940 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1883. 



It would be very desirable to restrict, if not entirely 

 abolish, the shooting of all birds in this island during cert- 

 ain seasons ; but I would earnestly recommend that, at 

 least, protection be given to the large class of insectivor- 

 ous birds which is now practically becoming exterminated. 

 There can be little doubt that we suffer more in 

 Ceylon from "grub" than we might, if insectivorous 

 birds were more plentiful. But birds have an un- 

 happy faculty of changing their habits ; _ and there 

 are no gi-eater enemies of wheat growers in Australia 

 than parrots, while the imported sparrows are equally 

 destructive to chefries. Coming to " exchange of plants 

 and seeds," we find it stated : — 



Among the special contributions received from Kew 

 were the following :— seed of Cinchona Ledgeriana ; cin- 

 chona morada veluta (Cinchona calisaya, Boliviana); cuprea 

 baik (Kemija pedunculata ?; ; the Mangaha (Hancornia 

 specio.sa) which, besides being one of the sources of India- 

 rubber in Brazil, bears a most delicious fruit. 

 We suppose Dr. Trimen's forthcoming Report will 

 tell us that seeds of the Cuprea bark trees (which 

 dourish at much lower levels than the true cinchonas) 

 liave been received in Ceylon as well as of the tree 

 which, besides producing rubber gum, yields a de- 

 licious fruit. That tree ought certainly to be an 

 acciuisition. Considerable additions had lieen made to 

 the Botanical Library, amongst Mdiich we notice 

 "Freaks of Plant Life" by Cooke, and "Vegetable 

 Technology " by Jackson. At the cinchona plant- 

 ations, elevation 5,000 feet, the mean temperature of 

 the air and of the earth 6 feet below the surface 

 was a'i". As Jamaica is 10° further from the equator 

 than either Java or Ceylon, it is curious that the 

 mean temperature at 5,000 feet should not be lower 

 in the West Indian Island than in those within 7" of 

 the equator in the British and Netherlands East Indies. 

 If there is no mistake, we should be glad to learn 

 what the influences are which give Jamaica a mountain 

 climate in 17° North as warm as that which prevails 

 at precisely similar altitudes in Ceylon 7° north and 

 Java 7° south of the equator. In British Sikkim at 

 10° farther north than Jamaica we know that 3.600 

 feet altitude is equivalent to 5,000 in Ceylon, each 

 giving a mean temperature of G3". The difference for 

 •J0° latitude is 1,400 feet altitude. As British Sikkim 

 is close below the everlasting snows of the Himalayas, 

 tlie cold of winter may have some effect in reducing 

 the mean temperature. Instead of 700 feet for 10° 

 in the case of Jamaica, therefore, let us take 500. 

 Even then, by analogy the mean temperature of 63° 

 should in the West India Island distinguish an 

 elevation of 4,500 feet, and at 5,000 feet the mean 

 should be, not 63° as shewn, but about 60°. Do the 

 contiguity to a great continent in the case of Ceylon 

 and the vast mass of Java and Sumatra (practically 

 one island) account for the difference ; or is the heat 

 of Jamaica raised by the waters of "the Gulf Stream" 

 or by warm air cm'rents ? It is, at any rate, curious 

 that Jamaica at 17° from the equator should have 

 the same mean temperature at 5,000 feet, which is 

 shown at the same elevation in Java and Ceylon at 7° 

 from the equator. Against a mean of 63° at 5.000 feet 

 in Jamaica, we have a mean maximum of 68'9 and 

 a mean minimum of 58-4. The highest range was 

 72'S in June and the lowest 54'4 in February. The 

 mean of the dew point for the year was 57 'O. The 

 rainfall for 1881-82 (a year of drought) was 73-77. The 

 rainiest month was October 1881 with 34'52 inches, 

 November coming next with S'02, while June gave 

 only 0'76. From a table of rainfall for ten years 

 we gather that by far the rainiest tion of thepor 

 year extends from August to December, the average 

 being : — 



August 11-44 inches | Nov. 9'S7 inches 

 Sept. 12- JG „ Dec. 13-97 „ 



October 20-74 „ I 



May in the other months of the year makes the best 

 shew, thus :- 



January 9-90 inches 

 February 319 ,, 

 March 7-:i9 „ 

 April 7-05 „ 



May 11-74 inches 

 Julie .5-78 ,, 

 July 4-72 „ 



The rainfall (a\'erage for the year 119'10 inches) 

