164 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August r, 1882. 



CINCHONA : PRICES HERE AND AT HOME. 



Sir, — If your facetious correspomlent "Merchant" 

 v.ould refer to the Ceylon. Obsfrver of lasl, Mondny, 

 July Sid, lit will therein see a confirmation of my 

 stattuK-nt rfi-apccting the value of Ceylon bark and 

 the iibsurdly small prices obtained locally. 



Rucker & Bi-ncraft's Price Current of June 81 h 

 quotes Howard's quiuiue at 9s, quiuidirie 5s, ciuclio"- 

 idine 2s 6d, and cinchouine le 3d for new bark, 

 giving by a reliable analysis 1*22 of quinine, fetched 

 5s 2d per lb, equivalent in rupees currency Kl'26 

 whereas locally 60 cents could only have been obtained. 

 —Yours faithfully, LATE BROKER. 



ROOFING FELT AS A COVERING FOR 

 CINCHONA. 



Sir, — A good covering for cinchona trees still seems 

 to be a desideratum. If the folio «iug idea is worth a 

 thought, use it, or you have a useful basket. The 

 only doubt I have about it is the cost or will it pay — 

 at any rate I think it would for valuable trees. What 

 do you eay to rooliag felt ? It is cheap, and I dare 

 say a much cheaper article could be made, suitable 

 for the purpose in question. It could be cut to the 

 exact size rsquired, and would last for jears, and be 

 very easily applied, just tied round in two or three 

 jilaceswith coir string. When the tree was sufficiently 

 covered, it could be removed in a minute, and used 

 again or stored away till wanted. It would not harbour 

 insects; any veutilation thought necessary could easily 

 be provided for by resting it on a stone or two or forked 

 stick at ihe bottom, where air could euter, and a few 

 holes could be ni:idewit.ha gun-wad punch. — Yours, S.B. 



P. S. — If the the cheapest stuff of the kind now 

 made is too dear, which is likely (ihough very cheap 

 for rooting), I feel sure very clieap stulf could be made, 

 that would do well for covering cinchonas. 



New In.sects Injurious to Agkicultubb. — Mr. C. V. 

 Riley remarks that almost, every ye.->r the appearance 

 of some insect or insects injurious to agriculture, but 

 previously unknown in an injurious capacity, has to be 

 recorded. These new destrucive species may either be (1) 

 recently introduced species from some foreigu country ; 

 (2) native species hitherto unobserved or unrecorded 

 and new in the sense of not being described ; or {3 

 native species well kuown to entomologists, but no 

 previously recorded as injurious. The author argue 

 that, in the last two categories, more particularly, w 

 frequently have to deal with newly -acquired habits 

 and, in the second category, with newly acquired char 

 acters that in many cases systematists would con 

 sider if specific value. In short, lie believes that 

 certain individuals of a species which has hitherto 

 fed in obseuiity on some wild plant may take to feed- 

 ing on a cultivated plant, and with the change of 

 habit undergo in the course of a few years a suffici- 

 ent change of cliaracter to be couuted a uew spe- 

 cies. Increasing and spreading at the rapid rate which 

 the prolificacy of most insects permits, the species 

 finally becomes a pi st, and necessarily attracts utteu- 

 tiou. The presumption is thit it could not at any 

 previous time Imve done similar injury without attract- 

 ing similar attention — in fact that the habit is utwly 

 acquired. The author re'asons that just as vanatiou 

 iu plant life is often sudden, as in ilie " sport," and 

 that new characters which may be perpetuated are 

 thus created, so in insects there are comparitively 

 sudd'U changes which under f;ivouring conditions are 

 perpetuated. In this way characters "hich most sys- 

 tematists would consider as specific originate within 

 periods that are very brief compared to thosp which 

 evolutionists believe to be necessary for the dilferenti- 

 ation of specific forms among the higher animals. — 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Callsaya Bakk —At a meeting of the Pharmaceut- 

 ii;al Society on March 1st, Mr. Uinney .said that 

 Mr. Gerrard hud allu..ed to cinchona 1 ark, ai-d im- 

 agined that he could standardize it. He ivoulrl assure 

 Mr. Gerrard that great difficulties presented tnem- 

 selves, inasmuch as at the present time he believep 

 it would be impossible to obtain in the Londou maiket 

 a single hundredweight of flat calisaya bark which 

 would come up to the Ph^macoposia standard. The 

 requirement was, as they miew, 2 per cent of quiuia. 

