May I, 1883.J 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



861 



iS'(xxxesp(xndence. 



To the Editor of the "Ceylon Observer." 



MR. GAMMIE ON THE COST OP CINCHONA 



FEBRIFUGE IN NORTHERN INDIA. 



Darjeeling, loth March 1883. 

 Dear Sir, — The statement iu your overland issue 

 of the 24th February, which reads as if made ou 

 the authority of the Milan quinine manufacturers 

 now travelling in the East, that 'the felirifuge pre- 

 pared in North India at a cost of from 20 10 25 

 rupees per lb. could be supplied from Europe we 

 are told for R5 per lb., with a large profit," is 

 as manifestly absurd as scarcely to require contra- 

 diction. \Ver» it correct the proepet't of cinchona 

 planters, more especially of the growers of C. sue- 

 ciruhra, would be gloomy indi'cd. Analyses show 

 that even with an exhaustive process of manufacture, 

 which means an expensive process, as may be seen 

 from the charges of the London manufacturers, printed 

 in your columns, for manufacturing the Madras Go- 

 vernment bark, the average yield of C. succirubra 

 bark, i. e. of the mixed root, stem and branch 

 barks, is not more than 5 per cent of total alkal- 

 oids : hence 20 lb. of bark are required to make 1 

 1''. of febrifuge. In other words, to admit of the 

 febrifuge being sold at R5 per lb., planters would 

 have 10 grow, pack, ship and sell their C. succi- 

 rtihm bark in Europe al. about tivepence a pound 

 minus iiinnufacturing chari/vn and the ''large prnfit." This 

 would be equivalent to the unfortunate grower making 

 a present of his bark to the lucky manufacturer and 

 giving him a triilc besides for so good-naturedly tak- 

 ing it off his hands, — a prospect, however pleasant 

 from the manuf icturer's point of view, barely en- 

 cnuragiug to the planter. But ae a proof that this 

 happy state of affairs has not yet been reached, I 

 may mention that Mr. Bcihringer of the Milan quin- 

 ine factory t Id me that if the Bengal Government 

 would sell their febrifuge at a price he named, and 

 which is considerably higher than double R5 per 

 pound, it would pay his tirm to buy it all up aud 

 manufacture it into the different sulphates, &c. Read 

 ers of your paper will know from the annual cin- 

 chona reports that the cost of preparing the febrifuge 

 in North India is less than half the figure quoted 

 by your informant. Possibly a drug sinit/at in ap- 

 pearance to the North Indian febrifuge can be pro- 

 cured from Europe at R5 per lb. hut it will be of 

 a tvry diffennt compofsition. JAMES A. GAMMIE. 



[.Vlr. Bohringer was our authority, and spoke of the 

 matter as if he had discussed it fully, in the sense 

 we gave, with .Mr. G.unmie. To any less authority 

 we should not have paid any attention in making so 

 extraordinary a statement; for clearly Mr. Gammie is 

 right in showing th» absurdity of the figures. — Ed. 



THE SOLA PITH PLANT OF INDIA. 



Brisbane, 20th Jan. 1883. 



Sir, — Efforts are being made to establish on the 

 margins of our lagoons the sola pith plant of India 

 and Ceylon. It would doubtless grow to perfection in 

 Queensland and provide without the labor and cost 

 of cultivation a large amount of raw material useful 

 for ninny purposes which would coutribute to comfort 

 aud health. 



1 should be grateful to any of your readers who 

 would take the trouble to give in your columns a few 

 Jjlain directions, as to the best mode of establishing 

 the plant, its habit of growth, time and method of 

 harvesting and subsequent treatment. 



Anyone also who would send a iinall quantity of 

 new seed might rely upon a return in kind or otherwise 

 if desired. 



I should add that the plant was once introduced 

 into Q'leen.^lanil through tlie instrumentality of Baron 

 von Mueller, but its habits were not understood, and it 

 has quite died out. — Yours obediently, 



INDUSTRIAL BOTANY. 



