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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, fNovEMBER i, 1883. 



the cinchona culture has attained great proportions, to 

 which, it is true, the poor results of the attempts at 

 cofifee culture have largely contributed. On the Continent 

 of British India, vast plantations of cinchona are found 

 in great numbers, which are still too recent to yield any 

 produce of importance. As far as is known, Ceylon ex- 

 ported in 1860 more than five hundred thousand K. G. 

 of Peru\'ian bark, the Continent above two hundred thou- 

 sand. The export from Java, as far as it is known, 

 amoimted in +hat year — that is the whole Government 

 produce, inasmuch as it was brought to market for 

 public auction at Amsterdam — to only one hundj-ed and 

 twenty-five thousand K. G. Thus British India has the 

 lion's share. But what must become of the proportion 

 between the cost and market price of the product, when, 

 in some ten years, Java alone will number perhaps more 

 than forty enterprises, which will supply the market with 

 a hundred thousand K. G. of bark each per annum ? In 

 the Preanger alone, the number of these enterprises al- 

 ready exceeds twenty.* 



The Civil Officer who was last at the head of the 

 Government Cinclaona enterprise in Java, Mr. J. 0. B. 

 Moens, has written a Treatise on the Cinchona Culture 

 in Asia. This treatise has been published by the Union 

 for the Promotion of Medical Science in Netherland 

 India, at Batavia. This voluminous quarto, abundantly 

 illustrated with plates and engravings, may rightly be 

 termed an elaborate production. Therein the writer, quali- 

 fied by his extensive studies on the subject, and especially 

 by his own personal experience, treats exhaustively of 

 the history of the culture, the manner in which it is 

 practised, the different kinds of cinchona, the trade carried 

 on in this product, its chemical properties, etc. It is a 

 matter of regret that the high price of this .splendid work 

 (36 guilders), rendered necessary by its being published 

 in India, precludes a more general diffusion. 



Of course the greater part of this labour falls under the 

 domain of strict science, whether of agriclture, botnjiy 

 or chemistry. Of very general tendency, however, is the 

 author's endeavour to solve the question ; Can the cin- 

 chona culture bear the extension which is already given 

 to it, and which will no doubt continue to be given it ? 

 In other words, must the spirit of planting and further- 

 ing this culture be encouraged or moderated ? The cin- 

 chona culture does not pro7nise, but yields golden profits 

 to the happy owner of plantations, who can at present 

 bring to market a product of good quality. But is it 

 reasonably to be expected, that they will still be able to 

 do BO in ten or twenty years hence ? 



We need be very thankful to I\Ir. Moens for having 

 arranged his occupations so as to be able to give inform- 

 ations on the subject, and not less for the thoroughness 

 and accuracy that distinguish those informations. The 

 following extracts will give some iilea of this. 



The writer supposes, that a land of tliree himdred 

 honivs (two hundred and ten hectares; is to be tilled for 

 the cinchona culture. This land is waste woodland in the 

 high mountains, mostly 1,200 — 1,800 metres high, and must 

 therefore, before planting, be cleared and rendered fit for 

 tillage. Annually 60 houus are cleared. After four years 

 the land begins to yield, but it is not till eight years 

 that the produce has attained its height. Therefore after 

 eight years the full crop is enjoyed of one-fifth of the 

 area, and after twelve years, of the whole. And, as we 

 have shown, by a careful treatment of the cinchona tree, 

 a full crop can be expected for a number of successive 

 years-t 



» It is computed that in the eighth year, and a series 

 of successive years, a home planted with cinchona trees 

 will yield 300 K. G. of bark. An enterprise of 400 louus 

 would then yield, at least, the above produce. 



t It is known that, at least in Dutch India, the cin- 

 chona tree is never felled or rooted out. The bark is 

 stripped off in part, in long slips, to the cambium, and 

 the bare patches covered with moss or any other fit 

 material. Under this a new bark forms, which is often 

 richer in alkaloid than the original. Or else (and this is 

 the new method, which seems to answer even better), 

 the bark is carefully scrajied off, but so, that the cambium 

 remains covered with an exceedingly thin coating. Then 

 the repi'oductioa of tlie bark can be left entirely to nature. 



