April  r,  1896.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
693 
charge  of  it  upon  Uic  iiulividual  consumer  must 
be  too  liglit  to  operate  to  the  extent  referred 
to  above,  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
pointed  out  with  much  pertinence  that  the  re- 
duction of  the  duty  by  one-half  in  1873  had 
produced  no  increase  of  consumiition  whatever. 
It  will  (irobably  be  within  the  memory  of  many 
of  our  readei’.s  tliat  wlien  this  reduction  took 
place  there  w'ere  many  of  those  concerned  with 
the  cott'ee  trade  who  opposed  it.  Notable  among 
these,  if  our  memory  .serves  ns  rightly,  was  Mr. 
J.  L,  Shaud,  who,  we  think,  delivered  a lecture 
at  the  Society  of  Arts  in  whicii  he  demonstrated 
that  the  reduction  would  be  injurious  to  the 
interests  of  the  Ceylon  coffee  grow'ers.  Ajtpa- 
rently  that  view'  does  not  recommend  itself  to 
the  present  generation  in  the  trade.  This  .sees 
in  a farther  reduction  the  i)anacea  for  existing 
evils.  But  the  Government  is  surely  in  the 
right  in  its  convention  that,  were  the  relief  of 
the  duty  on  coffee  to  be  granted  the  action 
would  but  herald  similar  demands  wdth  reference 
to  other  ]>roductions  that  might  be  languishing, 
and  revenue,  it  is  needless  to  point  out,  must 
be  raised  by  some  method  of  taxation.  Alto- 
gether upon  review  of  the  |)aragraph  sent  to 
us,  we  .are  inclined  to  think  that  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  had  the  best  of  the  arguments 
with  the  deputation.  We  feel  that  the  decline 
in  the  use  of  coffee  must  be  attributable  rather 
to  the  strong  preference  now  shown  for  tea,  than 
to  what  is  a tax  on  the  consumer  of  a very 
trifling  character. 
CINCHONA  BARK. 
(From  G.  M.  cb  G.  Woodho use’s  Report.) 
London,  February  27th,  1890.) 
BARK.— The  publio  auctions  held  during  January, 
comprised  : — _ _ _ 
971  pkgs.  East  India  j ) 138  pkgs.  East  India 
43  do  Ceylon  S ' 194  do  Ceylon 
2 do  Java  -'3  rl5B  do  African 
733  do  S.  American  ^ \ 229  do  S.  American 
I ) 30  do  Java. 
during  same  period  last  year* 
SmPMlTNTS  FROM  CeYI  ON  IST  JaNU.YEY  TO  3rI) 
Ferruarv. 
1896 
70,677  lb. 
1895 
46,845  lb. 
1894 
311,885  lb. 
1893 
169,306  lb. 
Although  shipments  from  Java  have  lately  been 
heavy,  and  since  1st  October  show  an  increase  of 
1,200,000  ^-kilos  as  compared  with  last  year,  yet  the 
statistics  of  bark  in  Holland  for  the  year  ending 
31st  December  are  decidedly  favourable,  and  if 
the  importers  of  Java  bark  showed  a little  more 
firmness,  an  improvement  in  prices  would  soon  follow. 
On  the  18th  instant  the  monthly  sales  were  held 
in  London  and  2,731  packages  were  oSered,  against 
1,761  packages  in  January.  The  bulk  of  the  East 
India  bark  sold  with  fair  competition  at  an  average 
unit  of  about  |d  per  lb. 
On  the  20th  instant  7,713  bale*’,  323  cases  Java 
bark  were  offered  in  Amsterdam,  against  6,401  pack- 
ages in  January.  The  manufacturing  bark  was 
estimated  to  contain  36,005  kilos  of  sulphate  of 
quinine.  Of  these  6,251  packages  sold  at  a decline 
of  6 per  cent,  the  average  value  of  the  unit  being 
2.82  cents,  against  3 cents  in  January. 
The  next  sales  in  London  w-ll  be  held  on  17th 
March,  and  in  Amsterdam  on  26th  March. 
Quinine  has  been  very  dull  during  the  past  month 
in  the  absence  of  orders  from  America.  German 
on  the  spot  is  quoted  Is  IJd  per  oz.,  but  to  efiect 
sales,  a lower  price  would  have  to  be  accepted. 
1896. 
1895. 
1894. 
Cwt. 
Cwt. 
Cwt. 
Imports,  1 month 
3,684 
5,.529 
3,641 
£ 
£ 
£ 
Valued  at 
6, .531 
10,015 
7,406 
Cwt. 
Cwt. 
Cwt. 
