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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 18S2. 



-higliest monthly mean reaching 68 ° in August, and the 

 lowest monthly mean being that of 53 ° , in January and 

 Fel)runry. So far as thermometric figures indicate atmo- 

 spheric temperature, the climate of San Diego corresponds 

 with that of St. Helena ; but it is well known that the 

 thermometer alone is not a safe guide in comparisons of this 

 kind, the hygrometrical condition of the atmosphere being 

 of equal, if not of greater, importance as regards veget- 

 aVile growth, and here, as elsewhere, a well-conducted 

 practical test with the growing plants will settle the 

 question of adaptability. 



This, as well as many other que.stions of similar import, 

 could readily be answered by this department if means 

 for doing so were placed at its disposal, .and where lands 

 in suitable locations could be made available in carrying 

 out, under special instructions emanating from .and con- 

 trolled by this Department. 



Geo. B. Loring, Commissioner. 

 P. S. — I enclose herewith a communication addressed to 

 my predecessor on the subject of cinchona, under date of 

 December 20, ISSO. 



Saleji, CoLnMBi.\N.\ County, Ohio, December 20, 1880. 



SiK, — In accordance with my offer when in your ofBce 



a few days ago, I send you the following copy of my 



letter to you under date of July 7 of the present year, 



which seems to have been lost ; 



* # # * # * 



I have shown that this tree is not strictly tropical, as 

 you suppose it to be, but belongs to the cold climate 

 (tierrff fi'ia). The cinchona belt begins at the limit of 

 that of the orange, banana, coffee, bamboo, &c. You say that 

 it will not bear the slightest touch of frost, but I have 

 explained that the whole cinchona region is liable to a 

 visitation of frost any night of the year, and that con- 

 siderable ice is formed in some parts of it. There is, 

 perliaps, no forest tree that runs up into a higher, and 

 therefore colder, region of the Andes. 



I suspect that yom- plants have been killed by heat, 

 rather th<an by cold. I would expect to succeed by select- 

 ing a site on the mountains above the range of the trees 

 above mentioned. This would be the rule within the trop- 

 ics, and one would suppose that it would hold good in 

 any other region where the cultivation was at all possible. 

 Certainly, few localities could be less congenial to this 

 tree than the hot, flat and water-soaked soil of Florida. 



A study of the literature of the subject as found in 

 England in connection with the forthcoming thermometric 

 and hygrometric reports of the present year would place 

 the Department in a position to judge witli considerable 

 acemracy as to the manner of conducting experiments and 

 the probability of a favorable issue in a given locality. 

 I would always be ready to assist so far as my own 

 observations in the Andes might be of value. 



AViLLis AVeaver. 



In the Report of the Agricultural Department for 

 1879, a correspondent in Elk G-rove, Sacramento County, 

 California, inquired whether an attempt has ever been 

 made to natur.alize the cinchona in the warmer parts 

 of the United States ; and whether it is probable 

 that the tree could be raised in California, the clim.ate 

 of which, he remarks, "is suitable for oranges, lemons, 

 figs, olives, and other tropical fruits ; and, proceeding 

 to reason upon this erroneous basis, he urges tliat 

 our government ought not to be behind that of Eng- 

 land, which has successfully introduced cinchona into 

 its East and West Indian colonies. Mr. Le Due, then 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, replied as follows : — 



We have advised our correspondent of the unsouud- ! 

 ness of , his position in regard to tire climate of California, 

 and that oranges, lemons, figs and olives, not being 

 tropical fruits, afford no criterion of climate in the pre- 

 mises ; and fiu-ther, that if our government had tropical 

 climates within its control, as has that of England, it 

 might with some propriety be urged to ra.ake efforts to 

 introduce tropical plauts, and especially such plants as 

 are peculiarly valuable, and strictly tropica!, as cinchona 

 is believed to be. 



The various climates of our widespread country, how- 

 ever, embrace no locality that can be called tropical, and 

 lint i.? adapted to the cultivation of tropical products, 



whatever may be the range or degree of temperature. 

 It is alleged, we know not with how good reason, that 

 there are localities in California and Florida where frost 

 is never experienced ; and hence the conclusion is ignorantly 

 or nuad\'isedly reached that all the conditions of a tropical 

 climate exist, and that the productions of such a climate 

 are possible. This quite common error leads to embarrass- 

 ment, and often to disappointment, and as the Depart- 

 ment has frequent occasion to notice, gives rise to inquir- 

 ies for information and to requests for seeds and plants 

 which would otherwise be avoided. There are other con- 

 ditions of vegetation within the tropics than that of mere 

 absence of frost, conditions upon which plants strictly 

 tropical absolutely depend, and ui the absence of which, 

 whatever the temperature may be, they cannot be expected 

 to succeed. It has been stated that in some of the most 

 southern counties of England .an occasional winter will 

 pass without the thermometer ever dropping below the 

 freezing point. Still it cannot, we think, from this casual 

 occiu-rence, be concluded that England, or any portion 

 of it, has a tropical climate. 



With regard to cinchona, the Department has in former 

 years grown plants of several species, and distributed 

 them in Southern California, and in several of the Southern 

 States, more particularly Florida. The results of experi- 

 ments made with these plants, have been in all cases 

 unfavourable, owmg to adverse climatic condition.s, showing 

 that the plant will not st,and the slightest degree of 

 frost without injury. The locality of San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia, is the only one in the United States which affords 

 any promise of success, and the uncertainty and doubt 

 in respect of that would not warrant the Department in 

 a continuous effort to introduce the cultivation. In a 

 word, after many years of trial, the Department con- 

 siders the prospect of successfully growing cinchona as 

 being too unfavourable to authorize any further distri- 

 bution of plants, or any special attempts to establish its 

 production among us. 



It is believed that Commissioner Le Duo, in the 

 above, did not treat the question with knowledge of 

 the subject, and further experiments will continue to 

 be made by Commissioner Loring. — 0(7 ami Drug News. 



A Sleeping Tree. — A tree was recently brought from 

 Australia to Nevada, which has been in the habit at 

 night of going to roost lilie the chickens. The leaves 

 fold together, and the ends of the tender twigs coil 

 themselves up like the tail of a weU-conditioned pig. 

 After one of the twigs has been stroked or liandled, 

 the leaves move nneasUy, and are in a sort of mild 

 commotion for a minute or more. Indignant at having 

 been transplanted the other day, it had hardly been 

 placed in its new quarters before the leaves began to 

 stand up lilie the hau- on the tail of an angiy cat, and 

 soon the whole plant was in a quiver. — American paper. 

 Tub American Japan Tea Market. — Regarding 

 the importation of Japan teas into the American 

 tea market by American buyers, the Japan Hi raid 

 writes as follows: — The American tea market seems 

 destined to operate as a cautiou and a warning to 

 the direct trade enthusiasts, by which they ou^ht 

 not to fail to profit, unless they are singularly 

 obtuse. In the course of only two months during 

 last season it was asserted, and passed uncontra- 

 dicted, that importers lost no less than three million 

 dollars by th»ir operations, and this year telegrams 

 to hand convey Uie intelligence that the first par- 

 cels of new Reason's tea show a losf of from seven 

 to eleven ci^nts per pound. These facts pr.»ve how 

 reckless the competition of buyers is, and that lar"e 

 sums of monny pass into Japanese pockets, which 

 wouW never find their way there if business, on 

 the part of forrigu tea buyers, were conducted on 

 more rational principles, or if the Japanese were to 

 oarrj' out lo its full length the direct shipment 

 theory, in which in the absence of experience, 

 seem to have so much fnith, — Indian Tea Gaieth: 



