September i, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



25t 



is placed a " sucker," and Nature is left to do the rest. 

 Unless the season be one of exceeding drought, the plant 

 is certain to grow and to bring forth its fruit in from nine 

 to twelve months. In well ordered plantations the trees 

 are usually planted from 12 to 15 feet apart in the form 

 of squares. The Bananas are taken to market, no 

 queutly a distance of 20 miles, by means of clumsy, spring- 

 less drays and carts upon which thirty or forty bunches 

 are indiscriminately placed with some attempt at wrapping 

 them in the dried leaves of the plant, and are chafed and 

 scarred by the wheels of the vehicle and the weight of 

 the driver, who generally makes a comfortable perch for 

 himself on the top of the whole. These defects do not 

 presenl themselves uutil the fruit has been in the ship's 

 In, ill some days, "hen they result in unsightly dark patches. 

 The total value of the green fruit imported into New 

 York in 1882 was given as follows in the Custom House 

 returns in dollars: — 



Oranges and Lemons 770,601 



Grapes 77,278 



Tine-apples 20,522 



Bananas ... ... ... ••■ -•• 82,323 



Miscellaneous 12,000 



Cocoa-nuts 353,502 



1,316,226 

 Or, in round numbers, £261,000. The miscellaneous fruit 

 in the last item comprised Limes, Shaddocks, .Mangoes, 

 Grape fruit, Plantains, Sapodillas, Avocado Pears, Guavas, 

 and several other varieties not specified. — P. L. S.— Gard- 

 / Bars' < 'h.onicle. 



♦ ■ 



A COMFORT TO SUFFERERS FROM FEVER. 



Under the above title the " Sempervirens " of Feb. 9th 

 bespeaks an account from the " Pharmaceutisch Weekblad " 

 of 3rd of February. 



The comfort in question results from the fact that the 

 price of Sulphate of quinine has fallen so enormously 

 l within 2 years to 50 p. c) and the store of the raw 

 material (Cinchona bark) in Loudon has increased to an 

 alarming extent. 



These facts cannot be gainsaid. The supplies of the 

 article from South America and Asia have increased awfully 

 of late years. If 30 years ago it v. dreaded that the 

 supply might once come I i fail, and this dread induced 

 the English, French and Dutch Governments to make 

 experiments for the transplanting and acclimatizing of the 

 Cinchona tree in their respective colonies, these experi- 

 ments were crowned with such eminent success, that it 

 begins now to lie feared v. iih reason, that the market 

 may become overstocked. Besides this, the primeval woods 

 of Souib America pn .'e to p issess still greater abon i nice 

 than could ever have been surmised. New sources were 

 discovered, and in sundry parts of the home of the Cinchona, 

 the work was also grappled with, and people began to 

 apply themselves to a regular culture. 



So the supplies from America have not only increased, 

 hut the British Colonies produce at present already 

 collectively, as much cinchona bark as was for years received 

 oidy from America. The use of the precious medicine has 

 undeniably increased considerably, and we may assume th ' 

 will be a constant progression; but nobody uses 

 cinchona bark or the alkaloids prepared from it, for his 

 own pleasure, and though progressing civilization and cares 

 for hygeine force up the demand for the medicament, it 

 can no longer be doubted that the balance must be already 

 considered a I, thai the production far exceeds 



thedemand. 



In London th r< li s aboul r > millions Kilogr. of cinchona 

 bark in stock, sufficient for the wants of a wholi 



n il 111 Teas:' yea : 1 



easing age of the now young plan 

 in Asia. 



Were we now to proclaim, like the "Pharm. Weekblad" 

 that there is notl ! 'ts dic- 



ing for our excellent cinchona plantations and their 



pi rfectly agree 



fcion of the "Iudische Opmerker," d. 27 



1 1 1C , 1883" tl etition can be borne in .lava, 



► Especially consid stock of alkaloid in the 



factories. 



provided care be taken to apply exclusively to the planting 

 of trees rich in quinine, we advise due caution in appri 

 ing these statements, and feel convinced, ^tbat, for the first 

 few years, every idea ought to be given up of establishing 

 new cinchona concerns. 



