88 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1^83. 



for INlr. James Mackenzie, who has a 1,000-tou raill ordered. 

 R£r. Spiller and Messrs. Young Bros, have each ordered 

 2,000-ton plants, and will be placed in position by 1884. 

 People here are looking forward with interest to the 

 opening of the Ardmillan mill. It will be a red-letter day 

 for the Burdekin. I hope the Surjar i'laatt-r will be ably 

 represented on that occasion. You should come yourself, 

 knowing, as I do, yom- ardent spirit in advancing colonial 

 sugar inUL'-sts, and I know you will have something extra 

 to report upon. The cane-fields are looking well, but recent 

 weather has been thoroughly planter's weather. Seaforth 

 promises to be a compact and easily worked testate, and 

 everybody wishes Mr. Mackenzie every success. Mr. M'ilil- 

 lan does not seem knocked up with his long spell of 

 laborious and anxious work. Messrs. Young Bros., Calamia 

 plantation, have pushed forward the work of estate forming 

 with energy and success. The traction engines and steam 

 ploughs (of Messrs. Fowler & Co., of Leeds), were not long in 

 preparing a large cultivation area for cane. This estate is 

 weU managed and the young canes look magnificent. Mr. 

 Uolin Muuro's plantation is also worthy of notice, as he 

 has a splendid show of good cane, and labour done. Mr. 

 Holland has cleared a lai-ge portion of hea\'5' laud, and 

 ploughing will shortly begin. The Pioneer estateis rapidly de- 

 veloping itself into as large a plantation as Ai'dmiUan. Mr. 

 Masterton has exhibited good management, and has suc- 

 cessfully carried out the experienced ideas of that veteran 

 sugar-planter, Mr. Spiller, of Mackay. Six months cane 

 have shown a height of six feet. A look at jVi-dmillau and 

 the Pioneer, and the other Burdekin plantations throws 

 strangers into dreamland. But the gigantic progress of 

 the delta is a reality and no dream. There is not a lazy 

 or inexperienced man on the Bm-dekin. A few more months 

 and the Government will be compelled to give us a rail- 

 way. Mr. Morey, P. M. and P. I., lately visited the plant- 

 ations, when about 200 islanders were paid their wages before 

 hira ; and with the exception of four boys ill with the 

 *• syphilitic," he fountl the kanakas all healthy. He found 

 many whites, Chinese and Polynesians employed on the 

 Burdekin, and the cry everywhere is "■ give us more." 

 Last year from QQ to 70 inches of rain fell in this district, 

 which is not so dry after all. In a quite ride round the 

 plantations, I observed that Dr. Ahearnc's plantation w^as 

 remarkably well advanced, as well as the fiue estates of 

 Han-is, and Wilson Bros. The eighteen months old canes 

 are very healthy and he^vj', and the nursery canes upon 

 the recently-formed estates are most promising. Mr. 

 M'Millan is experimenting with 200 acres of cane upon 

 the irrigation system. J\Ir. Lionarons, who is an exi^ert 

 in tropical agi'iculture, is anxious to try a cocoa crop, 

 whilst other planters are confident that rice and Indian 

 gram would thrive successfully. But we neetl not be afraid 

 of fodder, as a good couch grass is supplanting the original 

 tall and tough gi-asses of the plain. Ayr will become a 

 pretty township, as it is nicely situated on the Lilies- 

 mere lagoons. The township of Brandon also shows marked 

 signs of futnre prosperity. Ah-eady stores, hotels and other 

 buildings are springing up in the rival townships. Bar- 

 ratta Creek will always be a fair port, as, in fact, it now 

 is. Plantation Ci'tudt will always be a i)ort for a number 

 of select^ors and plantations. — The Sojjar Planhr. [Having 

 visited the splendid delta of the Burdekin in its earliest, 

 in company with Mr. Jeffray ( f Sloanc & Co. (a firm 

 wed-known all over the colonies and largely interested in 

 sugar). 'Mr. jSPMillan, formerly a Government Engineej-. and 

 Mr. Graham of Lillcsmere, who amongst them own 20,000 

 acres of sugar land, we are glad to learn of progress 

 made. Mr. Mackenzie, who has named his place Seaforth, 

 because he is descended from that family, was formerly a 

 coffee planter in Coorg. " C'alamia," owes its name to the 

 reeds which abound. Tf science, energy and hard work can 

 command success, then Mr. M'Millan will command suc- 

 cess. — Ed.] 



THE EFFECT OF ALTITUDE ON THE ALKALOID 



OF KED BAKK. 



(From the Fharmacentical Joui^al, .Tune O.i 



By J. E. HowAHD, F.K.S. 



