September i, 18S3.] 



THE TROPICAL AGEICULTUl^IST. 



195 



the red barks so long as they escape uprooting^ by 

 not "showing signs of maturity." Curiouslyenoughthe 

 Indian febrifuge does not seem, as yet, to have been 

 indented for in quantity by any Colonial Government, 

 except that of Mauritius. That Government took 

 150 lb. last year, and 30 lb, were previously supplied 

 to the Straits Settlements. All the rest was used by 

 the Indian Medical Departments, with the exception 

 of 19,634 lb. sold to tbe public and 105 lb. given as 

 samples. It seem.s curious that the cheap Indian 

 febrifuge should not have received a trial in the hos- 

 pitals, dispensaries and jails of Ceylon, It was at 

 one time anticipated that the febrifuge would be pur- 

 chased in quantity for the purpose of being sent to 

 London to be separated and refined ; but this result 

 does not seeui to have been realized, and notwith- 

 standing its alleged nauseating properties, when taken 

 in considerable doses, the Indian febrifuge seems to 

 have established its character as a valuable though 

 cheap therapeutic. It will be seen that all attempts 

 to acclimatize the Carthageua barks in Northern 

 India had hiihcrto failed, aud that the plants from 

 which citprea bark is obtained had not been estab- 

 lished. The Indian Government, it will be also seen, 

 distributes what it can spare of ledgeriana seed, not 

 only amongst Indian planters but lo applicants in 

 Cejlon. This is a contrast to the Dutch policy in 

 Java. Mr, Gammie, as cultivator and febrifuge 

 manufacturer, deserves all the credit Dr. King gives 

 him, and Dr. King himself well merits the testimony 

 bome to his good work by the Government of 

 Bengal, thus : — 



The thanks of the Lieutenant-Governor axe again due 

 to Dr. King, whose management of his dej^artment 

 leaves notliiug to be desired. Dr. liiug has rei^orted 

 very favourably of the services of Mr. Gammie, and the 

 Lieutenant-Governor entirely concurs in the praise ac- 

 corded to him. The other assistants of the Department 

 are also weU spoken of. 



We hope to see Dr. King's name included in the next 

 creation of Compunione of the Indian Empire, an honour 

 already so Wf 11 beetowed on Dr. Bidie of Madras, who 

 was lately amongst us. 



To U8 in Ceylon, such reports as that now under 

 notice have been aud are of great value, as giving us 

 the results of carefully conducted and honestly recorded 

 experiments, 



CINCHONA: 



AKNU^IL EEPORT ON THE GOVERNMENT 



CINCHONA PLANTATION IN BENGAL 



FOK THE YEAR 1882-S3. 



The planting operations of the year leave the grand 

 total of Cinchona trees on the Government estate on 31st 

 March at 4,7 11, IBS of all sorts. This shows a diuinutiou 

 of about 50,000 on the returns of the former year, the 

 decrease being consequent ou the uprootal of 20,0u0 hybrids 

 and 43,697 Galisaijas, which, ou analysis, were shown to 

 have bark of rather poor quality. The removal of these 

 inferior trees is in conformity with the policy which has 

 been followed for some years of raising the stmdard of 

 the produce of these estates by cultivating_ only the finest 

 kinds of quinine-yielders. In conformity with the same 

 policy, IGOj'ibo red bark trees, which had to be uprooted 

 in the ordinary rotation followed ou the plantation, were 

 replaced, not by red barks, but by yellow barks and hyhriils. 

 Grouud was towiirds the end of the year, broken at Runjung 

 in the new Cinchona reserve across the Teesta. A Europ- 

 ean assistant has been located there, aud preliminary 

 measures have been taken for planting out there, during 

 the year now entered on, a number of the best kinds of 

 Ledijcriana and hi/brid Cinchimas. Tliis new clearing has 

 been connected with Calimpong by a bridle road. It 

 will be uuder the general supervision of Mr. Gaumiie, 

 who will visit it as often as may be necessary. In my 

 last report I explained that among our hi/hrid Cinchona 

 trees there are distinguishablo sevwul distinct forms, aud 



I gave the results of the analysis of four of these. During 

 the year I had analyses made of the bark of other four 

 of these forms. For couvenience of reference I give the 

 whole of these analyses in the following table : — 



Aiudi/iea of sa7/ijjles of hybrid bark from Mv.nypoo, 



No. 1. Xo. 2. No. 3. No. 4. 



