fTHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[Jam. 1, 1887. 



the long dry monsoon, so as to maintain the unin- 

 terrupted growth of the plants as far as possible. "With 

 the exception of the graft plantations of No 23 which 

 is nataralU prone to excessive blossoming, the blossom 

 thrown out by the typical Ledgerianas even by the 

 mother trres is consilerably less than might have been 

 fxps-cted after such au unusually dry mousoou, which 

 fact must indisputably be attributed to the repeated 

 and deep upturning of the ground. 



The harvest of Ledgeriana and Succirubra seed in 

 1886 will not only be amply sufficient for the require- 

 ments of the government establishments, but also 

 for holding numerous large public sales. 



3.— Opening and upkeep.— The opening of new 

 ground has been limited to a few ba-oes of forest 

 land at Tirtasari, intended for the putting out of 

 graft plants. 



On the old establishments both the plantations 

 which have alraady been dug over and those about to 

 be prepared offer most satisfactory opportunities for 

 replantiag the ground with 0. Ledgeriana and C. Succi- 

 rubra to which sorts the government cinchona enter- 

 prize is to be limited for the iuture with the ex- 

 ception of a few experimental gardens of otber kinds 

 of cinchona. On the upkeep of the plantations, still 

 greater care is now bestowed than used to be e.xer- 

 cised in former years. The young fields are kept 

 constantly clear of weeds, whilst besides this they are 

 forced into strong growth by a deep overturning of the 

 whole surface. All over the old fields the system of 

 deep drains is applied, which has also produced the 

 most favorable results, and has exercised a good 

 effect on the already gathered harvest, which will 

 be more perceptible in the next harvest. In spito 

 of the severe and long continued east monsoon the 

 plantations all over continued to develope well— whilst 

 soon after the .setting in of the November rains, a 

 most remarkably strong growth was to be observed 

 both in the old and young fields. By careful up- 

 keep of the receatly planted fi.t;lds the side branches 

 of the young plants were able at once to develop 

 their strength with disturbance and by clo.^a planting 

 4x4 Khineland feet, the surface of the ground soon 

 becomes shaded and the growth of weeds is checked. 

 Close planting is adhered to as much as po-sible not 

 only for furthering the rapid formation oi humus 

 out of the fallen leaves and thereby improving the 

 Boil chemically as well as phy.sically, but also to at- 

 tain the maximum produce at the lowest po-.sible 

 upkeep. The beneficial influence of close plant, ng for 

 the developement of cinchoni is particularly remark- 

 able in the replanted fields, where at first the growth 

 of the plants was slow, and where their develop- 

 ment became rapid as soon as the surface became 

 shaded by the branches and masses of leave's. Com- 

 bined with close planting, the greatest possible care 

 is taken in these fields with the harvesting, so that 

 by means of lopping and thinning out, everything is 

 done to aid the further developement of the plants. 

 The planting out in the open fields was continued 

 during the prolonged west monsoon which lastt-d to 

 the middle of May until the rains c»^ased. Before 

 the planting out in March , April and May, lar^'e and 

 deep holes were dug for the pUnts to provide against 

 the desiccation of the soil during the severe drmght 

 of the east monsoon. Not only did this precaution 

 prove justified in every respect, but the execution of 

 the work answered perfectly for the attainment of 

 the object. 



The planting out of some fields with graft plants 

 had hardly been two days completed when a drought 

 set in, and notwithstanding its severity the plants 

 grew well and the supplies for these fields were of little 

 or no signification. The measuring of the Ledgt-ria- 

 na*! planted in 1879 was commenced. The mean height 

 of eight-year old plants at Tjibeureune reaches U'lw 

 4'53 metres and the cirr:umfprence of the stem is 029 

 metres. The maximum height is 5"G3 and the maxi- 

 mum measurement round the .stem is 38| metre. 

