390 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Dec, r, 1886, 



Effect of Mould en Bark — It has been stated that 

 bark loses much of its virtue when allowed to get 

 mouldy', or when kept in a damp atmospliere. I was 

 asked more than a year ago to an.ilyse some mouldy 

 bark to obtain its value, but not knowi ng the com- 

 position of the freshly dried bark the results would 

 not have been very useful. I have therefore made 

 an experiment which shows that little, if any, eflfect 

 is produced by prolonged contact with mould. A 

 sample of powdered bark of known composition was 

 taken in December, 1881, and kept in an open dish 

 on the floor of a dark liamp room; a fungus {Penicil- 

 linin) set in in a fortnight, and spread itself over the 

 surface of the powder, and slightlj' increased its weight. 

 The bark was constantly stiried .so that fresh b,irk 

 from beneath might be intlueuced by the fungus. It 

 was mixed occasionally for ten months, and as the 

 mycelium had bj' then penetrated to every particle 

 of the powder it was analysed in October, 1885, with 

 the following results : — 



Original Mouldy 



bark. bark. 



Qmnine ... • ... 2-82 "iSU 



Cinchonidine ... 1-22 1-25 



Quinidiue ... ... -18 -11 



Oinchonine -90 '87 



Amorphous -31 "45 



5-43 



5-48 



It is thus manifest that the analyses being almost 

 ider.tical, moulded bark of ten months is not neces- 

 sarily deteriorated. 



Octacamund, India, July 16, 1886. 



CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN SOUTH 

 AMERICA. 



BY DAVID HOWARD, F.I.C.. F.C.S., 



Although Ceylou has of late occupied in the bark 

 market the most prominent position of all the countries 

 where cinchonas have been cultivated, it is to other 

 quarters that we should look for reliable information 

 on the scientific points involved. 



Vast as has been the scale of the cultivation in 

 Ceylon, tho soil of the island is by no means of the 

 most favourable for the growth of the cinchonas, 

 and, unfortunately, far too little care has been taken 

 to avoid the danger of bybrirlization, which takes 

 place with marvellous facility whenever more than one 

 species is found in a district, unless the greatest care 

 is taken to isolate the seed-beariug trees. AYe thus 

 find that Madras and Java give far better opportun- 

 ties of studying the effect of cultivation on pure 

 strains of the more valuable species, and it is inter- 

 esting to add to what we have learned from the 

 plantations in those countries, some light from those 

 in the natural home of cinchonas in South America. 



The jealousj' which made it so difficult to obtain 

 cinchona plants in the first instance still remains to a 

 great extent in Bolivia, and although we have valu- 

 able information as to the progress of the plantations 

 in Schuhkrafft's consular reports, no scientific inform- 

 ation can be obtained from that qu.irter, except 

 what is derived from the bark which already reaches 

 us from them in considerable quantity. This we find 

 to be of very fine quality, far superior to the average 

 of even selected parcels of the uncultivated bark ; a 

 yield of 6 to 7 per cent of sulphate of quinine is 

 quite as commonly obtained from them as one of 4 

 to 5 per cent was from the importations of twenty 

 or thirty years ago, and it is evident that the in- 

 fluence on the calisaya of cultivation is just as favour- 

 able in its natural home as in .Java. Among them 

 are two new species, the flowers of which are as yet 

 unknown, but the habit ot growth of which clearly 

 marks them out as distinct from the liitherto des- 

 cribed species. As plants of botli are under culti- 

 vation, it is hoped that before long we shall be able 

 to add botanical descriptions of them. 



The first it is proposed to call Cinchojiu '/'IioDisoniana, 

 after IMr. Thomson, who discovered it in the Central 

 Cordilleras of the Columbian Andes, iu the districts 



which yield the well-known Cinchona Janc'ifolia, the soft 

 biirk of commerce. It has very large leaves, and grows 

 with a rapidity equal to that of succirubra. 



