May  r,  1896.] 
AGRICULTURIST. 
THE  TROPICAL 
and  4 cwts.  Messrs  do  Josselia  de  Jong  and  Visser’s 
Makuugwa  plantation  gave  about  7 cwts  per  acre 
and  we  believe  the  Messrs  I’ettitt  Jlrothers  got  12 
cwts  per  acre.  Mr.  Simpson  also  states  that  (iolfee 
trees  seem  to  bear  one  good  crop  and  then  practi- 
cally nothing  for  the  next  two  years.  This  is  a result 
which  would  follow  planting  in  unsuitable  soil,  want 
of  manuring,  and  exhausting  the  trees  b)’  too  heavy 
a maiden  crop  in  any  counti}\  On  the  other  hand 
coffee  liberally  manured  and  well  cultivated  goes  on 
yielding  year  after  year,  witness  Mr  Duncan’s  letter  on 
our  last  is  sue  in  which  he  states  that  the  last  crop  he 
off  the  mother  tree  of  B.  C.  A.,  weighed  seven  and  a half 
pulled  p)Ounds  [parchment!]  also  Mr  Buchanan’s  oldest 
Zoraba  coffee  which  boro  last  year  a splendid  crop 
and  which  has  never  been  cut  clown.  It  is  not  on!}’ 
possible,  it  is  certain,  that  our  methods  in  the  past 
have  been  in  error  and  yet  the  results  which  have 
been  obtained,  although  most  of  us  knew  nothing 
practically  about  coffee  planting  have  been  most 
encouraging.  Under  such  conditions  it  is  certain,  as 
Mr  Scott-Elliot  says,  that  there  will  be  some  failures. 
Lastlj’,  the  best  coffee  districts  are  also  the  youngest 
and  their  results  arc  not  yet  forward.  Cholo  and 
South  Mlanje  have  advantages  in  climate  and  forest 
land  which  the  other  districts  lack  and  if  cultivation 
is  adequate  there  can  be  no  fear  but  that  the  best 
results  will  be  realised. 
BOGUS  Oil  ADULTEUATED  QUININE. 
With  quinine  selling  at  the  prices  which  have  pre- 
vailed for  a number  of  years  past,  it  w'ould  scarcely 
be  thought  to  offer  sufficient  inducement  for  sophis- 
tication, as  compared  with  many  of  the  more  ex- 
pensive and  almost  equally  salable  drugs,  to  attract 
the  cupidity  of  the  class  which  finds  honesty  an 
uninteresting  means  of  gaining  a livelihood.  Indeed, 
since  the  price  declined  below  a dollar  little  has 
been  heard  either  of  its  admixture  with  cheaper  salts 
or  their  substitution  for  it  in  preparations  supposed 
to  contain  quinine.  The  analytical  investigator  W'as 
wont  in  former  times  to  discover  gros.s  frauds  in 
the  substitution  of  cinchouidia  for  quinine  in  pillS) 
and  even  in  bulk  form,  and  to  make  his  discovery 
the  basis  of  a contribution  to  pharmaceutical  litera- 
ture, but  there  were  seldom  other  evidences  that 
the  cheaper  salt  was  usurping  the  place  of 
the  other,  and,  outside  of  pvepartions  whose 
components  were  not  definitely  stated,  it  is, 
doubtful  if  the  substitution  w'as  very  largely  prac- 
ticed. During  the  last  year  or  two,  despite  the 
fact  that  quinine  has  been  selling  at  an  average  of 
less  than  thirty-five  cents  per  ounce  to  the  retail 
trade  there  has  been  a good  deal  of  activity  in 
“ outside  lots”  offered  through  distinctively  “outside” 
channels,  and  there  is  a suspicion  that  they  have  not 
been  entirely  straight.  Samples  of  these  lots  submitted 
to  pharmaceutical  houses  have  been  found  to  respond 
to  the  tests  of  pure  quinine,  but  in  several  instances 
where  offers  to  purchase  have  been  conditioned  upon 
a test  of  every  can,  the  “ representative  of  the  owner  ” 
has  found  that  the  lot  had  already  been  sold.  These 
goods  have  been  represented,  for  tho  most  part,  as 
foreign  brands  held  by  a speculator  in  large  bulk,  and 
repacked  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  sales.  In  several 
instances  the  Eeporter  has  endeavored  to  trace  them 
to  some  responsible  source,  but  never  with  success,  and 
their  amount  or  their  final  disposition  has  remained  as 
deeply  shrouded  in  mystery  as  the  source  whence  they 
came.  It  is  not  probable, how'evor,  that  the  goods,  what- 
ever they  were,  ever  found  much  of  an  outlet  to  the  large 
consuming  trade,  and  of  late  there  has  been  evidence 
that  they,  or  something  similar,  were  being  hawked 
to  the  drug  trade  through  the  country.  The  Be- 
porter  of  last  week  contained  an  account  of  tho 
operations  in  the  West  of  one  of  'the  jxrties  who 
was  working  this  market  less  than  twelve  months 
ago  with  tho  same  brand  that  he  is  now  offering 
to  tho  retail  trade  of  the  interior.  A man  of  the 
same  name  has  been  a large  buyer  of  cinchouidia 
in  this  market  during  the  past  few  months,  and  it 
may  fairly  be  assumed  that  this  constitutes  his  stock 
o£  quinine,  with  tho  possible  exception  of  enough 
751 
of  the  genuine  article  to  stand  as  a sample  for 
te.stijig  in  the  eveut  of  the  buyers  caring  to  make 
elo.se  investigation.  It  would  appear,  however,  that 
Mr.  Borst,  that  being  the  brand  under  which  the 
gentleman  was  travelling,  at  last  accounts,  finds 
the  retail  trade  of  the  country  what  might 
bo  termed  an  e“>sy  mark,  and  that  they  allow 
him  to  test  his  own  samples  with  his  own  re- 
agents. If  such  be  the  case,  there  would  seem  to  be  a 
favourable  opening  for  some  enterprising  fakir  to 
undertake  the  sale  of  gold  bricks  to  the  drug  trade,  for 
it  is  evident  that  the  operations  of  the  quinine  swindler 
have  been  extensive  and  widespread.  A short  time 
ago  this  office  received  from  a prominent  jobbing  house 
at  the  South  an  inquiry  for  some  quick  and  trustworthy 
method  of  detecting  cinchouidia,  the  writer  stating 
that  iris  customers  were  buying  what  purported  to  be 
quinine  for  less  than  he  was  paying  the  manufacturers, 
and  that  he  was  suspicious  of  its  genuineness. 
