October i. 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



227 



spoken of hy the " colouists " of Perak — officials rather, 

 for colonists there ure very few iudeed, nearly every one 

 in the place being directly or indirectly connected 

 with the Perak Government except Capt. Schiitze of 

 AVaterloo, and the new arrival the manager of the French 

 Company, Mr. Mclntyi-e and Australian staff and one or 

 two more Birch's Hill is named after the lamented Jlr. 

 Birch, late Resident, who was murdered by the Malays. This 

 hill reaches an elevation of 4,200 feet above sea level, and a 

 few trees have been felled to enable visitors to get a com- 

 prehensive view of the surroundingcountry, and the sea coast. 

 Two or three trees are still standing, and covered with 

 initials of cockneys who have spent a " 'appy day" by ascend- 

 ing to Birch's Peak. The sauotarium clearing at the foot of 

 Hejou, or rather on a sharp spur connecting Birch's Hill 

 with Gunong Hejou, offers a still better view, including 

 Kwala Kangsa and the Perak river on the one side, the 

 Government experimental gardens at Gapis ; and Thaiijeng 

 to the right of Schutze's 5,000 acres of forest ; perhaps this 

 is the finest view to be got m Perak. Gre.at things are to be 

 done at the sanotarium clearing. A big house or buug.alow 

 to be built, a lawn tennis court, ferneries, orchid-house, 

 flagstaff and goodness knows what, and the superintend- 

 ent, whoever he is then, will be expected to work up there 

 every d.ay, get himself ill by not gettmg his grub, and all 

 for S60amonth. True he will get a gi-and view of Perak 

 and Penaug and other islands, but might just as well turn 

 lighthouse keeper in the middle of the broad ocean, unless 

 he be a married man, and then of course his anchor is down 

 for life. 



There are numbers of risitors to Maxwell Hill sanotarium 

 bungalow, who first have to ask permission from the 

 authorities of the Perak Government to go up the hiU tor 

 a few days or weeks, and in some cases officers of the Gov- 

 ernment are sent up. On the whole this is rather agreeable 

 than otherwise to the superintendent, as he gets somebody 

 to talk to of an evening and exchange a few growls, which 

 of course does the liver a world of good, and rubs off the 

 accumulated mould, and the moss people talk of, gathered 

 by those good people who are not I'olling stones. When 

 very young, we remember possessing a very superior play- 

 thing called a kaleidoscope ; well, when you gave it a twist, 

 something new, beautiful and startling appeared to view, 

 and such is the case with the Maxwell's Hill bungalow, every 

 new arrival seems somewhat different in manner, appear- 

 ance, and ideas, and as for hobbies, bless you, they are 

 too numerous to mention ; the hobbies of the genus globe- 

 trotter consist in non-perishable articles such as sticks, 

 rattan canes, and reiutnij lawyers. Now a Penaug lawyer 

 seems a queer name for a walkingstick and requires some 

 explanation. To begin with, Penang means arekanut, and 

 lawyer a corruption of the native Jlalay name given to this 

 particular variety of wild arekanut ; but suppose we regard 

 the stick in its literal English meaning, no one can deny 

 that as a Penanglawyer, to say nothing of the direct sav- 

 ing of six shillings and eightpence, the argument would be 

 a very forceable one indeed ! With all the rapid progress 

 made with the tin mining enterprize in Perak, where, on the 

 mines are naturally daily disputes, it is strange to say, but 

 nevertheless true that there is not a single lawyer in Perak, 

 What a monotonous place Sinhalese must think Perak 

 where they cannot indulge their little weakness for litig- 

 ation and stake their last cent on the glorious uncertainty 

 of the law. It should always be borne in mind, that under 

 a despotic Government where lawyers have been hitherto 

 tabooed; in the event of annexation to Great Britain, the 

 first select few would havo a fine field open to practice 

 here in Perak, the people being wealthy and the courts 

 very busy as a rule, for the Chinese follow out the advice 

 given by the old Governor to his son, " Make money — hon- 

 estly if you can, but mind you make it." 



♦- ' 



NOTES ON CINCHONA BARK. 

 Bv D.wiD Howard. 