 At Tirtasari the measurement of six-year ol 1 grafts 

 and suckers gives a mean height respectively of 3v9 

 metres and 303 metres, and the mean circumfer- 

 ence round the stem is 035J and ■'?S metre, whilst 



the maxima of height and circumference of stem are 

 respectively 4 85 and 4 metres and O'SSg and -331. 

 The fact de.serves mention that the plantations to 

 be mea-'Ured, especially the seed plantations at Tji- 

 beureufie and the graft plantations at Tirtasari yielded 

 a not unimp)rtaMt harvest of branch bark. The Helo- 

 peltis A'ltoni coutiiiueil to shew itself during the 

 year now reported on — throughout all the establish- 

 ments, except that of Kawa Tjiwidei, but thanks to the 

 strict search after the insect and not less to the 

 lopping and bu'-ning of all the attacked portions of 

 the plants, the injury done was of little or no sig- 

 nification. At Nagrak in the commencement some 

 damage was caused to the plantations by caterpillars 

 and locusts against which the catching and destruc- 

 tion of the insects appeared to be the only remedy. 

 At Riveng-goenoeng the Western plantations and 

 specially the nurseries had again to suffer severely 

 from the larva of a certain beetle, known by the 

 name ku-uk (oeret). 



The continual attacks to which the nurseries there 

 have been subject from this kind of larva, and 

 which have caused so much disappointment with re- 

 ference to these plantations have necessitated the 

 removal of the Ledgeriana nurseries to the neigh- 

 borhood of the establishment at Kawah Tjiwidei. The 

 damage done by blight and the larva of a beetle 

 (uter-oeter) was during the past year of little or no 

 importance. The topping Ledgerianas and oflBcinalis 

 plantations of which mention was made in last year's 

 report has not been continued, since the results of 

 shaving the bark for obtaining a rich produce in the 

 shavings does not appear to have come up to what 

 was expected. 



4. Harvest of Cinchona. — The harvest of 1885, 

 amounted to 2i6j359 kilograms of bark, the whole of 

 which is intended for sale in Netherland. No demand 

 for bark has been made by the Military Medical de- 

 partment. The harvest was gathered by digging out 

 the roots of backward and diseased C. Josephiana on 

 about four gardens, by digging out the roots of a 

 plantation of C. Oalisaya, by thinning out and lop- 

 ping thickly planted Ledgeriana and Succirubra planta- 

 tions and by the removal of hybrids from young 

 Ledger fields, whilst a considerable quantity of pro- 

 duce was obtained from Ledgerianas which in conse- 

 quence of the extensive scraping practised in 1884, 

 had assumed an unhealthy appearance, and threatened 

 to die out. 

 The produce consisted of 



Sort of Cinchona, 



1° 



« a 



-^ a 



§-2 



= 3 



0.2 



^ a 



0. Succirubra 170 21,094 325 f 0,703 



„ C.ihsaya (Schuhkraft)770 8i,118 5b7 '. 4,3!)4 



„ (Javanica) 39 4,527 15 2,324 



„ (Anglica) 29 3,299 44 6,401 



,; Ledg^riaaa ... - - 1,009 155,287 



,. Oificinalis _ _ 44 6,273 



„ Lull iiolia — — 2 298 



Total 1,008 117,038 2,026 315,680 



The last experiment in the application of he 

 :-haviiig method on old oflBcinalis trees at Kawah- 

 Tjiwidei, but the results of the trial since it was 

 carried out on a large scale in 1884 have appeared 

 so unfavourable, that this system of harvesting has 

 been given up for good. , . r , 1 



All the shaved trees retained their fresh and 

 healthy app.>arance, those trees which had only yeilded 

 a single harvest by the shaving of the bark off one- 

 half of the circumference shelved one year after the 

 operation that the undisturbed portion of the bark 

 was much better developed than that on the shaved 



portion. .,, . . 1 ^ 



Some careful experiments are still being made to 

 ascertain plainly with the help of figures the differ- 

 ence in the growth of the bark — both \fhen the 



