Jan. I, 1887.} 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



479 



CINCHONA IN JAVA: 



EEPOKT ON GOVERNMENT GARDENS 



FOR 1885. 



Translated from the "Medical Times'' of Netherlands 

 India, 26th Volume.) 



Repobt ox the Government Ci\chon-a Enterprize 



in the prean(4?,r-rtgencies fou the year 1885, 



BY R. Van Romunde, Director of the Gov- 



krnmext Cinchona Enteepbize. 



1. — AVeather. — The year 1885 was remarkable for 

 the sudden change from a very rainy to an equally 

 dry east monsoon. The raius continued to about the 

 middle of the month of May, when a very severe 

 eaFt monsoon set in, during which hardly any rainy 

 days are recorded and which lasted to the beginning 

 of November. The mouth of November and the early 

 part of December were very wet, whilsh the rain 

 considerably diminished during the Seconal halt' of 

 December. At Nagrak, in the Tangkoebanprahoe rang:e 

 of momitains, there was a rainfall in the middle of 

 August, which in a few hours amounted to fully 100 

 milimeters accompanied by a fall of hail which caused 

 some damage to the plantations. Night frosts were 

 recorded during in the mouths of June, July and 

 September, but they caused little or bo injury to 

 the plantations ; the flat and hollow parts of the land 

 were most affected, these had suffered during the 

 previous year and are not intended to be replanted. 



Storms were felt during the mouths of March and 

 December, and wrought some mischief to the plant- 

 ations, especially at the establishment Nagrak. 



'1. Extension.— The number of plants put out into 

 the open ground amounted at the end of the year 

 to 1,567,000. Though a lower figure has to be given 

 for this year's planting than that for the previous year, 

 yet this is solely to be attributed to a more caieful 

 enumeration of the existiug plants, and not to a real 

 decrease. The number in the nurseries is estimated 

 at l,.'^9e,000 of which 1,165,000 are Le Igerianas and 

 225,000 suceirubras of which a great p^rt will be 

 planted out iu the field during the 1st quarter of 

 1886. Among the Ledgerianas are comprised + (plus- 

 minus) 35,000 grafts, which iu the 1st and 4th quarter 

 of 1886 will serve to extend the plantations at 

 Tirtasari which consist exclusively of grafts and suckers. 

 Every export has been made to extend the cultiv- 

 ation of Ledgeriana and Succirubra seed iugs. The 

 long continued drought was, however, unfavorable to 

 the development of the germinating beds and nur- 

 series and disappointed our hopes of having an enor- 

 mous number ot seedlings ready for supp ying and plant- 

 ing out during the last quarter of 1885. It will only 

 be in the first quarter of 1886 that the whole of the 

 ground, whir^h has been dtig over will be again planted 

 with Ledgerianas ami Succirubr--".. The comparatively 

 small number of plant.q raised from seed, which have 

 been transferred to the open grotmd is to be accounted 

 for by the fact, that only the very strongest; and 

 best developed plants were used for that purpose. 

 In large and hardy plants it is easy to recognize the 

 best sorts, so that all undesirable hybrids can be re- 

 jected, the upkeep of young plantations which have 

 been formed of hardy plants requires careful and 

 attentive supervision and much less supplying is 

 necessary. But the great advantage of the use of 

 well-developed plants for putting out, lies iu the 

 shortening of the period, during which the young 

 plants require very careful upkeep, by which an im- 

 portant reduction of cost is obtained. 



For the replanting of certain gardens where tha 

 ground has been dug over across between 0. succi- 

 rubra and plants raised from hjbrids derived from 

 Ledgeriana seed has been exclusively used. Especi- 

 ally in the establishment at Tjibitoeng th;; plantation 

 of these hybrids was very considerJibly extended j^nd 

 from this a very important harvest may shortly be 

 expected. The cultivation of the grafts of Ledg'-riana 

 or Succirubra has been during the past ye^r pursued 

 with greater vigour than ever. At Tjinjiraepn two 

 germinating houses have been prepared, which are 

 completely successful, whilst about ten small buildings 



of light materials hav'-j b>en constrn t ed for the eraft"! 

 which have already taken root. B-- sides the 35.000 

 grafts which will be ready to pun out in the op«n 

 grounil by the end of 1885, 'be nurseries contain about 

 an equal number of gro-iig gratt plants wbich will 

 be ready for pl-inting out iu the Utter part of 1886. 

