July i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



39 



The man who is not too nmbitioua of a large 

 acreage, hut is careful to have the work thoroughly 

 done, n-ill save himself iiuich future disappointiiient 

 and lose iu tliia as in any other product. — Yours 

 very truly, PLANTER. 



CINCHONA AND DRAINAGE. 



Lindula, 25th May 1S82. 



Dear Sik, — in one of your recent issues I noticed 

 au extract recommending a hole dug beloio a c:uiker- 

 ing cinchona tree as a means of saving its life. On 

 this principle all trees on the upper side of a deep 

 drain ought to have the best chance of existence, 

 ;is having a continuous hole below them. But my 

 txpenence is to the exact contrary of this, those 

 immediately below the drain having lived, while those 

 above cankered off. I would th-refore suggest that 

 deep holes or drains be dug abovn the trees, and 

 my reasons are as follows. No doubt the trees on 

 thi! actual edge of the drain (lower side) benefit by 

 the loose earth, but the plants to the distance of 

 six, twelve, or twenty feet below (according to the 

 lay of ihe land) grow equally well; there is then a 

 well-detiued line from which to the upper edge of 

 the next drain the cinchonas have all died. What 

 is the cause of this? The explanation I believe is 

 that the water in the soil lodg<-s in the top drain : 

 it then soaks through the ground beloto the roots 

 of the nearest trees, doing them good rather than 

 harm, till it finds its own level (i.e. the level of 

 the bottom of the drain) on the surface, down which 

 it runs into the next drain, killing all intervening 

 plants because it flows over their roots. I send a 

 diagram, which, however, I do n9t suppose vou can 

 reproduce.— Yours truly, KAROLY FURDO. 



DE CAEN'S CINCHONA PEELING MACHINE. 

 Mr. de Caen's foolish challenge was scarcely before 

 the public when the letter we publish today, from 

 a second planter who authenticates and who records 

 experience similar to that obtained by K.iroly Fiirdo, 

 reached us. He adds that he could get decent re- 

 sults only by discarding twigs ; but we suppose that 

 it is mainly to deal with twigs that machinery is 

 desiderated. Our present correspondent states that 

 the machine went out of order, as most machines are 

 apt to do. In a country like this machinery must 

 be very superior indeed to supersede human labour. 

 Over and over have stone-breaking machines been 

 tried, only to be discarded. Here is the distinct state- 

 ment that, for 35 lb of bark per cooly with the machine, 

 65 and more were obtained by means of alavangas used 

 like Karoly Fiirdu's bamboos. It won't do for Mr. de 

 Caen to denounce such statements of fact as unjust, 

 and injurious and to publish wild challenges. He 

 must produce countervailing facts. The experience 

 of two purchasers and Mr. de Caen's own statement 

 to us shew that the machine is not calculated to 

 deal with cinchona twigs of small size ; while its 

 treatment of larger branches is pronounced not eatie- 

 faotory. So stands the case now. 



DE CaEN'S CINCHONA PEELING MACHINE. 

 Dear Sir, — My experience of de Caen's cin- 

 chona harvester, tliough bLttertban "KAroly Filido" s, 

 supports his statement that it does not do the work 

 it is advertized to do, and, by publishing the result 

 of my trials, 1 hope, for the sake of the patentee, 

 that somebody who has made it do 400 lb. or 



more will show us where we have made the mis- 

 take and how to get the task done. I have worked 

 the machine off and on for a month with sometimes 

 SIX and sometmies eight coolies, and the best task 

 was 282 lb. in a day. On other days I have got 



111 !^• ,~^^ ^''- ■*"=• "I'h^ ^''y I managed to get 

 .^82 lb. I rejected all the twigs and only passed 

 medmm and large-sized branches through. These of 

 course were succii ubras as officinalis branches are nearly 

 all too small and go through untouched. 



On several days I stood over the coolies the 

 whole day, had three .nen feeding as h;.rd as they 

 cmld, and, changed "the man at the wheel " every 

 half.hour, stdl the average stayed at between 30 lb 

 to 3o lb. per cooly, and finally the bearings of the 

 lower roller were out and the cog wheels failing to bite 

 the top roller stood still After this I started with two 

 "alavangas," using them as "Ka'oly Fiirdo" does his 

 sticks or bamboos and on the second day the coolies 

 brought in 60 lb. to 65 lb. of wet baik each, and 

 aft;er a few days practice more they reached 75 lb. to 80 

 lb. Soon after this I had to stop barking, but next 

 month I intend to start again, and have no doubt 

 that, if one picks out the coolies who show them- 

 selves most apt at the work, nearly 100 lb. wet bark 

 will be brought iu by each cooly. 



I was peeling branches from 3^ year old trees, and 

 they did every s.ze 01 branch with the greatest ease. 



Even if the coolies, good and bad workers towther 

 only average 70 ib. each with the sticks or alavan' 

 gas, SIX ot them will do as much as the machine 

 18 said to, so that the price R60 can never be re- 

 covered. 



None of the statements in this letter are from 

 hearsay or second-hand; and I shall be glad to be 

 shown that I am «rong in my opinion of de Caen's 

 harvester ; still the fact will remain that "alavan- 

 gas" do as well and are cheaper —Yours faithfully, 



JOHN PEEL— ER. 



"A NEW FEVER REMEDY." 

 Uiider the above title the Indian Daily News 

 publishes an article of more serious import to cin- 

 chona growers than all the accounts we have seen 

 of the mai ufacture of artificial quinine. In casts of 

 fever quinine lowers the abnormal temperature of the 

 body, and believers in the germ theory of disease 

 hold that its curative property in cases of fever is due 

 to its fatal cflect on the geims which cause fever. 

 The causes destroyed, the efifects disappear. Our 

 readers are aware that carbonic acid gas is, in quant- 

 ity, amongst the deadliest of poisons. But this is 

 the agent which is to supersede quinine in the treat 

 ment of malarious fevers, not in the dilute form of 

 S3da-water however, but in the shape of regular 

 doses. Dr. .John Parkin of London is the inventor of 

 this treatment, but its introduction to India is due 

 to Dr. Charles G. R. Naylor, Civil Surgeon, of 

 Tharawaddy, British Burma. It seems that 



He claims that by the proper administration of the 

 antidote, a complete cure may be effected iu three days 

 but allowing two more for rest after cjuralescence ' 



AVithout entering into the pathology of iutermitt«i.t 

 fever, it may be briefly st.nted that the cause ot fever is 

 the presence of a specific poison in the blood, aud that 

 carbonic acid gas, when taken into the stomach and ab- 

 sorbed and carried forward to the great venous centres 

 neutralizes its effects in the same way as charcoal or 

 carbon is familiarly known to arrest decay. This is the 

 theory which Dr. Xaylor has put into practice in the fol- 

 lowing and other cases. The first pitient, he tells us was 

 his wife. The fever was contiacted in Akyab in April is7i) 

 ^nd commeuced in a remittent form wtuch lasted a fort^ 