A ciu-ious evidence of the singular .scientific acumen 

 shown by the late Mr. Mclvor in worldng out his process 

 for renewing cinchona bark is given by some of the samples 

 of " renewed" C. ^uccyru-hra bark which reach us from 

 Ceylon. 



As is well known, in Mr. Mclvor's process, alternate strips 

 of the bark were removed down to the cambium, and the 



tree wrapped rouud with moss. The bark then renews over 

 the whole surface, the nSw bark consisting almost entirely 

 of cellular tissue, the total alkaloid being increased, and the 

 cinchouidine giving place to quinine. 



The " renewed" bark to which I call attention, on the 

 other hand, shows a totally different structure ; there is a 

 mere skin of cellular tissue, the remainder being remarkably 

 fibrous. 



The explanation is not far to seek, the shaving i^rocess 

 recommended by M. Moens as a substitute for Mr. Mclvor's 

 process gives good results just in proportion as it imitates 

 the latter process. If the cut is sufficiently deep to cause 

 the effusion of new bark, if I may so call it, the result both 

 in quantity and quality of the reueweil bark closely resembles 

 that yielded by the stripping process. 



But if, as is often now the case, the shaving is merely 

 superiicitil and carried all roimd the tree the result is entirely 

 different ; in this case there is little or no formation of 

 cellular tissue to replace that removed, a fresh epidermis 

 forms, but apparently the cu'culation is carried on m the 

 remaining fibrous tissue, which in fact seems to be developed 

 further. The alteration in the competition of the alkaloid 

 which is so characteristic of the true renewal does not take 

 place in this case ; if there is any change it is rather in the 

 direction of an increase of the cinchouidine instead of 

 quinine. 



The subject is not merely interesting from the light it 

 throws upon Mclvor's process, but is one of great commercial 

 importance. Unless the sharing process is so carried on as 

 to produce, at le.ist in part, the beneficial results of the older 

 process of renewal it will lead to grievous disappointment for 

 the trees seem to suffer more from the wrong treatment than 

 from the right. 



It is to be feared that in many cases the temptation to get 

 a quick retmn from the plantation by over-frequent and 

 unskilful shaving is risking not only the quahty of the crop 

 but the health of the trees. Some planters are even advocat- 

 ing a return to the barbarous system of coppicing ; but it is 

 difficult to believe that this will generally be the case with 

 the strong eridence before theur eyes of the benefits' to be 

 obtained by the more scientific system of treatment. 



I do not venture into the vexed questions of hybrids and 

 species in red bark ; but when I find that " red bark" can be 

 obtained yielding up to 4 and 5 per cent, of quinine from 

 natural bark, I am very sure that there is a great field for 

 skill in the selection or cultivation of cinchonas. There is 

 much to be learnt in these matters. In the last dru" sales 

 some samples of bark marked " hj'brid '' gave 4 per cent' 

 of quinine, while others, also "hybrid," gave only I per 

 cent, of quinine. 



It is evidently no easy matter to distinguish by the eye 

 the different varieties of trees which jiroduce red bark of 

 widely different quality. Some time ago I analysed a num- 

 ber of samples of bark from individual trees, sent me by J 

 A. Campbell, Esq., from Ceylon. They were renewed bark 

 from trees giving red bark of very fine quahty; the plants 

 were all from the same nurseries, and were supposed to be of 

 identical quality. 



I found, however, that they varied very widely in the 

 richness of the bark, as will be seen from the followine 

 table:— ^ 



Quinine. Cinchon- Cinchon- Quin- 

 idine. ine. idine 



0-3 0-3 oi ' 



O'G trace O-i 



l-« 1-2 0-2 



0-2 0-2 01 



0-2 0/- 07 



0-5 1-2 0-8 



0-1) 1-7 o-U 



OS 1-3 01 



01 02 0-1 



0-1 0-2 0-2 



Mr. Campbell tells me that " notwithstanding the ex- 

 traordinary tiifference in the analysis there is little difference 

 to be seen between the most of the trees. .Some are 

 pubescent, however, and some are glabrous ; some havo 

 rounder leaves than others and in some the flower is white 

 except in the centre of the corolla tube whicli is jiink* 

 Others again, havo piuk flowers. No. 1, 2, 4, aiul 10 

 are what we used to call hybrids ; of these 4, y and 10 

 are much Uke officinalis in leaf and bark. No. 2 is sub- 