The young bark analysed, which was from trees only 

 two years old, gave already 3-3 per cent of sulphate of 

 qninine=2-5 of quinine alkaloid, traces only of cinchoni- 

 ilme and -ns of cincboniue. The purity of tiie (|uinine 

 and rapid growth make this a prumising .species for 

 cultivation. 



The other was discovered by Seuor Pombo in the 

 forests of Ecuador; the miture bark pre.sents marked 

 ponits of diiference from the species at present, known 

 ai.d yielded. 



The sample of cultivated bark of the species two 

 years old, gave quinine sulphate 5-70=of quinine 4-28, 

 cinchonidine ()-43, no cinchoiune or quinidiue. Tiiis test 

 is a very high one, and, if the growth is not too slow, it 

 ought to prove a valuable species. 



For comparison, I would add the analysis of the typical 

 sample of the finest lancifolia bark, the calisa^'a S mta 

 Fc, brought over by Mr. U. Cross, from Columbia, 

 wh;ch yielded of sulphate of quinine 4-2 = oE quinine 

 alkaloid 3-15, cinchonidine 1-90 and cinchonine -30. 



Of even more interest are samples of bark grown 

 from plants derived ftom the (iovernment plant- 

 ations iu .Jamaica. The history of these barks shows 

 the great influence of successful cultivation and favour- 

 able habitat upon the yield of all alike. The first 

 samples received from Jamaica in 1872 gave the follow- 

 ing results : — 



Sul- Oichoni- Cincho- 

 Quinine. nhat?. dine. nine. 

 Q, Calisai/a ... 1-65= 22 -7 '2 



C. officinalis ... 1-35 i-g -^ -i 



C. succirubra ... 105 1-j 25 '8 



0. succirubra ... 1-12 15 y-Q 2-0 



The improvement brought about by careful cultiv- 

 ation is shown in a marked degree by the following 

 samples received from the same plantations in 1881 .- — 



Elevation. 



— Calisaya 

 5500 ft. Officinahs 

 48(J0 ft. Ofhcinalis > 

 (thiiteen years old) J 

 2400 ft. Succirubra 

 3400 ft. Succirubra > 

 (cold spring) | 



01 II 



■J.9 



a, s 



3 5 



4-93 

 0-95 



5 00 



1-97 



2- 10 



a 

 'a 

 '5 



C? 



3-70 



5'18 



3-75 

 1-48 

 1-80 



« s 



o . 

 u a 



a 



a 



o o 



0-00 035 005 

 0-22 001 015 



0-40 0-12 016 

 2-98 2-24 013 

 1-30 '^-20 O'OO 

 The de-cendauts of these plants grown in Columbia 

 give the following results : — 



Sulphate Qai- Oincho- Cincho - Qui- 

 Quiniue. nine, nidine. nine, uiuine 

 C. Calisaya, 

 3 years old "grown, I. 4-32=3-24 0-60 trace O'OO 

 at bOOO feet. 

 C. Calisaya, 

 22 months old (. 271 2-03 055 0-13 0-00 

 7500 feet. 

 C. officinalis, ") 

 3i y^ars old. V 4'66 3-49 0-21 0-OG 005 



SOUO feet. J 



C. ufficinalis, -\ 

 renewed, 8 months C 4-.3n 322 0-23 0-07 0-07 

 under moss. _) 



C. mcciruhra, \ ..„. „._, „„., „,_ 

 3 years old. \ ^ ^"^ ^ '^ 3 03 1/ O-Q, 

 C. succirubra, re- 

 new..>, w ^..uux.., , J.QQ -.25 j.^q q.^- q.^q 



1^ 



newed, 8 mouths I 



without moss, ( 



grown at 7500. ) 



All these samples are from very young trees and 

 if we may judge from universal experience the more 

 mature bark will give even finer results. The .Jam- 

 aica calisaya is not of thi; finest type, the percentage 

 of (iuinine is lower than in the best ledgeriana and 

 the proportion of cinchonidine is much higher. I 

 should have been inclined to suspect hybridization, 

 but my late uncle, J. E. Howard, F.ll.S,, after a careful 

 examination of the botanical specimens in 1881, re- 

 ported of this bark : " It appears to me triji to the 



