  the.se  continued  re- 
ductions is  thought  to  be  the  determination  of  the  com- 
bined makers  to  crush  out  an  outsider  in  Southern  Ger- 
many, who  has  just  started  cocaine-making.  It  was 
thought  that  the  last  shot  would  have  silenced  this  in- 
truder ; but  the  contrary  was  the  case,  the  “outsider” 
replying  to  the  challenge  by  a further  reduction  in  his 
quotation  to  14s  for  lOO-oz  lots  which  still  leaves  him 
six-pence  below  the  convention-price.  The  end  of  the  tight 
will  probably  be  the  inclusion  of  the  outsider  in  the 
syndicate,  followed  by  a general  advance  in  the  quotations. 
From  another  quarter  we  hear  that  the  object  of  the  co- 
caine refiners  in  reducing  their  quotations  is  not,  as  is 
genenilly  supposed,  that  referred  to  above,  but  that  their 
intention  is  simply  to  secure  cheaply  certain  parcels  of  raw 
cocaine  which  have  just  arrived. 
THE  ACIAVE  OR  ALOE  FIBRE. 
To  THE  Edixoi!,  “ The  Indian  ctEASTEiiN  ENaiNEER.” 
Sir, — Some  mouths  bach  a letter  appeared  in 
the  columns  of  your  paper,  asking  for  information 
as  to  the  methods  of  preparation  of  the  so-called  Aloe 
Fibre. 
A brochure,  entitled  “ All  about  Aloe  and  Ramie 
Fibres,’’  was  published  in  1890,  at  the  pness  of  the 
Ccjilon  Ohserver,  by  Messrs.  A.  M.  and  .J.  Ferguson,  one 
of  the  many  contributions  of  th.at  firm  to  the  liter- 
ature of  Tropical  Agriculture,  embodying  a transla- 
tion of  a pamphlet  puiblished  in  1S82,  from  the  pen  of 
M.  Evenor  de  Chazal,  of  Mauritius.  The  transla- 
tion does  not.  however,  include  the  diagrams  of  the 
somewh.at  enide  machinery  then  empiloyed  in  the  ex- 
traction. 
On  the  estate  in  Ceylon  where  tiio  pnesent  writer  is 
employed,  the  ropes  used  for  suspending  the  sacks  of 
tea  to  the  runners  on  the  wire  siioot,  are  made  on  the 
estate,  from  aloe  fibre,  pveprared  without  any  mechani- 
cal apiplianccs  whatever. 
The  coolie  takes  a leaf,  cuts  off  the  ends  square,  and 
hooks  one  end  on  to  a nail  pi  ojecting  from  a board. 
The  leaf  previously  beaten  with  a stone  is  scraped 
with  a half  coconut  shell,  till  the  fibres  at  one  end  are 
loosened.  These  are  then  tied  in  a free  knot,  and 
hooked  on  to  the  nail  (the  leaf  being  reversed),  allowing 
the  fibres  to  be  set  free  at  the  other  end. 
The  fibres  are  next  hung  up  to  dry,  twisted  into  a 
yarn,  whicli  is  wound  on  to  spools,  which  yarn  the  oper- 
ator twists  into  a 3-ply  rope,  his  toes  being  used  as 
fingers  to  hold  the  yajru  during  twisting. 
Notwithstanding  the  extremely  barbarous  moiln 
the  ropes  are  cbeapily  made  and  stand  their 
work  very  well. 
Having  in  view  that  the  aloe  plant  requires  no  culti- 
vatiou  whatever,  it  would  seem  to  suggest  the  possibility 
of  remunerative  enterprise  in  this  island. — Yours,  etc., 
J.  S S. 
Ceylon,  June  1,  1895. 
— Indian  Enqinecr. 
PLANTING  AND  PRODUCE. 
