7)2 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[May J 898 . 
America. The landscape is suggestive of Beikshire, 
and recalls the fertility of the upper reaches of the 
Thames. The wilder intervals of the Taiig tse are 
picturesque rather than grand. But these passed, the 
scene relapses into the normal characteristics of a 
valley, and the eye may roam for miles over a varied 
tanoeaha of fertility, 
wood and glade in alternate profusion, until the vanish- 
ing perspective is lost in a blue streak low down on 
the horizon betokening a far away range of hills. 
It will be observed by a visitor, however brief his 
visit may be, that at each of the river ports up to 
Tchang, British interests — I will not say British 
influence — are already in the ascendant. We hold 
three-fourths of every material acquisition held by 
the European communitv. 
HANKOW IN THE TEA SEASON — 
in the period when the growers send down the new 
crops of the year for export — is a scene of incredible 
energy and bustle and business. The fine roadstead 
which the river at that time of the year affords is 
crowded with a great fleet of steamers, but ninety- 
five per cent are under the British flag. The beat of 
the tea exported to Russia goes overland, but on one 
Occasion a magnificent vessel steamed up and anohore 1 
under the Russian flag, and she turned out to be one 
of the Volunteer Fleet from the Black Sea. She was 
heavily enough armed to have run amok of the river, 
and though her captain took on board a fair consign- 
ment of tea, it was suspected that her mission was 
rather in the nature of a reconnaissance tha.u in 
the nature of peaceful trading. Hankow itself cor- 
responds in every respect to the gospel of British 
monopoly of trade. The Yang-tse Kiang’s total 
course is estimated at .3,600 miles. At low seasons 
the tide runs up for 520 miles, and beyond this 
point the river is navigable for 1000 miles. 
- »t* ijq j); a nutshell, the British ascendency 
in China has grown out of the capitalised British 
investment of not less than £300,0(0,0000 sterling. 
The centre of our interests lies undoubtedly in the 
central provinces of China, Shanghai, on the sea- 
boaid, and Hankow, 700 miles inland (with all the 
treaty ports lying within that strip) are 
PR.ACTICALLY ENGLISH TOWNS. ' 
The entire German population might be deported 
in a single steamer without inconvenience to them- 
selves or their fellow-passengers. By the occupation 
of the Wu-Suug ports the mainstay of our trade in 
China, from Chefoo to Hong Kong, and from the sea 
to the confluence of the Yalong Kiang and the Kin- 
Kiang, would be safe. We might then regard com- 
placently Germany’s “ twelve-mile radius ” at Kiae 
Chao and leave Russia tranquilly to rejoice in oth 
sterile comfort of Port Arthur, for we should then 
dominate the most magnificent territory under the 
Eastern sun.— Alfred Kinnear. 
« -t 
“THE QUININE QUESTION.” 
Tins is the heading of an article in the 
and Druggist from which we learn that “two 
years ago a German profe.ssor estimated the 
world’s annual consumption of quinine salts to 
be 7 , 000,000 oz., and tliose who vvere able to 
check him did not think the professor wide of 
the mark. This must now be taken as an under- 
estimate, for in the year ending December 31st, 
1897, the United States alone imported 4, SOI, 823 
oz. of quinine sulphate, and as a third as much 
is 'made in U.S.A. as is imported, it follows that 
the consumption there is well over 5,000,000 oz. 
a year. The rest of the world consumes some- 
what more, as Java alone supplies 100,000,000 
oz. of quinine sulphate in the bark yearly, and 
the suiiplies from other sources bring the total up 
to over 12 , 000,000 oz.”— Our ^con temporary may 
see from our review in the “Ceylon Handbook 
and Directory” that so far back as Augu.st 
1895, wq gave statistics to show that the quinine 
consumption of the United States was not less 
than five million ounces— or nearly half that of 
the woild which we estimated (giving details 
for different countrie.s) at close on 11 million 
ounces. No doubt in the two-and-a-half y^ears 
which have elapsed, the consumption has increased 
to 12 million or more ounces. Mr. Joseph W. 
England, of Philadelphia, has been writing on 
the snlqect, and he reports that, — 
Mr. England tells us that ‘‘siace 1879 the United 
States has been the dumping-gronnd of Europe’s 
excess of quinine ” How long that will obtain is a 
problem— says our London contemporary — not that 
American manufacturers will increase their produc- 
tion, but because .Java, as a quinine-producer has 
to be reckoned with. Nearly three years have elapsed 
since the foundation of the factory at Bandoeng, or, 
rather, Samarang, was laid, and the first consign- 
ments of quinine sulphate mamifHctured there are to 
be put forward to auction, one in London this week, 
another in Amsterdam next week. The Java people 
seem sanguine of success, as may be judged by the 
following glowing epistle which we have received from 
Amsterdam : — 
‘On April 6 th twenty-one cases, each containing 12 
kilo, tins of .Java quinine, will be ofiered in public 
auction. This is the first import of the quinine 
manufactured in Java. According to the chemical 
analysis of Dr. W. F. Koppeschaar, the quinine is 
of excelllent quality, and can compete with the first 
qualities of the European market. There is every 
probability that the -Java factories will in the future 
nontinue to send considerable quantities of their make 
to our market, and they will be able to sell at a 
lower rate than their European competitors, because 
they avoid the great expenses of freight, commis- 
sions, &c., on the.bark, and have their plantations at 
their door. Should the English market show sufficient 
interest in this quinine, we feel sure that we shall 
be able to get the manufacturer to put it up in a 
style suitable for that market.’ 
Here are performance and a promise. The only 
comment that need be made in respect of the per- 
formance — i,e., the production of quinine in Java — =is 
that they have hastened slowly, and they might, 
while they were at it, have made the quinine salt 
exactly as we like it— viz., in perfectly white, feathery 
crystals. It is almost impossible not to make chemi- 
cally pure quiume from Java bark. The parcel of 
10,000 oz. which comes up for sale in London today 
(’Thursday) is accompanied by the following analysis 
from Dr. B. H. Paul : — 
‘ The sample of sulphate quinine (I tin) received 
from Smith’s warehouse gives on analysis the follow- 
ing result : 
Water .. .. 15'4 
Quinine sulphate . . . . 84’6 
1000 _ 
The quinine is of high-class quality.’ 
This analysis has tended to prejudice the article In 
Mincing Lane, through no fault of the analyst, but 
because many who are interested in the article have 
looked upon the 15’4 per cent of water as a contami- 
nation. We may, therefore, explain that B.P. sul- 
phate of quinine contains 15 molecirles of water of 
crystallisation — ix., slightly rrnder 16 per cent of 
water, so that the Java article is excellent in this 
respect. But while the quinine is chemically pure 
as far as pharamacopoeial tests go, it is in too 
minute crystals, and ha.s a distinctly yellowish tinge, 
viewed by reflected light. The characteristics make 
it objectionable for general sale, and it is probabel 
that it cannot be used for anything but manufactur- 
ing purposes. The result of the London auction will 
be noted in our trade report, and whatever that may 
be it is interesting to observe that, in Amsterdam, 
the price wanted (20 florins per kilo. = about ll|d 
per oz.) is too high to bring it into competition with 
German quinine. To get a footing Java quinine 
must compete in price as well as in quality. We 
see n<) reason why both should not be done, espeoi- 
