84 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



{August i, 1883. 



coagratulated. Three years ago, the kinds of cinchona bark 

 under cultivation in Jamaica were only three, viz., cinchona 

 suecirubra, cinchona otiiciuahs, and the so-called ciuchona 

 catisaya, now provetl to be identical vnth cinchona hybrid or 

 robusta of Ceylon and India. 



Since that time, numerous kinds have been introduced 

 vbich are now the subject of careful experiment to deter- 

 mine tlie most favourable circumstances of soil, eleva- 

 tion, rainfall, and aspect, suitable for their sut^cessful culti- 

 VHtion, the best methods for harvesting tlie bark and 

 inducing the largest formation of alkaloids, as well as 

 determining the simplest and most economical methods for 

 tlieir general treatment and management. 



Among the kinds of bark now imder experimental cultiv- 

 ation at the Government plantations in Jamaica are: — 



Bed Barks— Chichoua, suct-irubra ; CiuchODa succinibra, var, sub 

 pubasfeii-S. 



Vrotoii Barks — Ciiichoiia offiiiualis ; Ciuchoua ofEL-iualis, var. 

 uritu>iiiga ; Ciuchona officinalis, var. Bomplandiaua ; Ciuchona 

 otlicniali-i, var. crispa ; Ciuchona officinalis, magnifolia; Cinchona 

 officinalis, pubescens. 



J/)/brid Bark—iMncUon^i hylnid or robusta. 

 Ledf/eriana Bark~V\uchom\ letlgeriana. 



i ci, 01': Barks— CiiM-'hoiio. cali^a^a ; Cinchona calisaya, vera; Ciu- 

 thuna calisaya, var. Josephiana ; Cinchona calisaya var^ Javanica; 

 Cinchuuatralisaya, verde ; Cinchona calisaya, morada form. 



Orct/ Barks — Cinchona Pfrnviaua ; Cinchona uitida; Cinchona 

 micraiitha. 



CartliaguRd Bark — Cinchona laucifolia. 

 Cuprea Bark — Remija pedunrulata. 



The cinchona industry of Jamaica, as indicated above, has 

 now enteretl upon a practical phase, and plantations are 

 being opeu« <l by private parties on a large scale. During the 

 last two yfcars the Government has sold twelve patents, or 

 runs of high forest land, containing some .">,0U0 acres, under 

 conditions which involve that at least one-sisth shall be 

 planted with cinchona at the end of live years. 



Uesidet- this, some '2,00U acres — portions of the higher 

 ooltee estat'-s suitable for ciuchona cultivation — are "being 

 gradually oj)ened by theii- proprietors; so that in a few 

 yeai's valuai>le and extensive cinchona plantations will be 

 thoroughly estabUshed in the island. 



Thebu ciuchuuiL plantations in Jamaica %vill probably 

 remain for many years the only successful cinchona plant- 

 ations in the New World. No cinchona can be grown, in 

 any portion of the United States territory, wliich is entirely 

 outside the tropics. In all the other British West India 

 Islands there is no suitable land, as far as I am aware, 

 possessing the requisite elevation, soil and climate for the 

 successful cultivation of cinchona. It is very unlikely 

 to thrive in either British Honduras or British Guiana, 

 and although much has been written and said respecting 

 the systematic cultivation of cinchona in its natural home 

 in the South American states, I have entu'ely failed so far, 

 although I have met many men who have travelled 

 through those states interested in the subject, to hear of 

 any plantation possessing say 100 acres systematically 

 established with this valuable tree. 



The cost of establishing cinchona plantations in Jamaica 

 is estimat" d at £35 per acre, which includes the purchase of 

 laud and aii exi enses to up the end of the fourth year, when 

 the first crop or bark may be taken. The total yield of 

 the plantation {deducting cost of barking, curing and ship- 

 ping expenses), up to the end of the ninth year, will 

 probably be not less than £175 per acre, against a total 

 outlay for plantation operations for that period cf about. 

 £50 per acre. Tbe estimattd cost i-s based upon land at 

 aljout 5s per acre, and Creole labour at existing rales viz. 

 men Is to Is 4Ad per day, women lOA to Is per day, 

 The estimate of return is based on an average of 2s per 

 pound being obtained for the bark of all ag^s which is 

 practically only one-half of that actually realised by 

 Jamaica-grown bark during the last three years. 