Of  course,  there  are  simple  and  safe  tests  which  should 
make  the  successful  substitution  impossible,  and  buyers 
should  not  hesitate  to  apply  such  a test  to  every  package 
coming  to  them  through  any  irregular  channel,  or  which 
does  not  have  the  indisputable  evidence  of  being  the 
original  packing  of  tho  manufacturer.  “ Guarantees  ” 
are  of  little  weight  on  goods  of  this  class  which 
have  been  repacked,  because  the  necessity  for  re- 
packing does  not  exist,  and  is  likely  to  be  a mere 
subterfuge  for  sophistication.  The  standard  brands  of 
quinine  are,  or  at  least  should  be,  familiar  to  every 
dealer  in  the  article,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
any  desired  quantity  should  not  be  furnished  in 
packages  of  undoubted  originality  of  packing.  These 
facts  suggested  a safe-guard  against  fraud,  and  when 
to  this  is  added  a natural  doubt,  concerning  the 
integrity  of  anything  that  is  offered  much  below 
current  market  prices,  or  by  persons  not  directly 
in  tho  business,  there  would  appear  to  be  no  excuse  for 
a druggist  buying  bogus  quinine,  unless  he  wanted 
to. — Oil,  Paint  & Dnuj  Iteport,  Feb.  24. 
« 
INDIA  AND  CEYLON  TEA. 
Elsewhere  attention  is  directed  to  the  wonderful 
results  of  the  campaign  in  the  interest  of  tea  pi'O- 
duced  in  the  colonies  of  the  United  Kingdom.  One 
must  admire  the  pluck,  persistency  and  wisdom 
which  has  marked  the  operations  of  the  Calcutta  tea 
syndicate  in  this  country.  The  hardest  work  has 
been  to  educate  consumers  to  a proper  use  of  India 
and  Ceylon  tea,  a given  quantity  of  which  will  pro- 
duce a much  stronger  infusion  than  a like  quantity 
of  Japan  and  China  tea.  As  a rule,  the  leaf  is 
steeped  for  too  long  a time,  and  hence,  an  infusion 
results  which  is  not  as  pleasing  to  the  palate  as 
that  to  w’hich  the  tea-drinker  is  accustomed.  If 
buyers  would  follow  the  directions  which  every 
seller  should  furnish,  and  use  less  in  weight,  and 
irifuse  for  five  minutes  or  less,  there  would  be  a 
phenomenal  increase  in  the  use  of  English-grown  tea. 
'The  finer  selections  of  Ceylon  and  India  tea,  when 
properly  infused,  have  a di  i cacy  of  fiavor  and  enough 
body  to  please  the  most  fastidious.  Some  show  the 
arome  and  color  of  tho  finest  wines,  and  this  accounts, 
in  part,  of  tho  great  increase  in  imports. 
In  1890  tho  total  receipts  in  the  United  States, 
of  Ceylon  and  India  teas,  were  less  than  the  re- 
exports from  the  United  Kingdom  to  this  country 
in  1S9I1,  during  which  year  4,211,075  pounds  came  to 
the  United  States  and  Canada  ; while  in  1895  the 
receipts  in  the  two  countries  were  9,283,144  pounds, 
or  nearly  double;  of  this  quantity  6,343,096  came  to 
the  United  States.  This  is  making  grand  progress. 
The  success  of  the  enterprise  is  largely  due  to  the 
intelligent  efforts  of  the  two  commissioners,  Blessrs. 
Mackenzie  and  Blechynden,  whose  labors  have  been 
carried  forward  with  discretion,  skill  and  a perse- 
verance to  command  admiration. 
From  now  on  the  pace  foiuvard  is  likely  to  be  a 
much  livelier  one,  and  w’ill  be  watched  with  intense 
interest  by  the  tea  traders  of  thx’ee  continents. 
American  Grocer,  March  11. 