The  Ceylon  Association  in  London.— The  annual 
meeting  of  this  Association  is  a matter  of  more  than 
ordinary  interest.  The  work  performed  by  the 
Association  is  thoroughly  practical,  and  there  is  such 
evidence  of  life  and  vigour  about  its  whole  proceed- 
ings that  the  year’s  record  is  well  worth  careful 
attention.  'The  Ceylon  Association,  whether  it  uuder^ 
takes  work  great  or  small,  always  means  business 
It  is,  therefore,  very  gratifying  to  find  that  the 
movement  for  joint  action  between  India  and 
Ceylon  in  advertising  British-grown  tea  in  the  United 
States  was  one  of  the  chief  items  of  the  Associa- 
tion’s programme  at  its  meeting.  We  do  not  wish 
to  under-estimate  the  difficulties  attending  a com- 
pletely  harmonious  union  of  forces  in  this  matter^ 
That  the  basis  for  a workable  arrangement  shoulci 
have  been  arrived  at  reflects  credit  on  the  diplo- 
macy of  those  concerned  in  bring-ing  it  about.  The 
force  of  circumstances  has  ont-weigiied  minor  con- 
siderations, and  in  view  of  the  absolute  necessity 
for  finding  new  and  important  markets  it  has  been 
decided  to  endeavour  to  sink  small  differences  and 
avoid  friction.  It  augurs  well  for  the  future  prospects 
of  the  joint  scheme  that  it  has  received  the  approval 
of  the  Ceylon  Association  in  Loudon. 
Produce  and  the  Board  or  Trade  Returns  —The 
Board  of  Trade  Returns  for  May  are  fairly  satisfac 
tory.  As  regards  produce,  the  clearances  for  home 
consumption  of  tea,  coffee,  and  cocoa  show  increases 
tea  in  particular.  The  quantity  of  tea  is  23  816  OOo' 
compared  with  18,169,000  lb.— an  increase  of  5 64'7  oco 
lb.  Of  this  increase  2,000,000  are  due  each  to  India 
and  Ceylon,  and  1,000,000  lb.  to  China. 
Tiie  Averagi5  Prices  oi'’  Produce. — A new  issue 
has  just  been  made  by  Mr.  Effingham  Wilson  of  Mr 
Augustus  Sauerbeck’s  chart  of  the  average  prices  of 
general  commodities  in  England.  The  figures  again 
demonstrate  that  the  period  of  decline  is  not 
yet  at  an  end,  or  was  not  so  in  1894.  Mr.  Sauerbeck 
takes  forty-five  representative,  or  principal,  commo- 
dities, and  comiiares  their  prices  with  the  average  of 
the  ten  years  1867-77,  which  is  adopted  as  “ 100  ’’ 
As  they  rise  or  fall  against  those  prices,  the  index 
number  goes  above  or  below  this  100,  and  since  1873 
the  course  of  prices  has  been  almost  uninterruptedlv 
(.owuwaiffi  Prom  1888  to  1891  the  average  was 
about  lO,  or  oO  per  cent,  below  the  standard  of 
100,  ana  m 1894  it  was  under  6-1,  or 36  per  cent, 
below.  Taking  particular  articles  in  illustration 
the  average  price  01  tea  was  lljd.  per  lb  in 
the  ten  years  adopted  for  standard  of  com- 
paris(3u.  That  price,  m other  words,  together  with 
the  average  important  price,’’  was  100  in  the  index 
number.  In  1894  lea  fell  4*  d per  lb.  which  brings 
the  number  to  47,  or  a fall  of  53  per  cent.  In  L 
instance,  except  that  of  coffee,  which  has  risen  17 
per  cent,  is  tlie  price  now  higher  than  it  w’as  five- 
and-twenty  years  ago. 
Nuuokts  AND  Tea.— A prospectus  has  been  issued 
fills  week  of  a company  called  the  Ceylon  Tea  Trust 
.Liiiytccl.  The  share  capital  of  the  concern  ia  £60  000 
m shares  of  10s,  and  the  object  as  stated  in  the  pr^ 
spectns  IS  -lo  acquire  cultivate  and  develop  tea  es- 
tales  in  Cejion.  There  are  mnnerous  extracts  in 
the  prospectus  from  various  newspapers  in  praise  of 
Ceyloji  tea,  but  the  main  fact  of  importance  which 
we  gather  from  the  prospectus  about  the  Ceylon  Tea 
irnst  IS  that  tlm  directors  “have  in  view  the  purchase 
of  several  well-known  estates,  and  have  already 
piactica,lly  arranged  to  acquire,  on  terms  most 
favoiirable  to  the  shareholders  of  this  company, 
the  Oolapane  Estate.  Upon  the  board  of  a tea 
trust  it  IS  natural  to  looK  for  the  names  of  men 
