312 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1883. 



wash to the solea of our boots, and to the feet of the 

 driver aud horses. We again came upon the fence 

 and a military guard house at the mouth of the 

 TaTiUoebanprahoe crater, while at Bandong we met 

 a field officer in command of the military who en- 

 forced the quarantine. The fence, impervious to cattle, 

 is represented on the Map by a line of * * *s. and 

 going right across the top of Tankoebanprahoe, about 

 6,C0O or more feet above sta level, we suppose. 

 Nothing could prove more strongly than such a measure 

 as this the value of cattle, chiefly buffaloes, to tiie 

 rice culture of Java : a culture which gives a superior 

 grain to that obtained in Ceylon aud a great deal 

 more of it in proportion to seed sown. Aud before 

 noticing the phototypes of the cinchonas, we may 

 also say that the ap(.'ropriate design in gold on the 

 front cover of the book (claret colour) is a sprig 

 of Lcdgeriana, showing foliage, flowers and fruit. 



Of the 33 plates, two are in the body of the book. 

 The firet represents an establishment for the peeling 

 and preparation of the bark of trees which have beeu 

 cut down after the old coppicing fashion. There is 

 then a very valuable phototype giving the character- 

 istics of seventeen specimens of bark of the various 

 cinchonas; Ledgeriana as well as other bark being 

 shown natural and renewed on a scale of i the real 

 size. It seems to us that there is a strong outward 

 resemblance in tlie barks of succirubra, the true cali- 

 saya and Ledgeriana. The renewed barks in every 

 case seem less granulated or rugged than the original : 

 at least they reflect light less and present in the 

 phototype smooth daik eurfaoes. Plate No. 1 of the 

 31 iplaced at the eud of the book, represents Mr. Moens 

 seated in front of a fiue grove of his famous Ledger 

 iauas, which were about 12 years old when the photo- 

 graph was taken in ISSO. It is now IS years exactly, 

 since the wonderful windfall of seed was purchased 

 from Mr. Ledger in October 1865. 



No one lookmg at the picture, or who has seen the 

 reality, can agree with Dr. King's description of the 

 trees as -'rather shabby looking," He must have seen 

 them after drought. When we saw tlicm in August 

 1881, they looked well and flourishing, covered thickly 

 with small green foliage : not a trace of red in the 

 adult trees, though plenty of that colour was shewn on 

 the leaves of some of the younger plants. A good 

 magnifying glass applied to the phototype brings out 

 correctly the character of the small, pointed, green 

 foliage. _Tbe habit of growth of the calisaya tree figured 

 is vtry different, the branches going out much farther 

 from tiie stLins before they turn upwards: the calis- 

 aya is altogetiier more bush-like. The foliage seems 

 also far less dense, and this is still more markedly 

 the cave with G. Josephiana, while C. Haskarliana 

 has a Sue head of foliage close to the top of the tree. 

 The specimens of 0. Ofliciualis pourtrayed seem to 

 confirm the character of "epindly" applied to this 

 species by the planters of West Java. In other por- 

 tious of the island, however, Mr. Moens recently found 

 C. I fficjnalis growing well. A group of C. Lanciiolia 

 gives the ieiea of branches of leaves scattered over 

 loug, thin whips of stems aud twigs. C. succirubra 

 comes out true to its missive pyramidal form. The 

 trees photogiaplied have been stripped and mossed. 

 The siiiuU grove of C Micrantha looks very baudseiu", 

 and it is a real mis-fortune that this, the poorest of 

 the fever trees, should fo closely Mmulate the charac- 

 teristics of foliage of tlie finest. The leaves are rel- 

 vetty and purple coloured, but they are altogether 

 too big to bo mistaken for Leilg.-riaua. C. Odoptera 

 makea a tree with a line bead; while V. Cordifolia 

 ha- either got very large leaves, or the camera must 

 b«ve been placed very close to the eptcimen photo- 

 graphed. There are thus 11 pictures of the mature 

 C nchona trees as they are seen growing. Plate XII 

 gives (on a scale of ^rd the original size) in three 



sections the foliage, flowers and fruits of what Mr. 