Mr. Moens has learnt by experience that, when the 

 culture has to contend with no particular accidents, and 

 the soil be well chosen, one hoiiw of cinchona plantation 

 can yield annually 300 kilos of dry bark. He has here 

 more especially in view the sort most in demand, the so- 

 called Ledyeriana which seems to possess the richest quin- 

 ine percentage. How long, says the writer, the produc- 

 tion can remain at the same rate, is not known, but if 

 care be taken to fill up large gaps, occurriug in the 

 plantations, immediately, with fresh plants, there is no 

 reason to fear that it will decline. 



A houw will then produce on an average 300 kilos of 

 bark annually. What is the gross value of this ? 



The results of the auctions held at Amsterdam in 1881, 

 were for the Ledgeriana from /12, 50 to /1.5,_of the 

 Officinalis /5.— a /7.— , of the succirubra /2.— a /4.— 

 Inferior sorts we will leave out of account, as they will 

 no longer be cultivated. Let us take as the average result 

 the price of /8 a _flO, then the gross value of an annual 

 crop would be/2,400 or /3,000 per houir. 



This result, even for a fertile tropical land is enormous. 

 The sugar culture yields under the most favourable cir- 

 cumstances 100 or 120 piculs per houw, valuing at about 

 /14, thus /1,400 a /1,660. The produce of one houm of 

 land planted with cojfee, is much less still ; even though 

 the crop can be forced up to 12 or 1.5 piculs per houw, 

 the gross value, even with most favourable market prices, 

 must remain below one thousand guilders. 



Are the costs of cinchona culture particularly high? 

 No. They may be rated as pretty well equal with those 

 of the coffee culture. The clearing of the waste land is 

 in both the main point. Expen,sive buildings, or establish- 

 ments of a technical character are not required in either 

 case. The costs of maintenance are not particularly high, 

 either for a cinchona or coffee garden. The cropping de- 

 mands much care with the cinchona tree, but with the 

 coffee trees this is no less the case. The preparation of 

 the product for delivery is, in jieither of these cultures, 

 of a complicated or expensive nature. Only the cost of 

 labour may vary considerably, as, in the high mountain 

 regions, where the cinchona cultm-e is most at home, hands 

 are scare, and can only be obtained by the attraction of 

 high wages. 



Mr. Moens gives a stimulated account of the costs of 

 a cinchona establishment such as he supposes. He com- 

 putes for the first year f20,000, for the second f21,000, 

 for the third /23,000, for the fourth _/22,000, the fifth 

 /24,000, all without counting the interest. Then the plant- 

 ing is concluded, but the costs of keeping in order, sur- 

 veillance, etc. have become much higher. At least the 

 writer computes that the outlay of the sixth and follow- 

 ing years will amount to / 23,000 a year, plus 50 cents 

 per kilo of the bark to be won. The estimate is based, 

 as to wages, on the present state of the Prcauger-Re- 

 gencies, where the day wages are 25 cents. It will be 

 well not to reckon too much upon the maintenance of 

 these low vjages. 



For the rest we have only one observation to make on 

 the writer's estimate. He has brought into account no 

 costs of seed and plants. These are at present obtained 

 gratuitously from the Government plantations, and it is 

 possible that this may continue. But this must not be too 

 much depended upon. And in case a change should be 

 made in this, for any reason whatever, then it will be no 

 easy matter to obtain seeds of the good sorts. Probably 

 some planters may apply themselves to growing the seed 

 themselves and laying out young plantations for sale to 

 others. But prices will be sure to be very high for an en- 

 terprise, that must begin by planting SOO times 2,300 trees, 

 (this last figure expresses the number of trees required 

 for one hoitiv of laud). 



Thus after six years, the enterprise as sketched by Mr. 

 Moens, will have stood him in /133,000 plus the interest. 

 A few years later it will yield 90,000 K. G. gross value 

 /r20,000 a /900,00n. Reckoiiiug the freight to Europe, in- 

 surance, d'verse expenses of sale, etc. largely at 25 p. c. the 

 nett receipts would still amount to five a seven hundred 

 thousand florins per annum, and that for a long period. 

 Though one should abate one-half for miscalculations and 

 disappointments, yet the cinchona culture remains a goldmine, 

 provldeil the article can be disposed of at any thing like the 

 prices assumed. The question, therefore, is.- will not tUe 



