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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1887. 



had bpen extirpated. The uumber of trees of all ages 

 now existing in the various plautations is estimated at 

 1,567,000 as agaiust l,96ti,500 in 1883. The decrease is, 

 we are told, more apparent than real, and is due to a 

 careful census having been taken. It must, however, 

 be borne in mind, that vast numbers of the trees exist- 

 ing in the former year have been uprooted, and that a 

 large proportion of those that have taken their place, 

 as yet are only a year or two old. The number of plants 

 in the nurseries at the time of the report was 1,390,000, 

 over a million being ledgers, and the greater part of 

 these it was intended, to put out daring the first 

 quarter of 1886, so that a notable addition has been 

 made ere now. Amongst them 3J,000 are ledgers, 

 grafted on succirubras. Besides these there were in the 

 graft nurseries about the same number which would have 

 been ready to put out at the end of last year. These 

 grafts, which form one of the most interesting features of 

 the Java Cinchona enterprise, have all been taken from 

 the very richest trees known to exist, the bark of which 

 has been analysed, and given in some cases over 13 per 

 cent of quinine. The result of these experiments has not 

 yet had time to fully develop itself. Two unfavorable 

 features, are however, noticed, one being the tendency 

 to early blossoming and seeding. We believe that the 

 Madras Director is of opinion that this is not likely to 

 harm the trees, but Mr. Van Komunde thinks that it 

 "must undoubtedly have an unfavorable influence on 

 the development of the plants." Efforts have been 

 made to check this tendency, and by manuring and- 

 constantly turning up the soil, to force the trees to 

 form leaves, and bring about a hardy growth. The 

 other objection to the grafting process is that the succi- 

 rubra stem appears to influence the bark of the ledger 

 graft, and it was hoped that by selecting particularly 

 pure trees the grafts would yield nearly as good a result 

 as ledgers. The analyses of one of the parent trees was 

 1079 of quinine out of 11'53 total alkaloids, cinchoni 

 dine being entirely absent; but a strip taken from the 

 graft at five years old showed only 3 30 of quinine and 

 1-40 of cinchonidine, this being the predominant succi- 

 rubra alkaloid. Other experiments, however, show that 

 the hardness of the succirubra stem is transmitted to the 

 ledgers ; at any rate the system will be carried on for 

 some time longer. 



The only new land that was opened was a few 

 acres for grafted plants. The gardens appear to 

 be worked ou the best principles as understood in 

 India and Ceylon ; they are kept clean weeded, and 

 are frequently dug over, while on the older fields 

 deep draining has been carried out, and is found to 

 act beneflciany. Close planting has been adhered 

 to as much as possible "not only for furthering the 

 rapid lorraation of humus out of the fallen leaves, 

 and thereby improving the soil chemically, but also 

 to attain the maximum produce at the lowest possible 

 up-keep. The beneficial influence of close planting 

 for the development of cinchona is particularly 

 noticeable ou the replanted fields, where at first 

 the growth of the plants was slow, and where it 

 became rapid as soon as the surface became shaded by 

 the branches tind masses of leaves." This statement 

 should be made a note of by planters in this 

 country, amongst whom it is sometimes maintained 

 that tiie wider apart cinchona is planted the better 

 for its future prospects. In addition to the census, 

 the growth of the trees was ascertained by actual 

 measurements, and the average height of eight year 

 old lodgers was found to be about 11 feet with a 

 circumference of 10 inches ; this result does not 

 strike ua as praticularly good, but we think that 

 the year's growth in the nurseries is counted, which 

 is not the custom elsewhere. The average height of 

 six year old grafts is given as 12 feet ti inches 

 with a circumference of 10 inches. The gardens 

 were subjected to attacks from Ihlopf-llis A n/oul 3,nd 

 other insects, but the damage done was insignific- 

 ant; the only remedy was to collect and destroy 

 the pests. It was suppostd at one time that the 

 formation of alkaloids was increased by topping 

 cinchona; but Mr. Van Roinunde ascertained that 

 this is not the case, and discontinued the practice. 

