194 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September Ij 1883. 



ior we notice that in the nurseries there were of 

 " stock plants " 10,000 of hybrids against 3,000 cali- 

 sayas. AVith regard to both, propagation from seed 

 is mach the easier and quicker mode, and we should 

 think that at a year or eighteen months old the 

 seedliugs would develop appearances which would 

 enable a planter to select the bfest kiuds. Kcxt in 

 quality to the extraordinarily fine No. 7 are Nos. 8 

 and 1, the only objection to them being the pro- 

 portion of ciuchonidiue. We give tbe results of ana- 

 lyses of these two : — 



No. S. Ko. 1. 



Crystallized sulphate of quinine 3 99 2 -87 



,, of cincbouidine 3"33 2'94 



Cinchona alkaloid Oo7 72 



Totals 7-89 6'53 



AH three are well worthy of attention, as they piay 

 grow and produee robust stems and large quautitiea 

 of bark in soils and climates where the king of all 

 cinchonas may refuse to flourish. The grand su- 

 periority of the ledgerianas consists not only m the 

 fact of the superior richmss of the thick bark in 

 quinine, but in the additional facts that scarcely a 

 trace of the inferior alkaloids or of obstinate colouring 

 matter or tannin is present to trouble the ehemisL 

 Of hybrids, it will be seen, there are now 304,d(8 

 nlanted eut in the Silikim Gardens, besides the 1U,OUO 

 stock plants already noticed, aud 40,000 seedlings 

 or cuttings. It will, ti!erefore, be s'em that Mr. 

 Gammie has laboured well and successfully to pro- 

 pagate the superior hybrid which reached the Sikkim 

 gafdens originally from Ceylon, thus supplying the 

 hiatus created by the almost total failure of othcinalis, 

 of which only 25.000 plants remain. The original 

 cinchona reserves in the Moungpoo and Sittoug di- 

 visions having now been filled up, a trans-Teesta 

 plantation has been opened to receive the best kinds 

 of k'dwrianas and hybrids. Of calisayas no fewer 

 than GG2,91)S have been already planted out, while 

 21 1 220 seedlings or rooted cuttings were ready for 

 the' new plantation in Runjung. Mr. Gammie is, 

 therefore, within easy dist;mce of the round miiiion 

 of Vfllow barks, most of which are good ledgerianas. 

 In favour of these, if they flourish equally well, we 

 should say that the red barks would be gradually 

 uprooted, but for the important and, in view of some 

 recent opinions, cheering fact recorded in regard to 

 «uccirubra trees subjugated to Mr. Moens' shaving 

 Tjrocess. It is unfortunate that nothing is said as 

 to whether the shaved trees were covered or left 

 hare but we should tnink the lattir, in view of pre- 

 vious experience of tiie rav.nges of ants on trees 

 subjected to Mclvor's stripping and mossing processes. 