 Moens, no doubt regards as his best and most characteris- 

 tic specimens of the true Ledgeriana, and its varieties, 

 his No. 9 ; 15 .and 24. A picture on a larger scale 

 (J the natural size) of the leaves and reproductive organs 

 of " C. Ledgeriana, Moens," with no number, follows, 

 and gives us a perfect idea of the forms and veining of the 

 leaves of true Ledgeriana of the best type. Those who 

 have been in a position to make careful compHrisone, are 

 able at once, apart from the velvetty look and feel 

 of the leaves of the oalisayas to distinguish them from 

 those of C. Officinalis by their more rounded ends. 

 But besides being thickest in the middle, the leaves 

 of true Ledgeriana are so sharply pointed as in this 

 respect ti resemble more closely C. Officinalis than 

 C, Calisaya. When we come to the separate figures 

 of the reproductive organs, we find those of 

 Nos. 22 and 2-t chosen to represent the highest types 

 of Ledgeriana, while Nos. 9 and 15 with much more 

 elongated seed vessels are classed as " Var A. etB."* 

 The flowers and seeds of all the inferior calisayas, 

 and others, including the red, crown and grey bark 

 seem larger and more elongated than those of C. 

 Ledgeriana, which are short and the seed vessels stout. 

 The pictured foliage of C. Pahndiana ami Hasskar- 

 liana, indicates the nearer alliance of the latter than 

 the former to the yellow barks. The sharp-pointed 

 foliage of C. Officinalis with the dense flowers and fruits 

 are well shewn ; while C. Lanoifolia seems to ap- 

 proach in foliage to 0. Succirubra which is capitally 

 pourtrayed, even to the cabbage-like shape and cor- 

 rugations of the leaf. The l.irge, velvetty leaves of C. 

 Micrantha are also well shewn ; while C. Caloptera 

 in foliage closely resembles C. Lancifolia. C. Cordi- 

 folia, on the other hand, as far as leafage is concerned, 

 might be taken for C. Lancifolia. There is, finally, 

 a good engraving of the plan ot a concervatory for 

 griifted plants and the mode of grafting Ledgeriana 

 scions on to Succirubra stocks is well shown. 



Our readers will thus see tbat merely the illustra- 

 tions of Mr. Moens' book are very valuable apart 

 from the narr.itive and descriptive matter, of which 

 the more important portions, such as especially all 

 that refers to the Ledgeriauas, will be translated for 

 and printed in the Observer, from time to time. 



Mr, Thomas Cakeitt, who undertook to represent the 

 Calcutta Tea Sjudicate at the Amsterdam Exhibition, 

 has also visited Piotterdam, Antwerp, Copenhagen, 

 Stockholm, St. Petersburg aud Moscow, on behalf of 

 that body. In Amsterdam, Rotterdan, Antwerp, and 

 Moscow he has succeeded in obtaining suitable agents 

 to accept consignments of Syndicate teas on favourable 

 terms. — Indigo Plantcn' Gazette, Aug. 14th. 



ARTiFiciALGnTT.\-PERCHA. — A Germaupatent has just 

 been taken out for the manufacture of artificial gutta- 

 percha. Tiie enormous demind for the latter article has 

 raijaidly B3Ut up its value; so that it is not surprising 

 a subsiituto has at length beeu found. This is com- 

 posed of powdered copal, sublimed sulphur, oil of tur- 

 pentine, and pret' oleum. The mass is heated in a 

 boiler provided with a stirring apparatus to a temper- 

 ature of LWileg. centigrade. It is then allowed to 

 cool to 38, when it is mi-Kcd with a « eak sclution of 

 ci'ine in amonia water, to whicii wood spirit has 

 been addi d. It i? then he ted to its former tema 

 perature and boiled with a S'lution of nutgall. 

 It is stated that the artificial gutta-percha cmnot 

 b3 detected from the real article, and that it weaia 

 equally as well, while its price is much lower. — 

 Australasian. 



* No. fl is classed as "var cinchonidiuifera," fi-om tha 

 proportion of the second alkaloid to quinine wliich it 

 jields ; while No. 1-5 is put down .as "var chinidinifera.'' 



