Deceiieer I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



5^) 



DR. TRFMEX'S REPORT OX TUB CI>f -HOXA 

 PLANTATIONS OF THE NILC4IRIS. 

 In the earlier half of this year, Dr. Trimen risited 

 the Nilgiri Cinchona Plantations, prior to their being 

 placed under the charge of his old friend, Mr. Law- 

 son, of Oxford. Besides Mr. Lawson, he had the 

 advantage of the company of Dr. Bidie, Major Camp- 

 bell Walker, Mr. Gass and Mr. Lome Campbell. 

 Dr. Ti'imen was well prepared for the task, of re- 

 porting on the plantations, scientifically and eco- 

 nomically, from his thorough knowledge of botany 

 generally, his special study of the cinchonas at the 

 Biitish Museum and elsewhere in Europe, besides the 

 facilities he had enjoyed in Ceylon, and finally from 

 his mastery of the various blue-books and detached 

 reports by Messrs. Mclvor, Broughton and others, 

 besides the general literature of the subject. The 

 result is an elaborate report, in which most of the 

 disputed questions on the botany of the species and 

 varieties cultivated in India are thoroughly exainmed 

 and most of them, we should think, settled. Dr. 

 Trimen believes as little ,as ever in Mr. Cross and 

 his " PatA de Gallinazo," and- as strongly as ever 

 contends for the hybrid origin of the robust forms 

 of cinchona which have appeared on plantations and 

 received the varjing appellations, besides that con- 

 tended for by Mr. Cross, of pubescens, lanosa, magni- 

 folia, &c. To the apparently strong argument that 

 plants of the forms about which controversy has 

 ra^ed existed amongst the oldest trees on N iduvatam, 

 he° opposed the facts revealed by the records, that 

 quite a number of the original ti-ees were cut down, 

 the vacancies from this cause as well as from " dying 

 out" being supplied by plants from locally produced 

 seed some of the plants from such seed being in- 

 evitably hybrids, judging from all experience in India 

 and Ceylon, where different species are attributed with 

 every reach of each other. Talking of " dying out," it is 

 now evident that even on the best Nilgiri plantations the 

 losses from this cause have been very heavy, while whole 

 plantations, such as Hooker's and Wood's at Pykara, 

 have suffered so much that, their abandonment is 

 recommended. The tale has been much the same on 

 the Nilgiris and in British Sikkim as in Ceylon, and 

 also in Java, although in tne latter case to a far lesser 

 extent. The cinchonas seem to be just as capricious 

 as to soil and climate, as they are variable in form 

 and " sporting " in character, to the disturbance of 

 the equanimity of grave and reverend professors of 

 botany and experts in bark. Dr. Trimen is no more 

 afraid t f breaking a lance with (.'ol. Beddome and 

 Dr. Bidie than of shrinking from a contest with tlie 

 champion qumologist. Mr. Howard, and we generally 

 feel that the spo-ls of victory are his. But there are 

 certaiidy some things in his report which puzzle us. 

