9t3 



YHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



SfiPT. I, tSS6. 



GAMBOGE. 

 The Collector of Malabar reports that there are 

 four species of Garcinia indig-^auus to the forests of 

 h's district: — (1) Garcinia moreUa grows ou the Peria 

 Chat iu the extreme uortb-west portion of the 

 ■\Vjiiaad taluq up to au elevation of about 1,5()0 feet. 

 This species yields the tree gamboge of commerce. 

 There is a considerable export from Ceylon, but none 

 from the district. (2) (iarcinia pictoria is widely 

 distributed, and is found arrowiug along the slopes 

 of the Western Ghats, from 1,000 to 4,000 feet ele- 

 vation. It, is very abundant in the Ohenat Nair 

 forests, and fairly common everywhere. It yields an 

 excellent pigment, samples of which were sent to the 

 International Forestry exhibition, Edinburgh, last year; 

 also to the Calcutta Exhibition. The gamboge is 

 collected by hghtly scraping the moss and the old 

 bark of the stems of the trees, and then pricking 

 them all over, with an instrument resembling a hair 

 brush, with wire nails fixed in it at intervals of J 

 inch apart. The work should be done from December 

 to March, when there is no rain. The gamboge col- 

 lects in little tears, about the size of a small pea, 

 in from three to four days, and is quite hard in a 

 week, when it can be collected. The cost of collec- 

 tion amounts to about Rl-8-0 per pound, which 

 is as much the product is worth in the London market ; 

 hence there is no trade in it here. A second way 

 of collecting the gamboge is to clean the bark of 

 the trees of all extraneous matter, and then to strip 

 it off. pound and boil it. A yellow extract is thus 

 obtained, which when inspissated yields a golden 

 brown gamboge of inferior quality worth about 6d. 

 a pound. The .stripping of the bark, of course, kills 

 the tree. The method is, therfore, a wasteful and 

 expensive one. The fruit of both specie* are rich iu 

 gamboge, and the seeds yield an oil. 3 Xanthochy- 

 mus pictorious. — This species is indigenous to the Ghat 

 forests above Karimpoya in Nilambur. It bears a 

 large golden-colored, thin skinned edible fruit of a 

 pleasant sub-acid flavor, in bunches of 3 or 4 together. 

 It is cultivated at Calicut and in the Wynaad, and 

 is a tree of exceedingly slow growth. The gamboge 

 yielded by it is resinous, and worthless as a pigment. 

 (4) Garcinia cambojia. — A very common tree on the 

 Western Ghats, up to 4,500 feet where, however, it 

 rarely exceeds 20 feet in height. It yields a translucid 

 resinous gamboge useless as a pigment. The fruit is 

 ribbed, and of a bright canary colour. The aril is 

 edible, being of a pleasant sub-acid like the mangos- 

 teen. The rind of the fruit when green is intensely 

 acid, and is used by the Kurumbers and other wild 

 tribes as substitute for tamarind in their curries. 

 The seeds yield an oil. (5) Garcinia 2>iu-2>urea. — A 

 very rare tree on the Ghats, but cultivated at Calicut 

 for the sake of its edible fruit, which is of a bright 

 purple colour. It yields a gamboge which might be 

 used as a pigment. Garcinias Travancorica et WiyJdii 

 are both said to yield excellent pigments, but they 

 do not occur in this district. 



The collector of the Nilgiris reports that the 

 Garcinia pictoria tree does uojb grow iu his district. — 

 Madras Mail. 



TYPICAL TEA, COFFEE, CINCHONA AND 

 CACAO SOILS OF CEYLON, AND A FAVOUE- 

 ABLE SPECIMEN OF SOUTH AMEEICAN CIN- 

 CHONA SOIL, 

 have been analysed by Mr. John Hughes, the Cey- 

 lon soils for the Ceylon Planters' Association, the 

 Secretary of which institution has sent them to 

 us for publication, Mr. Hughes being good enough 

 to send us his analysis of the South American 

 soil for purposes of comparison. As Mr. Hughes 

 has pointed out, the considerable proportion of 

 alumina and oxide of iron in the South American 

 soil shows that it can scarcely be so porous as Mr. 

 Thomson represents. Indeed we have had accounts 

 of cultivated cinchonas dying off in Andean plant- 

 ations, just as they die off not only in Ceylon and 

 India, but in the lava soils of Java. The state- 



ment that there are no winds on the Columbian 

 plantation would seem to require equal qualitic- 

 ation. 



Mr. Hughes has accompanied his figures for the 

 Ceylon and American samples of soil with such 

 copious and exliaustive remarks, that we have little 

 to add to the few notesjwe have made on the state- 

 ments of Mr. Hughes. We would only say that 

 the proportions of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 

 acid in most of the Ceylon soils, are so high as 

 to suggest the presence of manurial substances 

 added to the original soil and not exhausted. If 

 this should not be the case, the proprietors of land 

 showing such good results are to be congratulated 

 on the possession of soils, only needing " a dress- 

 ing of lime" to prove their fertility in the shape 

 of teeming crops of leaf, fruit, or bark, in accord- 

 ance with the nature of the plants cultivated. 



For the following interesting paper we are in- 

 debted to Mr. John Hughes, so well and so favourably 

 known in Ceylon as an analyst : — 



CINCHONA SOIL OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



The only practical way of ascertaining the 

 chemical and physical properties of soils specially 

 adapted to the growth of particular crops or trees, 

 is to obtain reliable specimens of the soils in 

 which these crops or trees are known to flourish. 

 With this object in view and in order to get a 

 sample of soil representing the natural forest land 

 to which the better species of cinchona were in- 

 digenous, I had a correspondence some four years 

 back with Mr. Robert Thomson, whose name has 

 been deservedly associated with the now famous 

 Government cinchona plantations of Jamaica. 



At that time he was on the point of going out 

 to South America, and he very kindly promised 

 to procure the desired specimens of forest soil, but 

 as time went on I was afraid I should hear no 

 more about them. However, the other day, much 

 to my surprise and pleasure, I received a note say- 

 ing he had again returned to Helensburgh ana 

 could send me a soil that he had brought home 

 with him according to his promise. 



I have therefore much pleasure in sending you 

 the enclosed results of a careful analysis of this 

 soil and believe the figures will be interesting for 

 comparison with those of the ten soils sent me by 

 the Planters' Association, the analyses of which 

 were forwarded to Kandy by last mail and will 

 doubtless be published together with my ofhcial 

 report on same. 



I gather from Mr. Thomson's letter to me that 

 this particular sample represents the soil of land 

 originally virgin forest, but which has recently 

 been planted with C. Lancifolia and other good 

 species indigenous to the country. However I give 

 his remarks as sent me. 



"Soil from Central Cordillera of the Columbian 

 Andes district of Chaparrel. The best varieties 

 of Cinchona Lancifolia grow here. The soil is 

 from an elevation of 8,000 ft; average annual 

 rainfall about 100 inches, but you will see the 

 details from enclosed register of rainfall. Entirely 

 free from winds. One variety of Lancifolia gave 

 6-'20 per centof quinine 15 months old ctaltivated here, 

 and several other indigenous species of cinchona 

 gave 1 to 1.^ per cent of quinine. The subsoil to a 

 great depth" is the same as sample sent except 

 that it is more sandy and contains less vegetable 

 matter, that is to say that it is extremely 

 sandy and porous so much so that the soil 

 immediately after heavy rains becomes perfectly dry. 

 The sample ii from the virgin forest exposed 

 to the sun for about 3 years, and the soil 



