26 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JtriY 2, 1883. 



MK. HOWARD'S PAPER ON CINCHONAS. 

 We now give the notice of Mi-. Howard's paper by 

 tlie London correspondent of the "Ceylon Times," as 

 our own correspondent lias failed us in a matter which 

 he ought to have known was of great interest to 

 our readers. It is clear tha'u even now we must 

 wait for the appearance of the paper itself. 

 In the "Times" account Mr. Howard is represented 

 as impeaching the nomenclature of Mr. Moeiis (who 

 has had unrivalled opportunities of observing the 

 yellow barks from the most inferior of calisayas up 

 to the richist of Ledgeriauas) but there is not a 

 word about the charge that Dr. Trimen had figured 

 C. micraidhii. as C. Ledf/eriana, and nothing about 

 the injurious effects of the alkaloids of the grey bark. 

 Until we see the chartje explicitly made in Mr. 

 Howard's paper, we must refuse to believe that the I 

 great quinologist accused the eminent botanist of 

 having figured and described an inferior grey bark as 

 repiesenting the very king of the yellow barks, 

 ('. Lcdgeriana. And then about O. robasia, as Mr- 

 Howai-d regularly freceives our paper he must be 

 aware that Dr. Trimen's special recommendation of 

 this name was that it left the question of hybridity an 

 open one.* What Dr Trimen proved, )jy getting refer- 

 ence made to the specimens at Kew, was that C. robusta, 

 whatever else it was, was not Paid ile GaUinazo, as 

 Mr. Cross represented. As to hybridization, all we 

 can say is that we resisted belief in the process as 

 long as we could, and that our change of opinion 

 was largely influenced by the fact that so orthodox 

 a naturalist as Mr. Howard himself admitted that 

 hybrids had actually occurred in India. Mr. Howard 

 has also in his works recognized important influences, 

 short of hybridization, which the various species of 

 cinchonas growing side by side exercise on each 

 other. As to Ceylon and Indian planters growing 

 the inferior kinds, the planters grew what they could 

 procure and what survived as the fittest. As red 

 bark from Ceylon sold the other day at 4s per lb., 

 it seems clear that inferior species can be enormously 

 improved. Many Ceylon and Indian planters have 

 attempted to grow Ledgers and have failed. If this 

 plant would grow anywhere it would be everywhere 

 "rown. AVe do not understand about C. renle and 

 IJ. morada trees yielding each 7 lb. of bark. At 

 what age, and, is it by uprooting and taking all the 

 bark away, by coppieuig, or what ? But we must 

 wait for Mr. Howard's paper. Meantime, it seems 

 that Mr Howard has recognized the great value of 

 G. verde and C. morada, introduced by Mr. ( liristy, 

 but not by him alone. Mr. Howard, too, seems to 

 have characterized Ledgeriana bark from (. eylon as 

 superior even to that from Java. 



ME. HOWARD ON LEDGERIANA. 

 The correspondent who lately sent us a brief and 

 evidently, imperfect notice of Mr. Howard's paper 

 read before the Linnean Society now sends us a 

 fuller report. Of course we must reserve final con- 

 clusions until we have seen the actual terms of Mr. 

 Howard's paper, but it certainly seems to admit of 

 little doubt that the great quinologist has impeached the 

 botanical discrimination of Mr. Moens and Dr. 



» In a letter dated March oril, 18H2, Mr. Howard re- 

 marked to us that " the name C. rohmta seems well ap- 

 phed to the pwhesccn of which 1 ha\'e a Hoiiri.sliing speci- 

 men 8 to 10 feet high."— Ed. 



Trimen. The latter, trusting to the judgment of the 

 former on a subject where his experience had been 

 larger than that of any living man, described and 

 figured as a true type of Ledr/eriana a plant grow- 

 ing in Ceylon. Mr. Howard is represented, in the 

 first place, as adhering to the view that Ledgeriana 

 is not a distinct species, in which light Dr. Trimen 

 regarded it ; and in the next as denying that the 

 plant figured and described by Dr. Trunen as Ledger- 

 iana was " the real Simon Pure ": it is, "Mr. Howard 

 seemed inclined to believe," the male form of CinfAo7ia 

 mkrantha, var. Calisayoidcs, the female plant of 

 which is figured in Curtis's Botanical Magazine as 

 C. Calisaya, var. JoncpMana, by Sir J. D. Hooker. 

 It is a grave charge to bring against two of the 

 leading botanical authorities of the day, that they 

 should give information so erroneous and misleading, 

 and we do not doubt that both Hooker and Trimen 

 will be speedily heard in reply. We do not know 

 the age of the plant which Dr. Trimen figured, but 

 even young trees of true Ledgeriana give results in 

 quinine enormously in excess of that ever yielded 

 by the best forms of micrantlia or grey bark. We 

 suppose the jjant is in existence and that Dr. 

 Trimen will not lose a day in having some of its 

 bark analyzed. It may be possible to trace the 

 genealogy of the plant, and, if it is from seed sent 

 by Mr. Mclvor from the Nilgiris, there are the 

 cases of the splendid Ledgerianas on Yarrow and 

 on Mr. T. N. Christie's estate to prcve that, how- 

 ever stunted trees from Ledger's seed grew on 

 the Nilgiris at very liigh elevations, seed from them 

 sent to Ceylon resulted in Ledgerianas with bark as 

 rich as any the undoubted plants in .Java yielded. 

 If bark yields 7 to 13 per cent of quinine, it is of 

 little moment to the planter what its exact scientific 

 place may be ; but to a scientific man like Dr. 

 Trimen it is a question of first importance whether 

 lie did or did not, in an elaborate paper with a 

 carefully coloured drawing, describe and figure as true 

 Ledgeriana what was really a calisaya-like micrantha : 

 confound the very lowest form of the cinchonas 

 (economical value considered) with the very highest. 

 As for Dr. Kuntze and his hybrid craze, Mr. Gain- 

 mie's testimony puts him out of court, and we can- 

 not suppose that a man like Mr. Howard attached 

 much importance to the eccentric German's opinions. 

 One thing is certain : if, as is stated, Mr. Howard 

 recognized as true Ledgerianas Mr. Christy's Calisaya 

 verde plants, then the external features of Ledgeri- 

 anas vary from satiny green to velvety scarlet leaves ; 

 and whilp pure wliite blossoms generally distinf^uish 

 the genuine Ledgers yet one of the best trees in 

 the Java plantations was a pmk -blossomed one. It 

 will be curious if, after the prevalent belief that 

 Mr. Ledger had rescued the best form of calisaya 

 from extinction Calisaya verde and Calisaya mornda 

 should turn out to be mere varieties of the same 

 tree, with tlie advantage of a more r 'bust habit. 

 Are not some of the plants in the possession of Mr. 

 Owen and others old enough for the bark to be 

 analyzed ? Even twigs of the true Ledgerianas gi\-e 

 good results at 2A years of age. We may as well 

 point out, that, whether Dr. Tiinien is or is not 

 mistaken in regard to the plant he described as 

 Ledgeriana, he had nothing to do with sending a 

 hybrid plant to Jamaica as calisaya. 



CINCHONA LEDGERIANA. 

 At a recent meeting of the Linnean Societj- in London, 

 Mr. J. C. Howard, F. R. S., read a paper which cannot fail 

 to have considerable interest for those who cultivate this 

 vahiable plant. For some months past a discussion has 

 taken place amongst various botanical authorities on cin- 

 chona cultm-e, as to whether " Cmcliotm Ledgerimm 



