INTRODUCTION. but at the end of every half-year a thoroughly useful and complete Index will be appended, so as We have already announced that our “ H a n d ­ to make the information under each topic, or b o o k o f I n f o r m a t i o n f o r C e y l o n ” published this respecting each product, readily available. year is the last bulky volume of the kind that will The publication will be made as soon after be issued from our press. the first of each month as possible. Our present In future, we trust to present annually a compact preliminary issue, which we distribute gratis to D i r e c t o r y volume with every-day information the number of 2,000 copies, cannot be taken as which is needful to the planter, merchant, civil serv­ a fair specimen of what will follow either in ant, &c. This will necessitate the exclusion of respect of contents or punctuality; indeed the papers bearing on planting subjects such as have second issue is, at this date, almost ready for publi­ occupied a prominent place in successive Hand­ cation. It will be our endeavour to find a place books during the last twenty years. The difficulty in these pages for everything bearing on the has always been to find space for the information practical work of a tropical planter, our space which we would fain publish for the benefit being no more restricted than our will to serve of our readers. Almost every issue of the our constituents. It will be observed that our Daily and Weekly Observer contains informa­ contents on the present occasion include papers tion which the planter would be glad to preserve and much useful practical information on the in a convenient form for reference, and we have i following among other subjects :— been frequently pressed to supply this want by The Cultivation of Cinchona, Tea, Cacao, Liberian an issue separate from the Directory. There is Coffee, India-rubber, Tobacco, Vanilla, Fig, Aloe, &c. ; on the Preparation of Tea ; Adulteration of Tea and also a great deal of information bearing on Coffee ; Manuring of Plantations; the use of Lime; the cultivation of new and old products to the Coffee Leaf Disease; on Apiculture and Ceylon he found in Home and Colonial periodicals Bees; Tea and other Products at the Melbourne Ex­ which we should like to make generally known, hibition ; Planting in Natal, Jamaica, &c. but. for which it is impossible to find space in I n our second and third numbers we shall the pages of an ordinary newspaper. endeavour to find space for the portions of It is to provide a fitting medium for all the past letters of the Commissioner at Melbourne such literature that we have determined to pub­ for Ceylon, which Tea planters and merchants would wish to keep by them. We lish “ T h e T r o p i c a l A griculturist .” This will be shall be glad to receive suggestions from any issued monthly, and, as may be observed, in a of our readers for the benefit of our new venture. form suitable for easy reference, and for binding We have endeavoured to make the subscription in either half-yearly or yearly volumes as may as low as possible to Observer subscribers, an be desired. average issue of from 70 to 80 pages being Prefixed to each issue a table of “ Contents ” is guaranteed monthly. given which is of little more than nominal value, “ O b s e r v e r ” O f f i c e , 24th June 1881. “ THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. ” FORM OF ORDER. TO THE PUBLISHERS, " Ceylon Observer ” Office, Colombo, Ceylon. 1881. D e a r S i r s , —Please enter my name as a subscriber for “ The Tropical A griculturist" (monthly) at eight rupees per annum (being a subscriber to the Daily or Weekly Observer), or at twelve rupees per annum (not being a subscriber to the Daily or Weekly Observer). Yours truly, (From April 1 to A p ril 9 .) cultivation to be a success, an analytical and manu­ facturing chemist, Mr. Broughton, was sent to Madras, THE MADRAS GOVERNMENT AND THE just as Mr. Wood was detached on a similar mission CINCHONA BARK MARKET. to Sikhim. Mr. Wood was encouraged in every possible The Managing Director of the Scottish Trust and way by the Bengal authorities, and the consequence Loan Company of Ceylon deserves the thanks of our was that he established a successful local manufacture, cinchona planters for coming forward in so timely and which continues under his successors, to absorb all practical a manner to endeavour to stop what has be­ but an insignificant proportion of the bark cut; while, come a serious and undoubtedly an improper inter­ in consequence of the bad treatment received by ference on the part of the British Government with Mr. Broughton and his consequent disappearence, the