 In addition to the experimental cultivation and investi- 

 gations respectin cinchona plants, attempt is being made 

 to manufacture cinchona febrifuge in the island for the 

 purpose placing this valuable but cheap preparation within 

 reach of Her Majesty's subjects in the ^Vest lutlies. This 

 local utilisation of the Government cinchona plantation in 

 Jamaica is one which has long been kept in view, and should 

 cinchona febrifuge be successfully and economically manu- 

 factured there, the plantation will he able to render an 

 additional service in sui'pljiug ou the spot the means for 

 combating siclaiess and disease, and effectually coping with 

 tlie scourages of fever whv'h oceasiiuially visit it. "This 



object, among others has, I believe, been always in con- 

 templation by the Home Government in encouraging cinchona 

 planting in the colonies ; and it is an aim so noble and bene- 

 volent that it deserves the sympathy and support of all 

 concerned." For, as one writer has well expressed it, "To 

 Eugland, with her numerous and extensive colonial posses- 

 sions, cinchona bark is simply priceless : and it is not too 

 much to say that if portions of her tropical empire are up- 

 held by the bayonet, the arm that wields the weapon would 

 be nerveless but for cinchona bark and its active principles." 

 (Cheers). 



Up to a recent date British Honduras was merely a settle- 

 ment for the purpose of cutting logwood and mahogany, 

 and it was not until 1862 that it was raised to the dignity 

 and importance of a British Golony- 



Speaking of tbe want of accurate scientific knowledge 

 of the natural resources and capabilities of British Hon- 

 dui'as, the Colonial Uuardiav, published at Belize, recently 

 remarked : — " We have for a sufiiciently long period lived 

 without a knowledge of the capabilities of abuut three- 

 fourths, and in total ignorance of even the pliysical con- 

 figm-atiou of more than one-half of the colony. "We have 

 been willing quietly to allow, without a contradictory mur- 

 mur, the climate and soil of British Honduras to be slan- 

 dered, until the civilized world lias come to look ou her 

 as a vast pestiferous swamp, unworthy the habitation of 

 civilized man. So long as mahogany was p.eutiful and 

 brought good prices, little did the more wealthy colonists 

 reck whether this continuous slandering of her soil barred 

 the way to colonization. But fortunately mahogany is 

 failing, and dire necessity is driving them to think of 

 agriculture and its only hope of developement — immigra- 

 tion, as the true foundation of her progress. But the 

 long lethargy has borne evil fruits, and British Honduras 

 is only thought of in Europe as another Europeans' grave 

 not dissimilar to the pestilential coast of Western Africa. 

 To disabuse the world of this erroneous ofinion will be 

 no easy task, unless we can lay before it substantial proofs 

 of our statements.'* 



British Honduras contains an area of 7.562 square miles 

 that is, more than four times the size of Trinidad, nearly 

 twice the size of Jamaica, and almost equal to that of the 

 British West In«lia Islands proper put together. A large 

 portion of the country is practically unknown, but exclud- 

 ing the low swampy ground on the bays and some portions 

 of the coast, and allowing a large iroporMon of the interior 

 rocky country as being unfit for cultivation, there remains 

 extensive areas of magniticeul virgin soils in British Hon- 

 duras, equal, if not superior, to anything else in the M'est 

 Indies. British Honduras has a seaboard of about 250 miles, 

 sti-etching from the River Hondu on the north, abuttmg 

 on Yucatan and Mexico, to the liiver Sarstoon on the south, 

 bordering on tbe KVpubhc of Guatemala. In general, the 

 land rises from the sea-coast, in a gentle slope towards the 

 west intersected by numerous deep and navigable rivers, until 

 it meets, on the frontier line, the dividing mountain zone of 

 Central America. 



Many other interesting plants of timber and dye woods, as 

 well as of plants of medicmal and economic value, were met, 

 many of which I have considered are capable of being util- 

 ised both iu British Honduras and in other British possesi^ious. 

 For experienced planters, who have already lived in tropical 

 countries, and especially in the East, British Honduias 

 ofi'ers iuducements superior, I believe, to those of most 

 British Colonies. There are thousands of acres of magni- 

 ficent land offered Ijy the Government at an upset price 

 of a dollar an acre, capable of growing nearly every tiopi- 

 cal product. Some of those lands are either near the 

 banks of rivers, with easy communication with the coast, 

 or on the coast itself. There is an abundant market for 

 bananas, plantains, cocoa-nuts, oranges, pine-apples, and 

 all tropical fruits in den^and in America, and regular direct 

 communication, by ni-'ans of mail and other steameis. with 

 both England and the States. For the cidtivation of sugar- 

 cane, coffee, tea, cacao, spices, tobacco, vanilla, and rice, 

 British Honduras off e:s special advantages. The chief draw- 

 backs to the advanct ment of the t'oiony are : — (1.) — The 

 scarcity and somewhat precarious n;iture of the labour supply, 

 and (2) — the want d cheap and effective communication 

 with the rich b;u-k lands of the interior. The 

 first of these dra\\ backs, may in a great measure 

 be overcome by the establishment of an effective system of 