 The graft nurseries are formed exclusively of the 

 richest known mothpr trees, of whicn mentio i is m»de 

 in the report for last y^'a.■. N^s. 25, 34, 38, 75, 94 

 and 120, the bark of which contains more than 10 

 per cent of quinine. The plantations of grafts from these 

 trees, was not however extended beyond what wa« 

 neccessary for the due completion of the gardens. 

 The grafting of the sorts richest in quinine obtained 

 from the mother trees Nos. 23 and 38, the bark of 

 which yielded at least 11 per cent at the age of 6 to 7 

 years was pushed forward with greater force. From these 

 grafts already planted and still to be planted great 

 hopes are entertained as regards the seed harvest. 

 The cultivation of the Ledgeriana seed plants is now 

 coming more to the front, since some analyse* of grafts 

 from known mother trees appear to shew the (bene- 

 ficial) effects which the suocrubra stem exeroises on 

 the constitution of the bark of the Ledgeriana grafts. 



The extension of the cultivation of the hybrids of 

 0. Ledgeriana and C. Succirubra spoken of in the 

 report for last year, for want of the necessary graft 

 nurseries, has not been so great as was hoped for 

 and expected and the plantations thereof have only 

 been slightly increased. The original Ledgerianas pro- 

 duced iu the course of 1885 not only abundance of 

 seed for the Government enter-prize, but sufficient for 

 important public sal^s of succirubra and Ledger- 

 iana seed at stited times. There has always been a 

 great demand for seed produced by the graft and 

 sucker plantations at Tirtasari, which command good 

 prices. 



Consequent on the large quantity of seed from 

 original trees, which from time to time was exposed 

 for sale, the demand for the typical Ledgeriana des- 

 cendants became so small that the collection and sale 

 of the seed was discontinued. 



In the mouth of December 1,000 grafts were sold 

 by public auct on. 



The proceeds of the sale of see-d 

 during 1885 amounted to / 131,471 25 



That of grafts „ 2,730 00 



Total guilders 16,2i)l 25 



On the sa'e of eic'i lot of seed a portion of it was 

 set to germinate on the government's estiblishment, 

 for the purpose of having the means of forming a 

 judgment in respect to any ^ubseqiT^n': comp'aint that 

 might be made, as to the germinati-ig p.wci of the 

 seed sold. 



All these trials gave favo irable result*, ad 1 no W- 11- 

 founded complaints res^arJing tne feed thus S' Id were 

 heard of. Thi^ demand f irsucciruh'-a seed made by Forest- 

 ers was fully m -r, but the culture of cinchona as a means 

 of forming forests does not seem 'o answ-r to former 

 expectations. The dem tnd for Ledgeriana and succi- 

 rubra seed by botanists or by the representatives of 

 scientific institutions under foreign governments has 

 been insi^niQcant during the past year. At the end of 

 D-cen.b-r 18 <5 the two and three year old gr»fts in the 

 plantations Tirtasari begnn to i lossom freely, thi* is 

 especidiv the c.-ise with the grafts from the mother 

 tree No. 25 of which a great portion of the Tirtasari 

 planta'ion consists. 



These trees so rich in quinine promise to yield a 

 large quantity of valuable seed in 1886, but the abund- 

 ant blossoming and seeding must undoubtedly have an r 

 unfavourable influence on the development of the 

 plants. 



Ouagrsat many of the gr fts the blossom is so 

 thick ihat the fear of their being ki 1 d the effects of 

 of it is by no means gtoun.iles-. Tnerefore every 

 effort is being made l.y m iimri.ng and by plentiful 

 turning uo of the soil, t.i force the tre^ s to form 

 leaves and to bring about a h irdy growth. The evil 

 of overblossoming would C' rt.uoly h ive been mucU 

 greater, had not the ground been w»ll worked daring 



