THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



family. And I again revert to my former illustration : 

 a crosa between a true " cinchona," and ^ay a " cuprea 

 bark" tree. The latter I believe I am riglit in saying 

 belongs to a group nearly allied to the true cinchonas, 

 but possessing sli'uciuw.l differences that separate its 

 members unmistakably from the former, as do cor- 

 responding differences the horse tiom the ass, the 

 rabbit from the hare, the dog from the fox, the yoldfinch 

 from the cartary, or a man from an ape, not to meution 

 in the latter case the God-bestowed, God-likeuii\g, 

 non-siructurdl gift to Man of reason, or rather soul (for 

 animals pussess reasoning powei's of a J:ind — who can 

 doubt it?— and that they can be increased by culture !) 

 forming as it does a barrier that an endl-'ss system 

 of evolution can never overcome, het srienlists say what 

 they like and outrage our instinct, that I take it, if 

 the truth were known, clings to every clever man 

 among them to the grave, and to their increasing; 

 discomfort, as they fiod themselves more nearly 

 approaching it, causing them at the end to wonder 

 despondently whether, or not, after all, their mighty 

 intellects have not misled them into being spuriously 

 rationalists under the deception of materialism. 

 They want to find out what thej are told they are not 

 to know on this side of the grave, and because th-y 

 can't do so profess' scepliei^ni in conceit engendered by 

 dazzling discoveries. We may, for ought 1 know, have 

 been "apes" in thefirstinstauce, butas"ape3"only should 

 we have remained to the end of the world but for thut one 

 gift divinely added — possibly when our animal sagac- 

 ity had boeome sufficiently developed under an im- 

 proving system of evolution, though I don't know 

 that it has been shewn that monkeys are better 

 monkeys now than in the beginning — at least, one 

 friend of mine would speak feelingly to the contrary 

 just at present ! 



But to return to cinchonas : I say again, 

 cross any true cinchona with any member of 

 an allied group or separate family (if this be poss- 

 ible) and the produce will be, in the true sense of 

 the word, a "hybrid," but not otherwise. I may 

 be wi-ong, and, in venturing the assertion, but sng. 

 gest a point for men of science obligingly to explan. 



To Mr. Gammie's queries, and those also of a for- 

 mer writer, as to the correctness of my statement 

 with regard to the "hare" and "rabbit" having 1 een 

 known to interbreed "in" or "out" of contincment ; 

 the latter gave another equally good instance in the 

 case of the "dog" and "fox," but he does not follow 

 it to its conolusion, as to wheiher the offspring are 

 fertile. On the other hnnd, I would adil a more 

 curious fact in the case of the "hare" and "rabbit": 

 that the offspring at each succeeding teueration 

 between themselvtn g\-adus.Uy revert to the "rabbit," at 

 least in appearance, and thus, may it not be 

 presumed, the result of the cross would ultimate!}- 

 become obliterated, rather tlian a new species es- 

 tablished (as scientists might prefer!)? 



I may add another equally interesting (though 

 irrelevant) occurrence in connection with the hare, 

 and I think also the rabbit, tliat may not have come 

 under your former correspondent's or Mr. Gammie's 

 notice. I allude to superfecuudity. A freak or feat 

 of nature, rare though it be, it Ijas been on more 

 than one occasion ver.tied beyond a possible doubt. 



By the bye, I Eoticed in the papers that Jumbo 

 is 10 have chosen out for him a wite from amongst the 

 daughters of Asia. Now, supposing, as a result of 

 the union, a young Jumbo puts in an appearance to 

 delight the public and further enrich Barnum, how 

 would it pay best to 'placard' him: as a hybrid 

 "rubu.sta," or the 6rst elephmt "mule"? For lam 

 much ni'stakeii if he would not have an nndou''ti'd 

 right to eiiher appellation on the score of anatomical 

 differences existing between the Asiatic and African 

 elephant that place them as two positively distinct 



speoies— differences as important as between a horse 

 and a donkey, to go no further. Read all Sir L. B. 

 has to say on the ' front ' shot ! X. 



[The argument regarding the so-calli^d two sp' cies of 

 tea, is that across between them havingbecomeat once and 

 permanently fertile, we aie justified in reg.arding the 

 parents, not as distinct species, but as well-marked 

 varieties. When we have the same form of evidence 

 in regard to the various species or so-called species 

 of cinchona, then we cfin arrive at a similar conclusion 

 to tliat which seems justified on scientific as well as 

 popular grounds in the case of tea plants, Assam 

 indigenous, China cultivated, and the resulting so-called 

 "hybrid Assam." Species, after all, if the development 

 theory be admitted, are merely forms or varieties which 

 have, under certain conditions and in long lapses of 

 lime, assumed distinct and permanent cbaracteristics. 

 If two plants, however different in habit and foliage, 

 will readily intercross and yield permanently fertile 

 off-spring, then we have good grounds to say of the 

 parent plants that they are not strictly species, but 

 forms, races, or varieties. What we want in regard 

 to the cinchonas is a series of carefully conducted 

 experiments and the reeulis, — Ed.] 



CINCHONAS ON FLAT LAND. 



DE.4.R Sir, — Can you inform me whether cinchona 

 will, or will not, grow on Hattish land ? A planter 

 told me the other day I was simply wasting valuable 

 plants in planting them in some 15 acres of flat land — 

 very little elope — that 1 want to put into cinchona 

 succirubra. — Yours truly, CINCHONA. 



[Dr. King lays it down in his minual that cin- 

 chonas absolutely refuse to grow on Hat land, and that 

 is generally our experience. We saw a marked ex- 

 ception in Jav:i, however, a grove of magnificent succi- 

 rubras, near Junghuhn's grave, growing on a per- 

 fect flat. But the soil was deep, free volcanic matter, 

 though moisture easily percolated. The question, 

 therefore, here, will be one of a subsoil so constit- 

 uted as to allow of perfect natural drainage. If 

 the subsoil is olavey and stiff, we fear disappoint- 

 ment will follow planting. — Ed.] 



CoPFEE EoEBEEiES ?- -Can anything U7uisual!y wronrj 

 be going on of late in the Uva districts ? We 

 all know that coffee-stripping goes on there, as elsewhere, 

 but it has generally been supposed that it is carried 

 on only to an infinitesimal extent. Today, liowever, 

 we hear that buyers and curers of so-called Badulla 

 chetty estates' parchment are alike simply astonished 

 at the character of the berries now reaching them 

 through natives. The beans turn out -so large and fine 

 and the outturn is so exceptionally good that many 

 have come to the conclusion they must be derived 

 from high and finely cultivated estates under Euro- 

 pean management ! As this matter has lately been 

 much discussed down here, we consider that we 

 ought to put our Uva friends in possession of the 

 facts, pointing, as they seem to do, to either thefts 

 on the estate, or ohanging and mixing of coffee on 

 the way down. Again we say "Oh. for a railway!" 

 Until the railway is available, no trouble ought to 

 be spared in securing the best form of a bushel sealed 

 sample bag to .accompany each dispatch. A common 

 gunny bag sealed is next to worthless, for cannot the 

 sides be cut open and re- sown, or cannot bamboos 

 be inserted, whereby inferior coffee can easily be in- 

 serted to make up for those abstracted, and so made 

 to agree vith the hulk already tampered witli ? The 

 weight of a sample bag is no safeguard, of course, for 

 the adilition of a little water can soon be made to 

 compensate for the difference in weight and bulk created 

 by the introduction of light and inferior coffee, 