Exported,  1 month 
1,769 
4,424 
2,624 
£ 
£ 
£ 
Valued  at 
2,485 
7,856 
3.806 
Stock  of  Quinine  31st  January  1896,  1,963,888  oz., 
against  2,701,568  oz.  1895. 
The  present  value  of  British  Sulphate  of  Quinine 
(Howards’)  in  bottle  is  Is  Id  to  Is  5d  per  oz., 
against  Is  Id  to  Is  5d  per  oz.  last  year. 
The  present  value  of  German  Sulphate  of  Quinine 
(best  marks)  on  the  spot  is  13|d  (nominal)  per  oz. 
■ ' " ♦ 
INDIAN  PATENTS. 
Applications  in  respect  of  the  undermentioned  in- 
ventions have  been  hied,  during  the  week  ending 
29th  February  1896,  under  the  provision  of  Act  V 
of  1888:— 
For  a Cleaning  apparatus  for  the  Acme  Tea 
Sorting  Machine. — No.  223  of  1895. — George  Murray 
Collom,  engineer  and  tea  planter,  care  of  W.  G. 
Forbes,  Esq.,  Her  Majesty’s  Mint,  Calcutta,  for  a 
cleaning  apx)aratus  for  the  Acme  tea  sorting  ma- 
chine or  other  machines  of  the  reciprocating  class. 
(Filed  18th  February  1896.) 
For  Punkah-pulling  Apparatus. — No.  229  of  1890. 
Mr.  J.  R.  Romanes’  invention  for  punkah  pulling 
apparatus  adapted  for  the  use  of  philling  punkahs 
in  barracks,  offices,  private  residences,  etc.  (Speciflea,- 
tion  filed  14th  November  1890.) 
For  Improvements  in  the  Construction  of  Metal 
chests  or  boxes. — No.  253  of  1890. — Mr.  Arthur  An- 
drew's invention  for  improvements  in  the  construc- 
tion of  metal  chests  or  boxes.  (Specification  filed 
24th  November  1890.) — The  Indian  and  Eastern  Engineer 
March  14  th. 
PICKINGS  WITH  A LOCAL  APPLICATION. 
M.  Berthelot,  the  new  French  Minister  of  Foreigtt 
Affairs,  is  now  about  sixty-eight  years  old.  In  his 
special  domain  of  chemical  knowledge  he  ranks 
among  the  first  of  his  contemporaries.  Chemical 
synthesis — the  science  of  artificially  putting  organi- 
zed bodies  together — may  be  said  to  owe  its  exis- 
tence to  him.  The  practical  results  expected  to 
flow  from  his  experiments  and  discoveries  are  enor- 
mous. Thus,  sugar  has  recently  been  made  in  the 
laboratory  from  glycerine,  which  Prof.  Berthelot  first 
made  direct  from  synthetic  alcohol. 
Commerce  has  now  taken  up  the  question,  and 
an  invention  has  recently  been  patented  by  which 
sugar  is  to  be  made  upon  a commercial  scale  from 
two  gases  at  something  like  1 cent  per  pound.  M. 
Berthelot  declares  he  has  not  the  slightest  doubt  that 
sugar  will  eventually  be  manufactured  on  the  largest 
scale  synthetically,  and  that  the  culture  of  the  sugar 
cane  and  the  beet  root  will  be  abandoned  because 
they  have  ceased  to  pay. 
The  chemical  advantages  promised  by  M.  Berthelot 
to  future  gesieratious  are  marvellous.  He  cites  the 
case  o(  alzariu,  a compound  whose  synthetic  manu- 
facture by  chemists  has  destroyed  a great  agricul- 
tural industry.  It  is  the  essential  commercial  prin- 
ciple of  the  madder  root,  which  was  once  used  in 
in  dyeing,  wherever  dyeing  was  carried  on.  The 
chemists  have  now  succeeded  in  making  pure 
indigo  direct  from  its  elements,  and  it  will  soon  be 
a commercial  product.  Then  the  indigo  fields,  like 
the  madder  fields,  will  be  abandoned,  industrial  la- 
boratories having  usurped  their  iplace. 
But  these  scientific  wonders  do  not  stop  here. 
Tobacco,  tea,  and  coffee  are  to  be  made  artificially. 
Not  only  this,  but  there  is  substantial  promise  of 
such  tobaccos,  such  teas,  and  such  coffees  as  the 
world  has  never  seen,  will  be  the  outcome.  Theo- 
bromine, the  essential  princqjle  of  cocoa,  has  been 
produced  in  the  laboratory,  Thus,  synthetic  chemis- 
try is  getting  t9  furnish  the  three  gi'eat  n<?tt« 