X beg to forward the enclosed pubhshe<l communication 



from Dr. Trimen, which will interest many of your readers 



and >-uetain ihe character of yom- joui-nal as the best re- 



pertory of information oi^ the important subjects of which 

 it treats. 



It gives me pleasm:e to see that " the relationship of the 

 alkaloids " is brought under notice in Dr. Trimen's letter. 

 It is long since I worked at this in conjmiction with Dr. 

 Herapath, and much of the information then published is 

 i probably forgotten ; and much that was inferred relative 

 to the manner iu which the molecules appear to be built up 

 in nature (bearing on the possibility or otherwise of the 

 artificial productian of quinine) remains for further in- 

 vestigation. I can only remark, at present, on the univer- 

 sality of the relationships thus disclosed by the ray of 

 polarized light, 



The relationship is this : — 



lAtvoyyvate. Dextroyyrate. Feebly Dextroyyrate 

 Quinine. Quinidine. Quinicine. 



Cinchonidine. Cinchonine. Cinchonicine. 



Dr. Herapath, in his " Researches in the Cinchona Alkal- 

 oids " (' Proceedings of the Koyal Society,' November, 1857), 

 ' attempted to demonstrate this relationship on chemical 

 grounds; and even thought that quinine and cinchonidine 

 might be mutually convertible. He observes that " closely 

 as the f[uinin<^ and cinchonidine salts agree amongst them- 

 selves, they differ widely from the quinidine and cinchonine 

 compounds." 



In order to coufij-m the interesting exj^eriraents instit- 

 uted by Dr. Trimen, I selected specimens given me by 

 Dr. Morris. .Tamaica, of red bark grown under somewhat 

 similar differences of altitude ; that from the lower elev- 

 ation having f^ as in India) the best appearance; that from 

 the higher the richer produce. I shall send portions of 

 these to the Museum. 



The bark from which the second sample was taken pro- 

 ceeded from trees grown in the parish of Manchester at 

 an elevation of about 2,400 feet. This is the lowest elev- 

 ation at which cinchona bark trees have been cultivated 

 in Jamaica. The trees were between eight and nine years 

 old, growing in a sheltered situation and on a good strong 

 red soil; the mean annual rainfall about 90 inches, and the 

 mean annual temperature about 73 ° F. 



As the elevation is intermeJiate, so the alkaloids hold a 

 consistently intermediate position between the two samples 

 of Ceylon bark, perhaps with a slight exception as to the 

 amorphous alkaloid. If the circumsta.nces of growth in 

 other re-spects had been the same as in India, it is prob- 

 able that the amount of quinine iu the Jamaica sample 

 of 0,000 feet would have incre.ased at the expense of the 

 amorphous alkaloid. As it is, the Jamaica bark at this 

 elevation scarcely equals expectations, although the botanical 

 samples are veiy true to type. 



Analysis of samples of Cinchona succiruWa, sent by Drs. 

 Ti'imeu and Morris, at different elevations: — 

 Elcvatin Place Total. 



above sea of Qui- Circho- Cincho- Quiui- Amor- alka- 



Icvel. growth, nine, nidine. nine. dine, phous. loids. 



A. 5500 ft. Hakrala 2-06 3'47 0.61 Trcs. 0-6(j fi-SO 

 5500 to 



600(> Jamaica 1*76 3-17 0-75 O'To iVVS 



2400 Do 1-50 0-86 3-00 0*06 I'lS fvfil 



B. 1500 ft. Prdniya. 0-47 0-05 VQl O'SO VOfi H-55 

 The auccirvlra is, however, the wrong sort to cultivate, 



and fexcep tonly as regards the hark renewed in Mclvor's 

 method) will always be found disappointing. The sfuivin// 

 process is incomplete. It is requisite that the bark should 

 be stripped in the wet line of the cambium. The tree then 

 begins dc novo. An exudation is thrown out from the 

 peeled surface, " like the perspiration from the back of the 

 hand," as McTvor described it to me. The formation is 

 then radhif, and not concentric fsecfig. 5 and 6 of Plate 

 in. of my ' Quinology '), with abundance of cellular tissue 

 and a conseqvient complete change in the alkaloids. I have 

 objected to the fn'ceirnbra from an early stage in the culture, 

 but opposite counsels prevailed. The. prices obtained of 

 very inferior bark now sent home may perhaps show the 

 planters that it would have been more to their interest 

 to cultivate the better sorts — the Fatta de GafUnazo in- 

 troduced together with the sacciruhj-a by Cross, the niaf/m- 

 foHa (Uritusinga ?), the rohusta^ — known to them but ne- 

 glected till lately. I have just received an account of the 

 1882 lum'est of bark in Java, from which I le.arn that 763 

 bales of all sorts of succirubra bark gave on an average of 

 28 analyses 1'04 per cent of quinine; but of this two lots 



