April 2, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



SSi 



over RIO per bushel. It began to decliae, until last 

 year it gave only GOU bualiels, and " the agents " 

 took it over. It' only the analogy of past, crises in 

 followed, this proiierty may yet revive to more th.an 

 its pristiine v.dun, especially as it is well supplied 

 with cinchonas. That may be sufficient apology for 

 my digrtrseion. 



Mr. Cameron's suocirubras, six years old, are 

 splendid trees, and a large portion of St. 

 Reguhis is filled with cinchonas of all ages, including, 

 as the most recent adiitiou, a number of ledgerianas 

 of the best type. My own belief in the almost 

 unicjue success of cinchonas here — for there is only 

 one small patch where failure has been met with — is 

 that not cuttings or seedlings account for i% but the 

 almost perfect conditions of elevation, climate, but 

 especially soil, which are combined on .St. Regulus. 

 The elevation is about 4,501) feet above sea-level, and 

 we could see no trace of damage from tearing winds. 



CONDITIONS FOR StJCCESSFUL CINCHON.i CULTIVATION. 



But the great point in favour of succesBful cinchona 

 culture on this estate is the existence over the 

 gre'iter portion of it of a gravelly but free soil, such 

 as has been found Bptcially to suit the fever plants 

 in Ceylon ; just as the free deep mould of southern 

 India and the decomposed lavas of Java, respectively, 

 have also suited the Andean plants. Not that 

 there is not som« excellent coffee on St. Regulus, 

 from which a fair return may be expected. But 

 nature intended the place for what it practically is: a 

 cinchona plantation ; and if the proprieior is able to 

 persevere in his planting operations and is equally 

 successful with ledgerianas and hybrids as he has 

 been with suocirubras and officinalis, he will ultim- 

 ately have a property of immensB value. The great 

 point in this anrt other similar cases is that there 

 should not be "devastation" of what is really capital 

 for the sake of immediate returns, 



SHAVING CINCHONAS AND COVERINGS. 



Mr. Cameron does not believe in shaving more than 

 once-a-year, in dry weather, and the trees to be invariably 

 coTeredaftershavingjthe grass, if grass is used, to hedi-y. 

 He would prefer jute sucking, coir matting, or cloth 

 covering of a similar description, if it could be afforded 

 in all cases, and if strips of bark are taken, as he 

 has done with some of his succirubras, he regards 

 C'ivering with sacking or matting a nine qud non, 

 Mana grass, with its sharp edges, would cut into the 

 exposed cambium and do great mischief. We saw 

 Bome trees covered with paddy straw, hut this sub- 

 stance Mr. Cameron emphatically condemns as liable 

 to rot. So is mana grasi^, if left on in wet weather 

 No doubt, shaving should take place at the com- 

 mencement of the dry season or early in it, so that 

 the lark may have time to renew and that the grass 

 can bi taken off before the advent of the fierce mon- 

 soon rains. Mr. Moens' original process was one of 

 "whittling" of the bark, and this is what Mr. 

 Cameron applies to his officinalis trees, which he would 

 never spokesbave. Mr. Cameron shewed us speci- 

 mens of original ami renewed bark, whittled from his 

 officinalis trees, an 1 nothing could look better. We 

 took aw.iy a few bits of each, and we suggested to 

 Mr. Cameron what we hope he will carry out, that 

 he should send a complete set of specimens of cin- 

 chona birk to the fortbc miing Calcutta Exhibition. 

 For officinalis bark and perhaps for succirubra, we 

 should not be surprised to see him take ti st place 

 in comp(ti;ion with the Nilgiri and Silikim barks. * 

 A considerable number of the succirubn trees, from 

 which bark ha 1 never been taken, presented a very 

 peculiar appearance as if ornamented with a mosaic, 

 chiefly of diamond-shaped spots, elongated vertically. 

 This was the result of the trees having been kept 



covered with moss for a period of eighteen months, 

 and the strips of that bark, when removed, must be 

 of great value. Mr. Cameron takes away only two 

 strips, at opposite sides of the trets, and he never 

 permits a tree to be shaved all round. In short 

 whie as anxious as other planters to obtain immedi- 

 late returns, he is specially and we hold justifiably 

 anxious not to saciitice valuable anil compai-atively 

 permanent capital, suoli as he possesses in his trees, 

 to reckless harvesting in the present. Coppicing he 

 especially deprecates, from his experience of the 

 large proportion of coppiced tnes which died on a 

 neighbouringesla'e. On those w' ich have survived, only 

 one shoot i allowe I to grow. Opinions and experience 

 regarding coppic ng d tier, and many resort to a process 

 which is certainly risky, in all cases, ou the principle 

 of, -"My poverty but not my will consents." 

 Personally we owe Mr. Ewen Hay Oameroc thanks for 

 having affijrded us the opportunity of seeing the 

 results of one of the most successful experiments in 

 cinchona culture in Ceylon, and those who wish to 

 see the fever tees at their best as the result of 

 intelligent treiiment by ono who carries zeal for the 

 pursuit to enthusiasm, will find profit as well as 

 pleasure in a visit to ,St, Regulus. 



CINCHONA CULTURE IN JAVA. 



(Translated from Dutch newspapers for the "Straits 



Times.") 



"The scheme of selling by auction Ledgeriana chin- 

 chona seeds at the Governn:ent plantations here to 

 British India planters, for whom they have more value 

 than for those in Netherlands India, taking into 

 account the fact that this variety of chinchona, the best 

 existing, is most common here but is very rarely met 

 with in British India, has justifiably drawn forth pro- 

 tests against it from all quarters. The scheme is 

 objectionable in the interest of both the Go- 

 vernment and the Java Cinchona planters. By carry- 

 ing it out, the Government would be killing the goose 

 which laid golden eggs. Every catty of these seeds 

 distributed throughout Java represents a future Chin- 

 chona plantation yielding a permanent revenue, direct 

 and indirect, to Government. Kvery catty of them 

 forwarded to British India yields only a handful o 

 coin. Scandalous misuse of the liberality of Go- 

 vernment by a few of the planters here, wlio sold 

 in foreign countries the seeds supplied them 

 gratis for extending their plantations, h.is, in "d. 

 dition to the needs of the Treasury, caused the 

 Government to hesitate on the good road hitherlo 

 followed. It strikes us that to prevent misuse of 

 liberality, noihing would be m ire eflectnal than to give 

 awtiy seeds only on condition that if the latter cainot 

 be accounted for by a certain number' of seedlings in 

 each nnr.sery on a liberal per-centape, the applicant will 

 have to pay a high price for seeds not thus account d 

 for. So long as private estates do not yield speeds, aed 

 are neither extensive nor far apart, such control is nnt 

 impractical de. We have since h'arl with pleasuoe 

 that the scheme for selling cinchona seeds by nuctiorn 

 has been postponed for the pre en t." — llalauia DagOlad, 

 Uth Feb. 



Kola Nut. — Referring to the kola nut a wTiter says : — 

 •• It has been found to contain the same active iiriuciple, 

 viz., caffeine, and more of it than the best cotioe. and to 

 contain also the same active principle as cocoa, but less 

 fatty matter. Possessing the same rjualities as these fa- 

 vourite beverages, it only needs projier treatment to de- 

 veloj) a special flavour, and it wouhl then probably be 

 ahh- to compete snccessfidly with those- beverages. — .MimtMy 

 £djioit Prices Current. 