As an example of the vast scale on which the cinchona 

 cidture is practised in Java, the condition of the govern- 

 ment concerns is adduced. They number a total of 3,300,000 

 plants, Ten years ago the amount was 2,000,000. 



Let us add, however, that in Java there are about sixty 

 private concerns where cinchona is cultivated, among these 

 above thirty that apply themselves exclusively to this culture. 

 Most of them are relatively young, but together they 

 number — the figure is not exactly known — certainly 10 or 

 12 times more plants than the government concerns, and 

 if these can bring into the market in 1884 250 or 300 

 thousand Kilogr. of this product, a production which goes 

 on increasing every year, because every year new gardens 

 of greater ext nt, and at the same time — to a certain 

 limit — of richer percentage, can be brought under ex- 

 ploitation, then it is positive that within five years the 

 production of the government concerns will offer 

 small fraction of the total produce of Java, while this 

 produce is not yet one-fourth of what is yielded by Ceylon 

 alone. 



If then, at present, the wants are so much exceeded 

 by the produce, in half a decennium there may be a glut , 

 for it is not imaginable that the consumption will, in any 

 d< ' . increa in the same propoition. 



Then there everremainin view the dangers* of artificial 



quinine preparations, and the finding of effective substitutes 



for the cinchona bark. It must be acknowledged that 



such an eveut becomes less a cause of anxiety to the 



cinchona planters as the cinchona bark can be ottered 



But this cheapness lias its limits. Before the 



cinchona trees can be brought to yield anything like a 



gnud material, a period of 6 or 8 years is required. A 



cinchona plantation, therefore, calls for considerable capital, 



and hence rent and interest. When the harvesting time 



and so realization begins, then maintenance, harvest, 



e, despatch, etc., entail expenses that cannot be 



d as soon as the prices of the materia: fall below 



certain limits. 



It is very natural that then the best chances remain 

 nu the side of those planters who can oiler the I 

 material, and that therefore it is, very rightly, urgently 

 recommended and insisted upon, as a sina qua hot, that 

 only the very richest sorts of trees should be cultivated. 

 It must not, however, be imagined that our mighty rivals, 

 the Blnglish, would ignore this principle, nor abuse our- 

 selves with the idea that tile cultivation of exclusively rich 

 quinine-bearing trees is absolutely in one's power, at least 

 as long, as is now still the case, as we are and remain 

 dependent on government concerns, and a few private 

 persons, for the dispensing of seed. 



Seeds may be obtained from parent trees that are positive- 

 ly rich in quinine, which yet produce a whole roll of varieties. 

 And one may offer and receive in good faith seeds of un- 

 di 1 Hence, which after a few years may lead to 



di appointment, on subjecting the products to a chemical 

 aualysis. 



It has been thought a sufficient guarantee against degener- 

 ation to propagate plants whose high value was ascertained 

 by analysis, and as yet there is no positive reason to doubt 

 it; but they who rear cinchona will do well to consult 

 history. 



No culture in India was ever so regularly anil amply 

 described, from the very beginning, as that of the Cinchona. 

 The official reports were regularly printed, and if you will 

 take the. trouble to consult them from 186-1 up to now, 

 \ "i will see that it was always thought, by virtue oi the 

 analyses, that the best available qualities v.n re propagated, 

 , t the practical results were constantly disappoint- 

 ing, not always answering to the promises held forth by 

 i hi lyses. 

 It is also true that gradually many improvements have 

 i ,, introduced into the method of analysis, but it will 

 always remain a fact, that we have not nature under our 

 control, have ic,t ye! even discovered what it is, in most 



* Especially with regard to the great provision of a' 



ill the lactones 