 is thus very fairly distributed. The averages were 

 reduced by 68 inches only in 1881, the lowest of the 

 series, and 73 "77 in 1S82, the next lowest. Except 

 October every month of 1881-82 was below the average 

 of 9-93 inches ; the monthly average for last year being 

 6'14 inches. The highest rainfall in ten years, 156-82 

 inches, occurred in 1877; the lowest, as we liave shown, 

 was 68 inches in 188 1 . The highest fall in any month 

 in the ten years was 43-74 in December 1878, and the 

 lowest 0-76 in June 1882. The climate is certainly 

 all that could be desiderated for cinchona culture, 

 but the great factor in favour of Jamaica, as well 

 as Java, must be the soil, for in Mr. Morris's reports 

 we see nothing said about the dying-off from root 

 and stem canker, whicli has so largely qualified tlie 

 profit of the enterprize in Ceylon. All we can see 

 about disease is that four plants of the hard Cartha- 

 gena kind were exhilnting the most luxuriant growth 

 at 6,100 feet, but that at lower elevations 

 they did not do so well. ' ' At elevations of even 

 5,000 feet they are attacked by rnd spider and thrip 

 and make very slow progress." Red spider and thrip 

 are, therefore, present, and, if canker is as entirely 

 absent as Mr. Mori'is's silence on the subject would 

 lead us to infer, we should like to know what, in 

 Mr. Morris's opinion, is the reason why. We liave 

 little doubt he would answer " soil," adding, perliaps, 

 " shelter," for it does not seem that the hurricanes 

 have done mucli damage to the fever trees. 



The first of the numerous gardens under his charge 

 reported on by Mr. Morris are the " Castleton Gard- 

 ens," 580 feet above the sea, with a mean temper- 

 ature of 78° and a rainfall of 92 inches. A number 

 of improvements was effected, and we are told that 

 These banks instead of being turfed with sods in the usual 

 expensive manner were replanted, at a comparatively 

 small cost, with small pieces of Bahama, Cynodon Dactylou, 

 and other stock-spreading grasses, and after the interval ot 

 only a few months they now present a beautiful green 

 sward. 



Large numbers of seeds and plants were distributed 

 from these Gardens : amongst the rest 6 barrels of 

 mahogany seed to the Royal Gardens at Kew for 

 transmission to India and 10 lb. to the Nizam's 

 Conservator of Forests. The rainfall at this altitude 

 had varied as follows : — 



1879-80 ...104-00 inches 



1880-81 ... 76-80 ,, 



1881-82 ... 90-56 „ 



The first year noted was distinguished for floods, 



and then came the reaction to 76-80 inches instead 



of the average of 92. 



We now come to the " Cinchona Plantation," 5,000 

 eet altitude, 63° mean temperature, and 119 inches 

 average rainfall. We quote as follows : — 



In my report for the year ending 30th September, 1S80, 

 I mentioned that the object ot the Government in main- 

 taining these plantations was not on account of th^ pecuni- 

 ary returns likely to be yielded by them, but for the 

 purpose ot showing that cinchona barks of good quality 

 could be successfully grown in Jamaica ; and also that 

 cinchona planting, as an enterprise in private hands, 

 possessed all the elements of a sound and remunerative 

 industry. 



The sales of Jamaica-grown cinchona bark during the 

 last three years, having, I believe, fully proved both these 

 points, the Government Plantations may now n.aturally de- 

 vote chief attention to the successful introduction and 

 cultivation on a small scale of all the newer and ri<--her 

 kinds of cinchonas for the purpose of successfully cstab. 