 The flat calisaya barks, however, uow present, would 

 not piobiibly coniain more than 0-8 per cent of 

 that alkaloid. — Pharmaceuticul Journal. 



Tea Cultuke in South Carolina bids fair to become 

 an important industry. A reporter of the George- 

 town Enquirer says:— "The tea plants of Friendfield 

 Plantatiou, the residence of Dr. Forter'a family, have 

 been submitted for inspection to a leading importing 

 house iu Baltimore, and the tea produced therefrom is 

 pronounced by them to be equal, if not superior, in pun- 

 gency, and in strength and richness of flavour, to the 

 finest imported article. There are now in Friendfield 

 1,(:42 tea plants, all exhibiting a splendid and vigorous 

 development. Some of these plants, which have been 

 allowed to grow without pruning, are six feet high with 

 a circumference of ten and twelve feet."— Pioneer. 



Injurious Insects and Farm Crops.— Mr. H. M. 

 Jenkins, the Secretary of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, has just issued a circular to members and 

 others in which he states that the seeds and plant 

 diseases committee would be much obliged if any 

 person would forward to Miss B. A. Ormerod, of 

 Uunster-lodge, Isleworth, the consulting entomologist 

 of the Society, any information respecting the injuries 

 caused by wireworms to various crops that they 

 might be able to give, also as to any remedial that 

 has been found beneficial. It is intended to collect 

 and publish the results of the observations and pract- 

 ical experience of agriculturists in all parts of the 

 kingdom concerning the attacks of wireworms, which 

 have been unusually disastrous this season, in the 

 same manner as has been done by Miss Ormerod during 

 the past year with regard to turnip flea, and all per- 

 sons are earnestly requested to give their assistance 

 in Ibis work, luforinatiou is especially desired upon 

 the following points:— (1.) The extent of the injury 

 and the probable money loss caus.-d by such attacks. 

 (2.) Methods of treating pastures or clover leys before 

 they are broken up and the results of the application 

 of dressings and of rolling, bush harrowing, and other 

 means which have been found serviceable to prevent 

 the clik beetles from laying their eg'^s and to destroy 

 the wireworms. (3 ) The effects of auv special methods 

 of cultivation as well as of the treatmeut of land 

 whose crops have been afi'ected- such as rolling, tread- 

 ing by sheep, or other means, (i.) The results of 

 the application of artificial manures in encouraging 

 the rapid growth of the plants affected, ihe special 

 efftc of rape cake, and of caustic manures put on to 

 directly check the wireworms. (5.) As to whether land 

 IS more suliject to wireworms attacks after certaiu crops 

 (for instance "seeds"), and the speciiil precautious 

 taken in suoli cases ; also whetlier crops, such as mustard 

 and peas, act as prevrntives of attHck. (6.) Upon any 

 otiier points in connexion with wireworin attacks that 

 may have been noted. The circular contains a very 

 good illustration of the click beetle and wireworm, to 

 enable farmers and others tu identify the pest — J^on- 

 don Times. [Query as to the effe -t of caustic iniuntres 

 on cockchafer grubs ; caustic lime, for instance ? As 

 for plants I0 iittiact insects from the cotl'ie roots, 

 their cultivation would mean weedy estates, and j et we 

 believe it crop ot mustard was tried in ooe ins- 

 tance in Maskeliya with some degree of success, 

 —Ed.] 