 But the great fact is the improved quality of the 

 renewed bark. It was slow to renew, hut when it 

 had done so, the renewed bark yielded on analj^sis :— 



Crystallized sulphate of quinine 3 70 



,, of ciuchonidiue ... 4'88 



Cinchouiue alkaloid ... . • ••■ I'Sl 



Total... ... 10-39 



This is ." splendid result, even allowing for tlie large 

 r,roportionofthcinferioraikaloids,andsupi)ortsDr.Kmgs 

 statement that " there csu be no doubt that, in coun- 

 tries where red bark trees are perfectly at home and 

 their continuance in good health and vigour for a 

 long series of years cau be absolutely counted on, t iis 

 sh-avina process must be a very excellent one. Ut 

 course it canuot but be anticipated, from aU analogies 

 o'' natural laws, that the lives of the trees must be 

 appreciably shortened by the periodical decortications, 

 but they seem likely, in good positions, to last long 

 enouuh to render them sources of good proht. Ihe 

 plantations in Northern as well as Sciuheru India 



have advantages of soil, deep and porous, such as few 

 parts of Ceylon can equal ;' but even in the Sikkim 

 plantations a proportion of red barks seems to be 

 subject to the "dying out" process, for we read that 

 no lefs than 182,720 lb. of the bark harvested last year 

 was obtained "from trees that had begun to sliovj signs 

 of maturity," and which were, therefore uprooted. As 

 the very oldest suocirubra trees in the Darjiling phant- 

 ations are not more than a score of years planted out, 

 it is not probable that any have reached or approached 

 the period of natural maturity. We have read of 

 trees on the Andes which are believed to have existed 

 for centuries. The total crop of bark for the year 

 reached .396.980 lb., the largest return, since the first 

 harvest of 2,4001b. was made in 1569-70. From 

 187.5-7G the iigure has always been above 200,0001b. 

 and tor the past six years the average has considerably 

 exceeded 300,000 lb. The total from the oomnience- 

 meut has been no less than 2J millions of pounds, 

 the vast bulk of which has been converted into febri- 

 fuge by a rough-and-ready process conducted on the 

 plantation. Improvements havcgradtially been made, and 

 this year, besides a better return being obtained from 

 better bark, 300 lb. of ■' ciyst-alline febrifuge" has been 

 turned out. As the general crder of Government says, 

 the simple jirocess pursued is acknowledged to be a 

 wasteful one, as the whole of the alkaloids cannot 

 be extracted from the bark. A more costly process, 

 Dr. King acknowledges, might be more successful in 

 the directon of exhausting the bark, but it is quite 

 a question if the cost per lb., only IIS 8 annas this 

 year, could possibly be so low. The bulky raw 

 material, calculating its cost to Government and not 

 the net results it might fetch in the market, was in 

 the past year only 2 annas and 10 pits per lb. The 

 qu.intity of febrifuge made from the commencement is 

 56.312 ib. It is calculated that the saving to Gos'- 

 ernnient by the substitution of cheap febrifuge for costly 

 quinine (which average! E96 per lb. in 1S82.S3) has been 

 23J lakhs of rupees, or more than twice the total cost of 

 the plantations. The returns in the past stasonalono 

 were equal to a dividend of 6 per cent on expenditure. 

 Tbe question, however, still remains, whetlier febri- 

 fuges more acceptable to both the faculty and their 

 patients couid not be as cheaply obtained by sending 

 tlie bark to quinologists in London, who should simply 

 be paid for their services .is ohcuists, while the resulting 

 alkaloids were sent to India for use. It is to solve 

 this question that the Secretary of State has requested 

 and obtained 27.000 lb. of yellow bark and 14,000 lb. 

 of red balk. The result will soon be known aud the 

 final decision arrived at, whether the febrifuge manu- 

 facture on the spot is to be continued, by means of 

 such simple appliances as boilers and casks, and such 

 chemical agents as muriatic and sulphuric acids, aud 

 soda, returning a febrifuge of mixed alkaloids costing 

 only 16s per lb, even with the acknowledged loss of 

 about 2 per cent of the total alkaloids in the bark ; 

 or whether the bark is to be scut to experienced chemists 

 in London who can practically exhaust the bark of every 

 particle of quinine, quinidiue, cinclionidine and cin- 

 chouiue, in their separate' or mixed forms, as may be 

 deemed desirable. We notice that the cost even of 

 Mr. Gammie'a ciyst:dline febrifuge (which is probably 

 free fr.-m the natiseatmg eflects of the other) is only 

 R12, 13 annas, 247 pies (say 20s) per lb., which is 

 very different to 10s per ounce for quinine. As the 

 better and more easily worked yellow barks are sub- 

 stituted for the red, the resulting alkaloids will prob- 

 ably be more in proportion and the cost less to 

 Government, so that we should not be surprised to 

 find tiie decision is in favour of the local manufact- 

 ure, or that a compromise is made, by which Gov- 

 verunient will get whal they wane of pure quinine 

 manufactured frurn the best ledgeriana bark in Eng- 

 land; mixed alkaloid febrifuge being obtained from 