private enterprise :— Nilgiri bark has been regularly shipped to the London C i n c h o n a B a r k f r o m I n d i a . market to compete with the produce of private Scottish Trust Loan Company of Ceylon, Limited, enterprise. At Sikhim they now manufacture 200 lb. 123 Bishopsgate St. W ithin, of febrifuge weekly, absorbing nearly 300,000 lb. of London, M arch 2, 1881. bark per annum, while the Nilgiri crop of bark may Sir ,—As a matter of great interest to the planters of India and Ceylon, I beg to draw your attention be said to be all exported. Mr. Clements Markham to the following remarks: has most consistently and urgently protested against The circumstances under which the Government the mistaken policy of the Madras Government, and of India commenced the cultivation of the cinchona Ceylon memorialists would find in him a strong plant are well known to all, and their success in obtaining a febrifuge for their army as well as for supporter of their petition. From Mr. Markham’s the population of India, is in the highest degree “Chinchona” book lately published we quote sufficiently commendable. to shew how strong a case he makes out against the They are now, however, far beyond this point, and practice which Mr. Dickson attacks :— whilst the planters of Ceylon, struggling against “ No correct judgment could be formed of the financial adverse seasons and a dire pest, which has seized result of the Nilgiris enterprise until the factory [Mr. their plantations, added to the competition of over­ Broughton’s] was in full work, and turning out 800 whelming slave-grown crops from Brazil, and adul­ pounds annually, or more. The ingredients, except acid terated concoctions here, are looking to the future and caustic soda, were obtained in the country, and their of their cinchona plantations to aid them in their cost was small in comparison to the work done. But the troubles, they find the Government of India, un­ outlay, as regards labor and many other items, in the fettered by want of capital, and the wide difference same whether the out-turn is large or small, so that no that lies between private parties and a mighty Go­ reliable calculation could be made as to the real cost, vernment, sending such ever-increasing quantities of until the factory was working up to its full power. cinchona bark into the London market as fill them Moreover, experience would have suggested improve­ with anxiety for the future. ments in the arrangements for pressing the bark, for The steamer “ Eldorado” just arrived has 196,000 preventing loss of alkaloids, and other details. Un­ lb. of Government bark on board as one shipment fortunately this hopeful experiment, so fraught with, or 20,000 lb. in excess of the aggregate shipments benefit to the people of the Madras Presidency, from Ceylon for the current season. was cut short prematurely, and before a fair trial If the Government of India is to compete in the had been made. English market with private enterprise, an unpleasant “ A Committee was appointed by the Madras Govern­ outlook for the Englishmen whose welfare depends ment to report upon the financial result of the manu­ upon their labour in the torrid zone—let both sides facture before any correct conclusion could be formed. be equal—the Government of India paying a high In their report, dated November 28th, 1874, they price for their lands and labour, eight to ten per cent submitted a calculation by which it was made to for their money, no assistance from Government appear that the * amorphous quinine ’ was produced Chemists and collectors and the multitudes of ad­ at a loss. In the years 1872 and 1873, the quantity vantages which they can indirectly obtain from being produced was 445 pounds. By arbitrarily charging the paramount power, and we shall then not feel the factory with £2,500 for the bark, and £583 for ourselves over-matched.—Yours truly, the cost of working, and interest on plant and build­ Thomas Dickson, ings, they made out that the 445 lb. cost £3,083, Managing Director. and they placed its value at £1,500. By these figures Mr. Dickson intends to send a copy of the letter to they made out a lose of £1,583. Their calculations the London papers, and he is anxious to follow up this are misleading. It was quite premature to attempt any calculations at so early a stage. The legitimate protest by a memorial and deputation to the Secretary profit from the sale of bark to pay off the capital of State for India and the Colonies, provided the Ceylon charge would, in a few years, have secured a net planting and mercantile community take the necessary result obviating all pretext for charging anything for action.