June  j,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
823  • 
CINCHONA  PLANTING  IN  SOUTH 
INDIA. 
GOVERNMENT  COMPETITION  WITH  PRIVATE 
ENTERPRISE. 
We  are  not  aware,  says  the  Madms  Jlail,  whether 
Government  has  yet  taken  any  steps  to  put  into 
effect  its  declared  intention  of  obtaining  fresh  cin- 
chona seed  from  South  America  in  order  to  open  out 
new  acreages  on  its  plantation  on  the  Nilgiri  Hills.  As 
one  or  two  events  have  happened  during  the  past 
few  months  which  may  have  caused  delay  in  the 
matter,  it  is  possible  that  it  is  not  yet  too 
late  to  utter  one  moi'e  protest  against  a line  of 
acti  n which  in  oiar  opinion  is  indefensible  in 
whatever  aspect  it  is  regarded.  It  was  Charles 
Dickens,  we  think,  who  drew  attention  to  the  extra- 
ordinary difficulty  of  bringing  together  two  people, 
one  of  whom  had  an  article  for  sale,  while  the  other 
wantea  to  purchase  exactly  such  an  article.  He  took 
for  his  text  the  advertisement  columns  of  a news- 
paper. but  a more  striking  illustration  is  to  be  found 
m the  cinchona  industry  of  the  Nilgiri  District. 
In  one  corner  of  that  District  Government  is 
crying  out  that  it  cannot  obtain  sufficient  bark 
for  treatment  at  its  quinine  factory,  and  yet  in 
other  parts  planters  arc  groaning  because  the  expense 
of  shipment  to  England  is  too  great  to  allow  them 
to  harvest  their  bark.  There  must  now  be  several 
hundred  acres  of  private  cinchona  on  the  Nilgiris 
and  in  South-East  Wynaad  much  of  it  very  rich  in 
alkaloids,  which  are  practically  valueless  because  the 
charges  necessary  to  place  the  bark  on  the  London 
market  are  so  high  that  they  would  absorb  all  the 
money  likely  to  be  realised  by  the  sale.  This  bark 
is  available  to  Government  at  a price  cheaper  than 
it  could  be  grov/  it  for  itself.  Therefore  so  long  as  Gov- 
ernmentcan  obtain  in  the  open  market  such  cinchona  as 
its  quinine  factory  requires  at  a price  as  low  as  er 
lower  than  the  cost  of  production,  every  anna  spent 
on  opening  out  new  cultivation  is  wasted.  It  will 
very  possibly  be  urged  that  these  private  plantations 
cannot  last  for  over,  and  that  in  view  of  the  present 
state  of  the  market  planters  will  decline  to  go  on 
cultivating  cinchona.'  The  first  part  of  this  assump- 
tion is  true,  but  the  latter  part  very  problematic.  Were 
it  known  that  a certain  .quantity  of  bark  would  be  re- 
quired at  Naduvatum  every  year  for  which  the  current 
market  value  would  be  paid,  there  is  very  little  reason 
to  doubt  that  it  would  be  forthcoming.  Wo  write 
of  course  on  the  assumption  that  the  factory  is 
not  treated  as  a source  of  public  revenue.  It  has, 
we  believe,  been  laid  down  that  the  sulphate  is 
not  to  be  sold  below  the  current  wholesale  price  ; 
and  this  being  so.  Government  can  always  afford  to 
give  the  same  price  locally  with  manufacturers  pay  in 
Europe.'  Sir  Arthur  Havelock  has  already  shown  a 
sympathetic  attitude  towards  the  planting  industry, 
and  if  be  were  only  once  and  for  all  to  qjut  his  foot 
down  on  this  competition  of  Government  with  an  im- 
poverished private  enterprise,  he  would  do  a real  ser- 
vice. Since  the  days  of  Sir  M.  E.  Grant  Duff  there 
has  often  been  a talk  of  Government  withdrawing 
from  the  cultivation  of  cinchona,  and  it  only  requires 
a little  resolution — in  both  senses  of  the  word — to 
bring  it  about.  The  matter  is  after  alia  small  one,  but 
it  involves  a great  principle. 
AFRICAN  A. 
(.■uor  ruosi'ECT  ISlRi. 
It  will  be  gratifying  to  our  planting  friends  to  hear 
that  a rough  computation  of  the  total  crop  for  189(5, 
promises  an  outturn  of  over  300  tons,  let  us  say  from  a 
minimum  of  300  tons  to  a maximupr  of  about  350. 
