August i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



'47 



persons for seed of this variety. A large quantity of suc- 

 cirubta seed was also distributed, whilst the applications 

 for seed of 0. officinalis were few. 



Where fields had been planted a second time with 

 cinchonas, the experience was that some portions were 

 perfectly healthy, while other patches were sickly 

 and required coustaut supplying. We have again a 

 notice of the Helopeltis plague and the etory is the 

 same: touch immediate damage, checking growth, 

 but there is no indication that a single tree was killed 

 outright even of " the grafts." We quote what is said 

 regarding this troublesome insect and a congener : — 



The Helopeltis Antonii agaiu did much damage. Not- 

 withstanding the greatest care, the graft plantation at Tir- 

 tasari had to endure a severe attack, but by the end of 

 the year the trees had to a large extent recovered. On 

 the establishment of the Kendeng-Patoeha, where the 

 Helopeltis has not yet shown itself, another insect of the 

 order of theHemiptera, a small, light green colored insect, 

 has lately appeared in large numbers and is beginning to 

 injure the officinalis plants in the same manner as the 

 Helopeltis does. Hitherto it has not been proved that 

 this hemiptei lays its eggs in the cinchona plants as does 

 the Helopeltis, and young, immature insects have not yet 

 been met with. The disease in ft officinalis, fiom which 

 the top dies off, and which was spoken of in the previous 

 year's report, agaiu made its appearance, but iu much less 

 measure than in 1SS1, so that it caused little damage. 

 The disease alluded to as occurring in O. officinalis, 

 Beems to be identical with that which, without either 

 insect or fungal origin, developed so badly iu Ceylon 

 iu 1S82. But here it attacked all the cinchonas and 

 not merely C. officinalis. There were not siffieient 

 labourers in 1882 for harvesting the hark. We notice 

 that while the highest price obtained in Amsterdam 

 per half-kilo for Ledgeriana bark was G70e. some 

 officinalis bark sold for 410c.', while succirubra real- 

 ized aa a maximum 233c. In regard to the shaving 

 process and the value of renewed bark three years 

 old, we quote as follows: — 



A portion of the original Ledgeriana plantation, which 

 was shaved tor the fust time iu 1871), was once more sub- 

 jected to this operation. The renewed bark, which was 

 now three years old, had acquired the very high quinine 

 yield of 9'2d per cent, whilst the yield of the shavings of 

 the original bark was only 7 8 per cent. The plantations 

 of the original trees, 8i bouw more or less, had once 

 more to be pruned and some trees removed. Iu this man- 

 ner 9.073 kilos were obtained, or 1,067'5 kilo per bouw. 

 By the pruning of the young Ledgeriana plantations also 

 a considerable quantity of bark was obtained, which, poss- 

 essing as it does au average of more than 2 per cent of 

 quinine, is suited for the preparation of quinine sulphate. 

 The grafts at the Tirtasari plantation also contributed to 

 the harvest, by the bark of the pruned branches. A large 

 quantity of succirubra stem bark, 1st sort, was obtained 

 solely by the partial stripping of the stemps. The shaving 

 of these old succirubra was found not to be advantageous, 

 as the tree being left uncovered the bark renewed iu in- 

 sufficient quantity. As a rule a light covering for the 

 shaved trees is necessary in the case of all varieties, to 

 hasten the renewal of the bark and increase its quantity. 

 Owing to the depression in coffee, the plauting of cin- 

 chonas by planters was increasing largely, but " ex- 

 perimental cultivations" intended to induce the natives 

 to engage in the pursuit had failed of their object. 

 The Malays of Java are just as conservative as the 

 Sinhalese of Ceylon. Tbe former obtain such good 

 returns generally from their paddy-fields, grain in 

 the dry season aud fish in the wet, that it is 

 natural they should hesitate to turn aside to a 

 new culture. When we were in Java, much was 

 expected by the Forest Department from growing cin- 

 chonas, especially the large-leaved succirubras as 

 shelter for ordinary forest trees. But the weeds being 

 allowed to grow up, the cinchonas got choked and 

 scarcely grew at all. Evidently, therefore, weeds do 

 not h a lp but hinder cinchonas. Mr. Moens stated :— 



By Government order No. 20 of 27th November 1882 



permission was given to offer for public sale 2,000 Ledg- 

 eriana grafts per annum at a minimum price of ten ■guild- 

 ers the graft. The principal object of this resolution was 

 to give private planters the opportunity of obtaining, for 

 artificial propogation aud seed-bearing plants derived from 

 mother trees whose yield was known with certainty. For 

 this sale grafts were chosen of the mother trees, Mi yield- 

 ing 11 per cent and 73 yielding 10 G per cent of quinine. 