[The shola or sola pith plant of India is so called from 

 the Hindustani name of the plant. This is the /Eschy- 

 iioitiene a:ipefa, Linn, and grows in Ceylon in rice tields, 

 and all flooded places amongst grass and other plants. 

 The portions of the stems of this plant growing under 

 water are covered with a thick white spongy excrescence, 

 evidently intended to protect the nlant in .some way. and 

 this is what has most erroneously been called the "pith" 

 by several writers, aud even repeated by Baker in the 

 Flora of British India, I. 1,52, so lately as 1876. 

 Dr. Roxburgh's short account of this plant — viz., " Com- 

 mon on the borders of lakes of sweet water in most 

 parts of India. Flowering time the rainy :iiul cool sea- 

 sons. The larger plants are particularly light, white and 

 spongy ; they are gathered during the dry months of 

 April and May, and converted by the natives of Bengal 

 iuto a great variety of toys, floats for fishing nets, gentle- 

 men's hats, &c." — conveys a correct idea of the plant and its 

 uses. I have no doubt the plant will grow in favorable local- 

 ities in Brisbane, but much doulit the realization of the 

 hopes expressed by your correspondent of its profitable 

 growth in Queeuslaud in conipei^ition with Bengal aud its 

 cheap aud abundant labor and vast tracts of country in 

 which the plant naturally grows. The JEschynomene Indica 

 is now in abundant fruit in Colombo, but I have not 

 secured seed of the sola plant at present : as soon as I 

 do so 1 shall send you a good supply for your corre- 

 spondent. The seeds should be sown in mud, and then 

 put out into the .shallow edges of the waters which are 

 supposed to suit them. I regret that I have no correct 

 account of the mode of manufacturing the white excrescence 

 called sola to refer to. For an exhaustive account of this 

 plant, I refer you to that by Mr. R. Morris in an issue 

 of the Ceylon Observer some time ago which is well worth 

 a re.i.s.sue in your Tropical Ayricnhurists For an explan- 

 ation of the terms " pith " and " bark " see Bentham's 

 Outlines of Elementary Botany, paragraph 198, and sections I 

 and 5 of the same para. The pith is in the centre *!and 

 the bark on the outside of an exogenous plant. — W. F.] 



TEA PLANTING IN CEYLON : MASKKLIYA 

 DISTRICT FOR TEA. 



26th March 1^83. 



De.4B Sir, — I promised to let you know what I 

 thought of this district for tea, and my opinion is that, 

 had it been planted with tea instead of coffee, it wmild 

 now have been the most valuable plantation district in 

 Ceylon. I was simply astonished to see the growth of 

 tea in this valley. 



On ElHndale, and on what most men would think 

 rather poor soil, the growth was perfection for the age 

 of the plants. 



I think there is yet a great fntu.'e for the M^iskeliya 

 planters, aud I can name a few estates at least that will 

 grow that " awlul" TdO 11). per acre when in full 

 bearing. 



Oi'oca, thepropeity of Mrs. Cray, will juet "walk down 

 tea s'reet." Bunyan and the level hinds of Adam's Peak 

 estate and about halt Laxapnne will grow very fine 

 tea ; hut the picture place of the whole district, if 

 planted up with tea, will be Bitterne estate. I saw the 

 finest growth of tea for age on this estate tha^ I have 

 seen in Ceylon. There ie seed now in nurseries to plant 

 up the whole estate and I wish the proprietors the 

 success which must n.iturally be expected on such soil. 

 There is no doubt thai the best tea planters have ;i great 

 deal to learn about tea, and, as 1 have often -1 marked, 

 our superintendents should visit each other, exchange 

 samples iind ideas, and all proprietors ought to give 

 superintendents at least fifteen days' leave a year to go 

 ruund and visit other estates. If they can see nothing to 

 copy, it is poss'blothat ihey «ill see something to avo d, 