 Knowing as we do that ii was from the Nilgiri 

 gardens that Mr. Mclvor sent to 9eed from which the 

 Yarrow and St. Andrews Ledgers were growu in 

 Ceylon, we are annzed to be told that Dr. Trimen 

 saw no tracu of undoubted Ledgeriana during h's 

 examiuition. II') was told of a few plants, but 

 he could not identify them by the foliage. More 

 astonishing still, c msideriug that it was amongst the 

 Dodabetta O. offidnalu trees Mr. Broughton noticed 

 the numerous diversities of forms of which he 'rn-ote 

 so graphically to Mr. Howard, is it, to be told that 

 oO 



the one impression created on Dr. Trimen's mind by 

 a view of the Dodabetta trees «as their complete 

 uniformity of character ! Apart from the fact that 

 the ej'e of the botanist does not rest on diversities 

 of foliage, so much as on characteristics of flowers 

 and fruits, the solution of the difficulty, probably, 

 is that trees like human beings, however much ad- 

 dicted to sport in their youth become steady and 

 settled in maturity. Some of the veteran officinalis trees 

 of Dodabetta must now be close on a score of yeai's in 

 the field. Dr. Trimen, while he does not fail to magnify 

 his own profession by rejoicing that the .South of 

 India Cinchona Plantations are now placed uuder 

 the care of a competent botanist, is keenly alive to 

 the importance of a continuance of the researches 

 which were cut short by the unfortunate resignation 

 and disappearance of Mr. Broughton, the late Quino- 

 logist, of the results of whose analyses aud reports 

 Dr. 'Trimen justly holds a high estimate. Dr. Tri- 

 men is a; pains to trace the chronological introduc- 

 tion of the various cinchonas existing on the Nilgiris. 

 Of C. succirubi-a, the most successful kind though not 

 the best in quality, seeds of plants were obtained 

 in February and April 1861, over 2*2 yeai-s ago. In 

 December of 1861. Dr. Anderson brought seed of C. 

 Innf'ifoUa from Java. The grey barks were also 

 introduce in 1861, and so was the poorsort, C. Pahudr 

 iana, from Java. In February and March 1862 seeds 

 of C. officinalis were obtained, and in April of the 

 same year a plant of the best variety from Mr. Howard . 

 It was 1865 before the oalisayas were introduced, in- 

 cluding Mr. Money's share of Ledger's seed. Some 

 other forms of calisaya were added in 1S66 and 1867. 

 C. Pittyo or C. Piiayensis arrived in 1869. In 1880, 

 came th^' soft and hard Carthagena or Columbian harks, 

 of which Jlr. Howard seems to hope well. In March 

 1883, seeds of a calisaya stated to de the "verde" 

 and " morada " of Bolivia were introduced, from which 

 numerous seidlings have been raised. Of all these, only 

 Kuccimlira and offlcinnlh have been as yet assu-ed suc- 

 ces?es on the Niigiiis. For Ledgcriana, {yr. IVimen re- 

 commendsH new plantation atan altitude of betweeu 3,500 

 and 4,000 feet. 'That altitude on the slopes of the Nilgiris 

 generally means fever. And this reminds us that not 

 only are the succirubras at Naduvatam at a very 

 high altitude (quite 6.000 feet, some of them) but 

 that this hi^h altitude is in latitude 11° north on a 

 continent, against our insuhr 7" from the equatrr. 

 It only there is free Fod aud sh'lter, Wf do not see 

 why Ledgcrianas should not flourish at o,OjO feet in 

 Ceylon. Mr. Maikham wrote a book to p.ove the 

 wrong done to the Countess Chincbon, by the spelling 

 •'cinchona," and had influence enough wilh the Ind- 

 ian Government to secure the plants being called 

 " ehinchonas " in official reports. But Dr. Trimen 

 pleads f>r uniformity, aud slates he is not .^ware of 

 one living botanist (rather hard on Mr. Markham) 

 who writes the name otherwise than cinchona. Our 

 reaik-rs arc, of coilrie, aware that LinnjieUH originated 

 "cinchona" by a slip in writing, but it is usilfess 

 for Mr. Markham or other purists to fight against 

 not only tbe popular but the botanic custom. In 

 view of Dr. Trimen's true statement as to the exr 

 tent to which trees from seeds and even from cuttings 

 are influenced by sutroundiuf; circum^tinccs, and the 

 importance of growing " pedigree" cinchona's, by selec- 

 tion according to ana'y.-:ia, we trust a chemist will 

 Eoeedily be at work with Mr. Lawson on the Nilgiris. 

 The Ciylun Observer has ever consistently advocated iho 

 retention by the Madra-^ Government of (heir piart;- 

 atiuns for the purpose of obtuiuiug and dittril uiii.g 

 such valuable information as the icpoits of Mclvor 

 aul Broughton contained. The former bad his we ^k- 

 nesses and the latter his faults of temper, but cin- 

 1 ohona growers owe n uch to their memory for the facts 

 1 they ascertained and communicated. 