 The yield of bark from the various plantations 

 amounted to about half a million pounds ; part was 



obtained by rooting out inferior varieties, but it 

 was also found necessary to cut down a number of 

 ledgers which had been shaved in 1834. It may be 

 remembered by some of our readers that in re- 

 viewing an account given by Mr. Brady of his visit 

 to Java, we mentioned that while in India it 

 had not been found profitable to shave ledgers, 

 the Dutch planters had been able to da so with 

 excellent results. It would now seem that this 

 writer's statement was erroneous, or that at least 

 the process had not been long enough in vogue when 

 he saw the plantatisns to prove its eflncacy or there- 

 verse. We now learn that the bad results of the shav- 

 ing in 1884 became apparent in the second quarter of 

 1885 on three estates, where some 10,000 trees showed 

 such signs of decay that they had to be rooted out. 

 But on another of the estates, with more valuable 

 ledgers, and where the trees had only been shaved 

 once, the result was still more unfavorable ; " the 

 trees continued to droop for a long time, and during 

 the long-continued rains the bark began in some few 

 instances to rot." The prices realised for the shavings 

 appear pIso to have been much inferior. In concluding 

 his remarks under this head, the Director says " if 

 the application of the Maclvor system, by which 

 regular strips of bark were taken from the trees, has 

 not in the long run answered expectations, the re- 

 sult of shaving off the bark have been so detrimental 

 that its continuaace is not to be depended ou, so 

 that there is nothing left for us to adopt but a sys- 

 tematic thinning out of the plantations, with a care- 

 fudy limited lopping of the trees, and finally, com- 

 plete uprooting." 



The drying houses were found insufficient for 

 the large amount of bark harvested, and 

 enquiries were made as to how they could be improved. 

 This is a matter that interests planters in India, and 

 it may be mentioned that Davidson's " T " .Sirocco 

 was recommended as the most suitable machine for the 

 purpose. We have some doubts on this subject ; the 

 largest size Sirocco costing £90 f. o. b., in Liverpool, 

 only takes about 400 lb. of leaf. In addition to this a 

 building would have to be erected to hold it. The 

 estates were worked at a profit of florins 224,187 (say 

 rupees), but of vjourse the harvest was unusually large 

 owing to the uprootiug which took place. No account 

 is given of the amount of cinchona grotrn by private 

 iudividuals, but we showed some time ago that the 

 stories told in Ceylon of the existence of an enormous 

 acreage under cultivation were unfounded. Mr. Van 

 Romunde says that "the demand for waste land ou 

 lease for the purpose of cinchona cultivation continues 

 to diminish, and little or nothing- is heard of new un- 

 dertakings. It is true that on existing estates the cul- 

 tivation continues to be extended, but confidence in 

 cinchona culture has felt such a shock by the 

 steady fall in prices, that capital worth nam- 

 ing is not to be had for new undertakings 

 of the kind." The Director, however, thinks that this 

 want of confidence is not well groauded| and that 

 there is no reason to fear that prices will cease to 

 be remunerative. The most interesting result of the 

 analyses made during 1885 has been noted above in 

 connection with the question of grafting. With a 

 view to save the cost of transport, experiments were 

 made to obtain a coarse extract of the cinchona 

 alkaloids. Some 6 per cent bark was selected for 

 this purpose, and by means of boiling with lime and 

 spirits of wine, a substance called fjuiniam was pro- 

 duced, which was fouad to contain about GO per 

 cent, of alkaloids, with very little total loss from 

 preparation. We have yet to learn if this will 

 prove a commercial success. To sum up the inform- 

 ation to be derived from this very able report we 

 may say that it would not seem as if Ind'an planters 

 need have any fear of Javan bark flooding the 

 market in the same way as the Ceylon export has. 

 Tlio stamp bark from the Irovernment estates 

 will na doubt always command better prices than 

 can be expected from the average run of the Indian 

 exports, but the quantity sent is not likely to be 

 very lifge, as large shipments are counted novy-a-days, 

 — Madras Mail. 