 The value of the Dutch guelder closely approaches 

 that of the Iudiau rupee. Hybrid cinchonas, includ. 

 ing those obtained from British Sikkim, were making 

 " sturdy growth." The result of chemical analyses 

 showed 9 per cent of quinine as the average for 

 Ledgeriauas iu the Government Gardens while picked 

 types reached so high as 12'3 per cent. Such ex- 

 cellent types were not confiued to the Government 

 Gardens but existed en private plantations also. 



What Mr. Moens says respecting hybrids is so im- 

 portant to planters that we copy the passage : — 

 Among the plants raised from seed of ft ledgeriana 

 now. more or less of individuals are met with, which by 

 their free growth and large broad leaf approach C. mecirubra, 

 and are apparently hybrids of the two varieties mentioned. 

 The alkaloid determinations 25-38 are of bark cut from such 

 hybrids, and it will be seen by these that the quinine yield 

 of these trees can now and then be very high. Their cul- 

 tivation should be very profitable, as, when grown from 

 seed, they return true to type, whilst they grow more 

 easily and rapidly than ft Ledgeriana and produce more 

 bark in the same time than the latter. A littlo seed of 

 the best amoug them has been sown, fchatjthislnay be proved. 

 As hybrids between euceirubra and Ledgeriana as 

 well as between succirubra aud officinalis will grow in 

 situations where Ledgeriana and officiualis die out or 

 only linger iu a sickly state, we have here another 

 proof of the wisdom of paying attention to the culture 

 of good hybrid*. By seedlings from such trees return- 

 ing true to type, we understand Mr. Moeus to mean 

 that the hybrids mainly reproduce their kind. Of course, 

 plants of pure succirubra, pure Ledgeriana aud pure 

 officinalis will occur in the nurseries. Jt was once 

 more proved that the root- bark of C. officinalis was 

 very rich in quinine, but Ceylon experience has been 

 attended with much uncertainty and disappointment 

 in regard to prices paid for root-bark. In Java, as 

 in Ceylon, the amount of alkaljids in cinchonas was 

 found to increase in proportion to altitudes, while re- 

 newed bark gave inferior results to natural if not 

 left on the tree for three years. Some experiments in 

 Ceylon led at one time to the belief that trees could 

 be advantageously shaved twice a year. Having to 

 wait three years detracts much from the profit of 

 the pursuit. The Dimbula experiments seemed to 

 favour stripping in preference to shaving, but it does 

 not seem as if results were in all situations and iu 

 all seasons similar. What seems certain is, that if 

 the bark is rich in quinine, the manufacturers will 

 pay high prices whether for flakes or quills ; but the 

 druggists will always give fancy prices for very fine 

 and very long euceirubra quills. 



KEPORT ON THE GOVERNMENT CINCHONA 

 ENTERPRISE IN JAVA FOR THE YEAR 1882. 



BY J. C. BEBNKLOT MOENS. 



1. — TVeatker. — As will be seen by the rainfall returns for 

 Tjinjiroean, Kawah-Tjiwidei and Soekawana appended to 

 this report, 1882 was also a year without a proper east mon- 

 soon. The months of August and September were as usual 

 marked by fewer rainy days, while December, quite abnorm- 

 ally, also showed about 18 dry days. 



2. — Increase, — At the end of December last the number 

 of plants in the open was 2,099,400. Of these 85,000 were 

 grafts and cuttings of C. Ln/t/eciana and 609,900 Ledger- 

 iana seed plants. In the nursery beds there were also 

 820,700 plants of this variety, of which 10,750 were cut- 

 tings and grafts. A number of these can be planted out 

 during the early months of 1883. The number of plants 

 of C, succin'bra in the open was augmented by 48,900) 



