Mav 1, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



Sir 



Many small trees were found there, which must have sprung 

 from seeJ carried thither by the wind. 



7. — Tnfornuiliuii re^jording Varieties of Ciiicliona grown in 

 Jura. — The Calisaya plants raised from the seed received 

 in 1872 from Mr. Schuhkraft gave a disappointing result 

 on the determination of the yield of quinine. One of the 

 thirteen trees is beginning to bud, so that a further in- 

 vestigation into this variety can be made. Plants of " hard 

 Carthagena " were brought by the Director of the entor- 

 prize from British India, but they have all died. Plants 

 of the hybrid raised in British Sikkim are however still 

 living. 24 plants of C. Fitapensis (C. Trianae) have been 

 obtained from seed received from Ootacamund. The hybrid- 

 ization exi)eriments were carried on with success. Besides 

 the plants already obtained of m icranllia with Cat isaya Javanicn 

 micrantha with Calisaya Schtthkio.ft, k suceiruhra-vrA\i Calisaya 

 Jaxanica. this year plants were got by the fertilizing of C. 

 Lcdi/ci'ia/ia with C. st'cci-nihra^ Cmcciruhra with C. officinalis^ C. 

 oJ)iciiiaii.imth.C.succinibra,am\C.Fuhudianaw\thC.siccciriih'a. 

 As a rule all these hybriils held the mean, as regards 

 form of leaf, very clearly between those of the two parents. 

 The hybrids in which C nticrantha is represented have 

 generally a more or less marked purple tint on the under 

 surface of the young leaves, just as is so strongly the case 

 with C. mici-antlia. We have already spoken above of the 

 seed received in the com'se of the year from Consul Schuh- 

 kraft. 



8. — Chemical Analyses.- — In the annexed statement B the 

 principal results are recorded of the determinations of al- 

 kaloidal yield performed during 1881. Nos. 1 to 6 are 

 analyses made with the view of ascertaiuing the value of 

 the change which the bark of C ^vccirnhra undergoes when 

 it renews under covering after being shaved. It appears to 

 correspond exactly with the alteration that takes place in 

 the value of the alkaloids if the bark renews itself after 

 being, according to Mclvor's method, peeled off in strips, 

 and these analyses confirmed the view already propounded 

 by nie, that the increase in the amount of quinine and 

 the decrease in that of cinchonidine hns no connection with 

 the covering of the tree, but is a result of the process of 

 renewing itself. This is also conflrnicd in the case of C. 

 officinalis by analysis 20. On shaving the tree referred to 

 under 5, the crown of the high stem was not looked at. 

 But as the analysis showed a very abnormal yield of quinine 

 the tree was more carefully- examined, and it then ap- 

 peared that it belonged to the otiicinaliform hybrids, 

 which in leaf and blossom differ markedly from the true 

 C. sHcciruhra^ and now and then this variety is met with 

 in the cinchona plantations. Those mentioned under 18 

 and 19, which are found in the ofEcinalis plantations at 

 Kendeng Patoeha. exhibit analogies with these. The 

 value of the alkaloids also corre.spouds, but the yield of 

 cmchonidine is extraordinarily high. Closely connected 

 with these hybrids are Nos. 28 and 2!). Known as C. 

 puliescens in the British India Plantations, their value is 

 to my mind generally estimated too high. Nevertheless, 

 on account of a quinine-yield of 2 to 3 per cent, and forming 

 besides a free quick-growing tree, it is worth the trouble of 

 cultivation, and there is a great likelihood that on re- 

 production of its bark, after partial stripping, it will 

 form considerably more quiniue. Tlie barks 13, 1.5, 16 and 

 31 were brought by me from British India, in order to 

 see if there was much difference in the alkaloid-yield of 

 the homonymous barks. The C. succit'uhni from Rungbee 

 in British Sikkim, picked out by myself as a typical 

 example, differs from ours in a lower cinchonidine and 

 a higher cinchonine yield. This explains why the quinefum 

 prepared there differs so greatly in compo.sition from that 

 prepared from the Javanese bark. The officinalis bnrk 

 No. 15 was from trees which were no longer attended 

 to, as the cultivation of this variety has been given up 

 in British Sikkim. These and the abovemontioned barks 

 correspond moreover entirely with those of the same 

 variety cultivated in Java. No. 30 is the bark of C. pilat/- 

 ensis., better named C. Trianae, which I have this year 

 introduced mto Java. It is worth cultivating, on account of 

 its satisfactory yield of quinine and very high yield of 

 quiuidine. The 24 plants which we possess of this varii ty 

 will be planted out at various elevations in order to find 

 where they gi-ow best. It is asserted that they tlrrive 

 best at the height of 7,000 to 8.000 feet above the sea. 

 The trees 33-35 described as C. Call.sui/a ai-e three of the 

 thirteen obtained in 1873 from Bolivian seed provided by 

 104 



Hr. Schuhkraft. As the appcarauce exhibited much agree- 

 ment with Ledgeriana, the analysis was disappointing. 

 The very high amoimt of cinchonidine, which appears to 

 take the place of quinine, is very remarkable. At the 

 end of the year, not one of these trees had yet blossomed, 

 but one had begun to form buds. The analyses 36-43 

 are of already examined original Ledgeriana trees; the 

 amount of alkaloid generally does not increase in certain 

 years, as is seen from the following statement: — 



Here and there a diminutiou has even taken place in 

 the quinine and nearly always an increase of tlie cin- 

 chonine. Notew-orthy is the increase in cinchonidine of 

 No. 24, which in 1874 had only a very small quantity. 

 The decrease in alkaloids may perhaps be the result of 

 a superabmidaut formation of crust (rhytidoma), which 

 contains much less alkaloid than the living b.ark. As this 

 crust is pounded to powder with the bark for tho analysis 

 it naturally lowers the total amount of the various al- 

 kaloids. It may well be taken for granted that on the 

 whole Ledgeriana bark is ripe in the 7th to 8th year, 

 and that it does not increase in quinine after that age. 

 The two year old Ledgeriana bark, renewed after .shaving, 

 No. 46, was not so good as the original, and made the 

 crystalizatiou of quinine sulphate difBcolt, on account of 

 the great quantity of coloring matter, It was thereforg 