Crystallised sulphate of quinine... 2"87 1'48 1-88 0'97 



Do do of ciacliouidine 2"94 2'8-3 2-93 1*91 



Do do ofquiuidine ... traces, traces, traces, traces. 



Cinchonine (alkaloid) ... ... 0-72 Oo7 0-52 O'SO 



No. 5. No. 6. No. 7. No. 8. 



Crystallised sulphate of quinine... 2*12 2"04 6'12 3-99 



Do do of cinchonidiue 2'84 2-2t) 246 3-33 



Do do of quinidiiie ... traces, traces, traces, traces. 



Ciochoninc (alkaloid) ... ... 0'33 O'eS 0'.55 0-57 



In this table Nos. 1 to 4 are the analyses which I pub- 

 lished last year. Kos. 5 to 8 are those which are now pub- 

 lished for the first time. Hybrid No. 4, as the analyses 

 made last year showed, is very poor in quinine, and it was 

 the trees of this sort which, as above stated, were up- 

 rooted during the year. The total number of cinchona 

 trees of all sorts stamlmg in the plantation at the end 

 of the year is shown in the following table : — 



Red. Yellow. Hybrid uu- 



(C. Succi- (C. Ledger- named Other 

 rubra). iaua). variety. kinds. 



Mungpoo Division ... 2,.581,0UO 644,218 250,500 30,892 

 Sittong do ... 1,132,200 18,780 53,878 



304,378 30,592 

 ... 3,506,310 

 ... 1,204.858 



Total ... 3,713,200 662,998 

 Grand total of all kinds on Alungijoo 

 boUi plantations ... Sittong 



Total ... 4,711,168 



2. Details of the year's crop. — The crop for the year is 

 the largest that has yet been harvested ou these plant- 

 ations. It amounted to 396,980 pounds of dry bark, of which 

 38,880 poimds were collected ou the young plantation at 

 Sittong, and the rest on the old plantation. Of the total 

 crop, 372,010 pounds were Succirubra, 22,120 pounds were 

 Calisaya and Ledgnriana, and 2,250 pounds were hybrid 

 bark. As usu;il, the crop was harvested by two methods — 

 182,720 pounds having been got by uprooting trees that 

 had begun to show signs of maturity, while the remain- 

 ing 214,260 pounds were got by thinning the plantation 

 at spots where the trees had begun to crowd each other. 

 The bulk of the crop was made over to the factory for 

 conversion into cinchona febrifuge ; but 27,800 pounds of 

 yellow bark and 14,(J0O pounds of red bark were (at his 

 own request) sent home to the .Secretary of State, by 

 whom the consignment has not yet been accounted for. 

 It is, I understand, intended that these 41,800 pouuds 

 shall be converted in London into various forms of cinchona 

 febrifuge, and that these shall be sent to this country for 

 trial by the Medical Depiirtment. The result, financial and 

 other, of this experiment will prob.ably be given in next 

 year's report. Including the crop of last year, the total 

 outturn from these plantations since their beginning now 

 stands (as may be seen by the annexed table) at consider- 

 ably over two-and-a-half million pounds o£ dry bark. 



3. Ea-jKiidilitrefor the year. — The budget allotment for 

 the year was Kb2,225 : but of this only R80,739-6-2 were 

 spent, there being thus a s.avrng of lil,-185-9-10. Of this 

 expenditure the sum of I!17,548-3-9 was incurred on the 

 newly opened plantation at Runjung, and on the young 

 plantation at Sittong, which is not yet in full bearing. 

 This amount is therefore a charge against capital or block. 

 The remaining expenditure was incurred on the old planta- 

 tion. It is therefore chargeable as working expenses, and 

 is to be put agaiust the year's crop. 



In retm-n for the ouiiay on the old plantation, there was 

 received a crop of 358,100 pounds of bark, the cost price 

 of which is therefore 2 annas 9-88 pies per pound. But 

 besides these 358,100 pouuds of bark yielded by the old 

 plantation, there were collected from the thinuiugs of the 

 young plaidatiou at .Sittong 38,880 povinds; and for con- 

 venience of account the Sittong bark has been taken 

 over at the same price as the produce of the old jjlant- 

 atioii, the value of this Sittong bark being credited to 

 the Sittiiug Plantation which, from its conmienccmcut, has 

 had separate accounts. The whole of the bark has, in 

 accordance with the usual custom, been made over to the 

 factory at cost price, and further particidars about it will 

 be found in the Quiuologisfs report, 