Of  course  the  estimate  is  necessarily  only  a rough 
one  as  statistics  are  not  to  hand  from  all  the  plantations 
but  we  believe  the  figures  given  above  will  be  found 
fairly  accurate,  always  supposing  that  no  untoward 
disaster  intervenes  between  now  and  crop-time.  In 
1889  the  yield  was  .5  tons,  which  amount  was  doubled 
ju  1891.  In  1893  the  export  of  coffee  had  risen  to 
lOi 
4‘2.i  tons,  in  1894  to  74  tons  and  the  1895  outqmt  was 
calculated  at  150  tons.  We  hope  the  Administration 
will  soon  publish  the  actual  figures  from  Uhiromo 
Customs  returns.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  1890 
crop  is  likely  to  double  the  estimated  amount  for  last 
year  and  yet  rn'y  a small  portion  of  the  planted 
area  is  in  full  bearing  this  year.  Taken  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  high  prices  which  our  coffee  obtains  in 
the  Loudon  Market  where  Ills,  the  record  figure, 
was  obtained  by  some  of  last  year’s  crop  it  gives  the 
best  answer  to  those  pessimists  who  would  decry  our 
staple  industry.  Our  coffee  appears  in  the  Market 
reports  as  East  African  Plantation  but  as  both  German 
East  Africa  and  Ibea  may  soon  be  placing  coffee  on 
the  market  it  might  be  advisable  to  get  the  B.  C.  A. 
coffee  classed  as  Nyassaland  or  some  such  distinguish- 
ing name. — Central  African  Planter,  March. 
« 
TEA  IN  THE  .SHETLANDS. 
“ Three  months  of  summer,  and  nine  months  of 
eternal  rain.”  It  is  almost  better  to  have  it  as  we 
have  it  in  Madras — summer  all  round,  and  the  greater- 
part  of  it  a burning,  skin-cracking,  prickly-heat- 
bringing,  boil-producing  summer  that  scorches  all 
the  energy  out  of  the  body  a?id  all  the  vigour  out  of 
the  soul.  For  the  nine  months’  “ rain  ” of  the  Shet- 
lauds  means  unutterable  things.  “ Rain,”  in  India 
means  something  delightful, — a refreshing  shower  that 
cools  the  air,  at  least  for  the  time  being,  even  though 
a steamy  oppressive  heat  follows  immediately.  In 
a place  like  the  Shetlands  rain  means  a 
driving,  sleety  discomfort,  such  that  nine 
mouths  of  it  would  tell  a good  deal  on  the  negative 
side  of  the  discussion  as  to  whether  life  is  worth 
living.  In  a hot  region  like  tropical  Madros,  or  in 
a cold  one  like  the  freezing  Shetlands,  the  cup  that 
cheers  but  not  inebriates  is  largely  indulged  in  ; and, 
although  “ Auld  Scottie  ” is  a large  item  in  the 
Shetlands.  yet  the  love  for  tea  is  apparently  profound; 
and  it  can  be  imagined,  indeed,  that  the  icy  climate 
makes  the  warming  cup  a treat.  According  to  an 
account  in  a home  paper,  the  Shetland  doctors  say 
that  the  Shetlanders  are  on  the  whole  healthy  and 
thriving,  the  chief  diseases  being  those  that  spring 
from  a moist  climate,  overcrowded  dwellings,  and 
“an  immoderate  use  of  tea.”  But  it  is  somewhat  as- 
tonishing to  go  on  reading  that  “ Tea  is  said  to  be 
the  cause  of  many  local  diseases,  and  among  them 
that  of  delirium  tremens,  and  of  all  sorts  of  ills.” 
On  this  a Shetlander  writes  playfully: — “We  have 
for  long  been  told  that  tea  was  seriously  injuring  us, 
but  we  have  taken  no  notice.”  The  matter  he  says, 
has  now  reached  a climax,  and  if  the  Shetlanders 
do  not  instantly  reform  they  will  become  Mongolians 
to  whom  tea  is  an  all-in-all.  Indeed,  we  must  be  so 
already.  It  is  stated,  on  medical  authority,  that 
owing  to  the  use  of  biscuits  and  strong  tea  the  Shet- 
landers have  under-gone  a most  unheard  of  change 
within  the  last  30  years,  and  have  become  quite 
another  people.  In  speaking  of  the  effects  of 
tea-drinking,  the  scientific  authority  quoted  calmly 
states  that  Shetlanders  were  formerly  supposed,  and 
in  fact  in  the  south  are  still  supposed,  to  be  the 
oft'sjning  of  the  early  Norse,  but  their  tea-drinking  has 
quite  debilitated  them,  and  made  them  cpiite  another 
people.  This  discovery,  writes  the  Shetlander,  adds  a 
new  and  startling  complication  to  the  question  of 
hcreditr".  “ Who  we  are  now”  he  says  “ and  to 
what  race  wc  belong  is  what  every  Shetlander  is  asking 
himself.  'Through  our  persistent  use  of  tea  we  have 
drunk  ourselves  out  of  our  ancestors  and  out  of  the 
race  of  Odin,  and  must  by  a natural  law  h.ave  fallen  back 
on  the  aboriginal  natives.  It  is  believed  that  a Mon- 
golian race  inhabited  at  one  time  the  north  of  Europe, 
and  we  must  now  be  classed  among  the  heathen 
Chinee.  Uur  tea-drinking  is  aproof,  and  there,  are  other- 
proofs  hitherto  unexplained  which  at  rare  intervals 
have  perplexed  observant  men.  The  only  satisfactory 
element  in  it  is  that  the  problem  of  who  built  the 
ancient  castles  along  our  sliores  has  been  at  last 
solved.  Our  fathers  did  it.”  The  far  Shetlands  are 
evidently  good  customers  for  tea,  but  that  reference 
to  the  heathen  Chinee  and  the  Mongolians  makey  it 
