December i, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



433 



THE GOVERNMENT CINCHONA ENTERPRIZE 

 IN JAVA: ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1883. 

 From the elaborate report which has been translated 

 for the Tropical Agriculturist, it will be seen, that, not- 

 withstanding a period of drought and a local storm of 

 some violence, 1SS3 was a year favourable to cinchona 

 culture in the Dutch colony. Helopcllis is only in- 

 cidentally noticed by Mr. Van Romunde, in con- 

 nection with a plentiful supply of labour — so plentiful 

 indeed that work was found for the women and 

 children in collecting the bugs. A favourable opinion 

 is not expressed of new kinds of cinchonas recently 

 introduced, and clearly the tendency is to confine 

 cultivation on the Government gardens to Ledgerianas 

 and suecirubras. A superior hybrid, however, of 

 vigorous growth and yielding 10 per cent of pure 

 quinine, had naturally attracted much attention, and 

 it was to be multiplied by cuttings. It is not ex- 

 pressly stated that the hybrid in question is one 

 between Ledgeriana and succirubra, but we suspect 

 that it owes its origin to the union of the pollen 

 of those plants. In due time, however, we shall 

 have reliable informa'ion as to the results of hybrid- 

 izing operations on a large scale, which evidently 

 present no difficulty in Java. What is quite familiar 

 to us in Ceylon has happened also in the Nether, 

 lands India plantations, some of the hybrids between 

 Ledgerianas and suecirubras leaning to one parent and 

 some to the other. We cannot doubt that Dr. Trimen 

 will secure for this colony cuttings of the wonderful 

 hybrid referred to, as well as some of the grafted 

 plants of best kinds of Ledgerianas, which the Java 

 Government had been selling at 10 florins upset price each, 

 the sales of seeds and plants having, last year, realized 

 an appreciable sum. There had been quite a 

 rush, it seems, by private planters, for land suitable 

 for cinchona culture, but the enterprise had been 

 checked by the unwillingness of banks and capitalists 

 to advance on the security of cinchona estates. We 

 need scarcely say, that, if confidence was thus lost 

 in 18S3, it is not likely to have been by any means 

 restored in 18S4. Confidence in the coffee enterprise 

 will next, we suspect, be shaken in Java, for the 

 main reason adduced for a good supply of labour for 

 the cinchona plantations was the short coffee crop. 

 Leaf-disease is telling in Java as well as in Ceylon, 

 and unremunerative prices, the result of the con- 

 centration of slave labour on coffee production in 

 Brazil, have put the climax to the depression of the 

 coffee industry in the Dutch as well as the British colony. 

 As far as cinchonas are concerned, it is more 

 than over evident now. that only the culture 

 of the best and most robust kinds will pay. G. 

 officinalis doe's not flourish in West Java, where the 

 principal Government plantations arc situated, but our 

 readers will observe that the bark of this kind sent 

 for sale in Holland came next to Ledgeriana bark 

 and not far behind it in price. Grafting succirubra 

 plants with scions of Ledgeriana in the open, which has 

 been such a success in the hands of Mr. Wm. Smith 

 on Mattakelly, Ceylon, has been finally abandoned 

 in Java, the attempts made having resulted in almost 

 complete failure ; long periods of drought, prob 

 ably, accounting for the want of success. But 

 grafting Ledgeriaoa scions on succirubra stocks 

 under double glass is energetically and successfully 

 • pursued. The report speaks of all the inferior cin- 

 chonas, including Galisayas of various kinds, being 

 rooted out, and the ground being prepared for re- 



planting with suecirubras and Ledgerianas. To show 

 how largely this latter, the king of all cinchonas, 

 preponderates, we need merely mention, that out 

 of two millions of plants in the open, three- 

 quarters of a million were Ledgers, and over a million 

 of the same species were in the nurseries. Sueci- 

 rubras aie grown in Java, not only for the yield of 

 druggists bark they afford, but also for grafting pur- 

 poses, and for supplying officers of the Forest De- 

 partment with shelter plants for the more delicate 

 timber tree seedlings. We do not suppose the big- 

 leaved cinchonas have ever been applied to such a 

 purpose in Ceylon ? Readers here interested in cin- 

 chonas will watch with interest the topping experi- 

 ments being carried ou in Java, so as to obviate the in- 

 convenience aud expense of removing hark from tall trees 

 by mean* of ladders. None will be surprized to learn 

 what Mr. Van Romunde states, that the cinchona 

 plantations which were thoroughly trenched during the 

 dry weather showed an immense improvement in the 

 healthy and vigorous growth of the trees as soon 

 as the monsoon rains commenced to fall. There is 

 much abandoned coffee land in Java, with enormous 

 uupruued trees on them, covered with ferns, mosses 

 and orchids. It is interesting to learn that such lauds 

 are to be cleared for the purpose of experimenting 

 on the growth of suecirubras in the soil. Where 

 cropping has ceased for a score of years or more we 

 cannot doubt the success of this experiment, although 

 as cinchona belongs to the same family as coffee 

 probably it might be better to plant up such lands 

 with cacao or tea. Practical planters will note that 

 the shaving process in Java is applied to only half 

 the circumference of the cinchona tree?, and that thut 

 dealt with the trees do not seem to suffer, when lefe 

 uncovered. tVe see it incidentally stated that ths 

 cuprea bark trees grow well at all elevations in Java. 

 These are the trees (not true cinchonas, although 

 their bark yields similar alkaloids), the produce °of 

 which commenced the glut and depression which the 

 enormous supplies of true cinchona barks from Ceylon 

 completed. It seems hard that in the growth of 

 sugar, of coffee, of cinchonas, the planter should work 

 not for his own profit but for that of the consumers 

 But we cannot doubt that better days for all these 

 products are at hand. The Continental nations will 

 get sick of paying large sums to provide the British 

 with cheap sugar; slavery cannot much longer exist 

 m Brazil ; and Ceylon cinchona bark has spoiled the 

 trade of the American bark collectors. Nor can there 

 be any doubt, that the present low prices of quinine 

 and the other alkaloids will permanently and largely 

 increase the consumption of the best of febrifuges 

 and tonics, the true remedies for opium-eacing and 

 laudanum -drinking. 



The interesting report on which we have been cam- 

 menting will well repay perusal, even at this period 

 of depression in the ciDchona enterprize. The swing 

 of the pendulum towards profitable prices must be 

 close at hand. 



We cannot conclude without drawing special at- 

 tention to Mr. Van'Romu'nde's confident expression 

 of belief, founded ou experience, that constant gather- 

 ing of Jlelopellis was likely to render injury from 

 this insect a thing of the past. Just as the Java 

 Report is ready for the press, we have received Mr. 

 Lawson's first Report on the Nilgiri Plantations, the 

 information in which will be summarized for the 

 benefit of our readers. 



55 



Helopeltis Antonii it turns out, is a Ceyi.on- 

 inseot figured, described and named by the French 

 entomologist, Siguoret.a quarter of a century ago ! We 

 shall adduce the evidence for this statement later od 

 with further details respecting the tea bug. 





