568 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1884. 



CINCHONA CULTIVATION BY THE INDIAN 

 GOVEKNJIENT. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " MADRAS MAIL. " 

 Siii, — la your issue of the 31st ult. tho writer of 

 the articlu on ciucbona points out that GovorDinent 

 have made a U3istal;e in cultivating the inferior s'arielies 

 of that plnnt, anJ advocates the total abuudoumeut of 

 such plauiations as those at Darjeeliug, and the opening 

 out of fresh laud For the growth of some of the more 

 valuable and true quinine-producing varieties. It the 

 writer had thought for one mottifnt what the effect 

 of Buch conduct on the part of Governnieut would h;ive 

 on private enterprise, I do not think he would have 

 given such advice. Government, some years ago, .seeing 

 that private enterprise was incapable of thoroughly 

 ttsting the experiment of growing cinchona in this 

 country, undertook to try it, and went to great expense 

 in doiug so. Having, however, shown that cinchona 

 can be prohtably grown in this country, I think they 

 should leftve the rest in the bands of private individ- 

 uals. I do not go so far as to assert that their present 

 plantations should immediately be abandoned ; it would 

 hardly be fair to expect ihis; but I do think there 

 should be no extension whatever, and that the existing 

 plantations should be gradually year by year rooted 

 up. Within the last few years hundreds of acres in 

 various parts of the country have been opened out for 

 the cultivation of this valuable plant, and extensions 

 take place every year. Would it then be a proper 

 step on the part of Government to enter into com- 

 petition with their planters? Now-a-days when so much 

 is written and talked about develoijing the resources 

 of the ccjuntry by private enterprise, surely it is not 

 the part of Government to hinder such, as they mo t 

 assuredly will do if they continue to compete with 

 the planters. Having established the cultivation and 

 seeing that private individuals are perfectly prepared 

 to carry on and extend it. Government slrould gradually 

 retire from the tield. Let them rather now try and 

 perfect the experiments for producing locally a cheap 

 and efficient febrifuge ; this done, I feel that anj quantity 

 of the valuable bark will be forthcoming. And, more- 

 over. Government, by exempting all lands planted with 

 cinchona from taxation until the fifth year, instead 

 of the third, would only be doing justice to planters. 

 The principle of taxation of coffee is all that is atked 

 for; if coffee is exempted until it conips into bearing, 

 why should not cinchona have the same grace ex- 

 tended to it.— Pet. 



NEW FIELDS FOR PLANTING ENTERPRISE. 



The staples of planting enterprise on the Iv ilgiris 

 are represented by coffee, ciuchona and lea, and planters 

 are generally content to stand or fall by these. This 

 resolute adherence to specialities was all very well 

 wheu coffee held the premier position in the market 

 of all Indian products; wheu the borer and other pests 

 were unknown, and when fluctuating seasons were 

 of rare occurrence. Under the altered state of affairs, 

 however, when borers of sorts, grubs, red spider, &c., 

 denioostrate the ills to. which the above pioducts .are 

 heii', it is high time that the plant< is turned their 

 attention to other sourcis of wealth, and embarked 

 in the cultivation of products as yet untried on a lai'ge 

 scale in this part of the world, but which have proved 

 a lucrative source of income tojuvesiors m America 

 and Australia, in localiiies where the climatic iuttucnces, 

 soils, &c., are precisely siujilir to our own. Wlieu coffee 

 became in a measure discrtdited, and proved rather 

 a broken reed to lean upon, to those who staked their 

 capital exclusively on its cultivation, in tlie confident 

 expectation of amassing wealth, a steady develcpm.nt 

 of cinchona planting took place, and plantations sprang 

 up as if by magic. " No borer, leaf rot, or disease 



here," said the sanguine quinine-bark men ; but, ala^ 

 for their prognostications, tlie defects of coffee suddenly 

 developed themselves even more numerously in ciuchona, 

 and already the halcyon days of the cultivation appear 

 numbered. The bark when first taken off the tree 

 yields medicinal alkaloids in great quautity, but each 

 additional harvesting of bark, whether by the shaving 

 or stripping process, shows a steady deterinraiion in 

 quality, and the only point now in dispute is whether 

 bark deteriorates most under the former or latter system. 

 That it does deteriorate under both methods is in- 

 controvertible, and planters must, face the fact that, 

 after a few strippinga or shavings, a cinchona tree, 

 which is comparatively the most expensive plant in 

 the world to bring to maturity, is valueless to them. 

 This, of cour.se, to use a slang, hut trite, phrase, " takes 

 the gilt off the gingerbread," and rcndcre the luorative- 

 ness of chinchon.i planting a matter of doubtful cert- 

 ainty. The above arguments apply, though in a dif- 

 ferent way, to tea. Under these circumstances, it is 

 matter for surprise that planters do not turn their 

 attention to other enterpiises which have provedlucrative 

 elsewhere under similar conditions of soil and climate 

 as we are possessed of in the Nilgiris. The tobacco 

 plant thrives here in a wild state in the most luxuriant 

 manner, and the natural inference is that it would 

 amply repay cultivation. The arrowroot tuber, too, 

 is quite at home in our soil, and it has beeu proved 

 that it gives a return of E400 net profit per acre of 

 cultivation ; and the sago palm is another indigenous 

 product, the cultivation of which could be turned to 

 profitable account. Though it is generally believed 

 that the sugar-cane cannot be grown with profit on 

 the Nilgiri.'-, the opinion appears to have been foi-med 

 on the results of very partial experiments. In some 

 places, at about four thousand feet elevation, we have 

 seen the cane growing luxuriantly ; but it is entirely 

 d.ficieutiu saccharine. In other localiiies the success 

 of the cultivation belies the above result. For instance, 

 at Neddiwuttum, which has an elevation of about five 

 thousiand feet, some Chinamen have succeeded in grow- 

 ing the cane almost to perfection. Its quality may 

 be gathered from the demand for it among the natives 

 going backwards and forwards in the Wyuaad. Some 

 of the cane growing in this neighbourhood is of a 

 dark red colour, and the juice is quite as rich in 

 saccharine matter as the lowcountry cane. In Coim- 

 batorc, with defective ciushing appliances, and with 

 expensive irrigation water, the cultivation yields natives 

 a return of over cent per cent, aud j'et the cultiv- 

 ation is restricted. European energy ami mechanical 

 appliances for extracting juice ought to make the cultiv- 

 ation of sugar-cane quite as profitable as coffee proved 

 in its most palmy days. We may also indicate the 

 luciativeness of the rubber cultivation. The three best 

 species of rubbers, I'iz, Ceara, CasUlloa claslica, and 

 Bevea all thrive on the stores of our mountains. — Madras 

 Mail. 



Substitute fok Coffee. — A writer in the Bulletin of 

 the Tuacau lloi'iticulturai Society recommends the fruits 

 of Galium pisiferum of Boissier as a substitute for coffee. 

 The plant is a native of Palestmc, and is readily cultiv- 

 ated. — Gard-entrs' Chronicle, . 



The OKANGii TiiADK — usual at this season of the year 

 when this fruit, ofpcieunial bearing, may behind in 

 greatest plenty aud perfection — is very brisk with the 

 United States, particularly New York. The Yankees, 

 who always swore by the Havana Orange, seem to 

 have discovered that its congener of Jamaica is equal 

 if not superior to it. It is certainly larger and has 

 a thicker skin which, erroneously believed to be a 

 mark of coarseness and inferiority, seems to have 

 been discovered to he what it really is, a protectiOQ 

 and preservative of the Jamaica fruit. Hence tho in- 

 creasing demand for it. — People s Banner, 



