December i, 1884.] the TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



481 



MR. LAWSON'S FIRST RETORT ON THE NIL- 

 GIRI CINCHONA PLANTATIONS. 



This formidable-looking document, with no fewer 

 than seventeen figured statements attached to it, was 

 sent in to the Madras Government in July, so punctu- 

 ally to time that Government specially complimented 

 the Director on that account. The year 18S2 was a year, 

 of excessive raiufall iu Ceylon as well as in Southern 

 India, but we do not suppose that anywhere in Ceylon 

 did anything like so much a" 102 inches fall in one 

 month, as was the case at Naduvatam plantation iu 

 July 1882. The Taction in the following season was 

 so great that only 102 inches (exactly the fall in July 

 1882; was recorded for the twelve months. The com- 

 parison was (the official year running from Apr;l to 

 March ): — 



102 inches spread over 162 wet flays as against 178 

 wet days in 18^2-s;;. when there was a fall of 195 inches of 

 rain. The maximum fall was in July, whin 32i inches fell 

 as against 102 inches in the same month of the previous 

 year. 



The rainfall at Dodabetta was 5P49 inches distributed 

 over 140 days as against 61'35 inches in the previous year. 

 The maximum fall occurred in October, when 12'63 inches 

 of rain fell. In January only one inch was registered, while 

 during the two months of February and March there was 

 no rain at all. 



It will thus be seen that the rainfall at Dodabetta 

 (the highest mountain in India south of the Hima- 

 layas) is only about half the average at Naduvatam, 

 some twenty miles distant. The latter estate, although 

 1,000 feet lower in elevation (6,000 feet against 7,000), is 

 more in the track of the south-west monsoon. The 

 comparative rainfall on the other two estates under 

 Mr. Lawsop's charge is thus noticed : — 



Hooker. — The amount of rain registered was 92 inches as 

 against 143 inches iu the previous year. The greater fall 

 occurred during July of both years, but the rain which 

 fell in July 1882-83 was just double (62 inches) of the 

 amount which fell in the corresponding month of 1883-84. 



Wood. — Here the raiufall amounted to 93 inches as against 

 155 inches in the previous year ; the maximum fall, as in 

 the above two estates, occurred in July, 28 inches being 

 registered as against 71 inches in the previous year. 

 The great difference between the climate of Ceylon 

 and that of Southern India (we may add India gener- 

 ally) is the more equable distribution of rain fall over 

 the year in our island. Practically all but a trifling 

 proportion of the large rainfall of IS 2 (195 inches-) 

 at Naduvatam fell in the five months between June 

 and October, thus : — 



June .. 34"70 inches. 



July ... 102-11 „ 



August ... 16-94 ,, 



Sept. ... 12-61 ,, 



Oct. ... 12-20 ,, 



Total ... 178-56 inches. 

 In I8S3-S4 the bulk of the rainfall, 102 inches,. was 

 crowded into so few- as three months, thus : — 



June ... 15'13 inches. 



July ... .32 48 ,, 



August ... 2776 ,, 



Total ... 75-37 inches. 

 It is not climate, therefore, but rich, deep, free, 

 soil which favours cinchona culture on th« Nilgiris, 

 and how terribly cl mate (not only rainst nns but 

 front and hail) counteracts the benefits of soil, we 

 shall now see. Mr. Lawson reported : — 



Satson — Dodabetta. — The season on the whole was Favor- 

 able both for the growth of the trees and for the earning 

 out the general work of the estate. Many, however, of the 

 younger plantations, especially in exposed situations, were 

 61 



much injured, first by the severity of the frosts iu the 

 early part of the year, and secondly by the prolonged 

 drought which followed. On one particular plot it is estim- 

 ated that no less than 50 per cent of last year's plantings 

 have been killed. There were also fifty bi cl of cinchona 

 seedlings m the nursery on Plot VIII, which were 

 entirely destroyed. 



Nadimatam. -r-The season on this estate for nine months 

 was exceedingly good for the growth and recuperation of 

 those older plantations which had suffered so much from 

 the storms and winds of the previous year, also for the 

 growth of the younger plantations, and at the close of the 

 year the greater part of the estate looked very promising, 

 particularly the younger plants in Plots XVIII to XX- and 

 XXI, the growth of which has been most satisfactory. 



Hooker. — This estate suffered very severely from a hail- 

 storm that occurred in April and "which killed almost all 

 the Cinchona succirubra and injured very many (_'. off.) . 

 (Most of the former had to be uprooted.) 



The drought at Naduvatam and Hooker, which lasted 

 107 days continuously, was very unusual, but comparatively 

 not hurtful. The frost did a li ttle damage at Naduvatam 

 and much at Hooker. Private estates in and around 

 Ootacamund were seriously injured, and many almost 

 rumed. Whole plots of three and four years' growth were 

 cut down to the collar and in some cases to the root. 



II bod.— The drought on this estate also was very severe 

 and retarded the growth of the young plantings. The frost 

 also caused some injury to this estate. 

 All this is surely as bad as our " dying out " of cin- 

 chona plants in Ceylon, so that when the editor of 

 the South of India Observer asks " How came the 

 Ceylon planters to choose unsuitable soil?" it may 

 well be retorted on him '■ How came the Nilgiri- 

 plauters to choose an unsuitable climate?" Put the 

 case is one for mutual sympathy, low prices following 

 on disasters to cultivation. The bark from the Gov- 

 ernment plantations of the Madras Presidency, in pre- 

 vious years so much sought after at high prices, 

 did not last season average more than the cost 

 of production, or about Is 1-^d per lb. The cost 

 in the British Sikkim (Darjiling") plantations is usu- 

 ally reckoned at 2 to 3 annas per lb., so that culture 

 in Eastern India muet be cheaper or there must be 

 a different mode of keeping accounts, But we are 

 antcipating. Mr. Lawson reported:-^ 



Credit is taken in Statement 5 for the sum of It 1,740 for 

 1,0001b. of mossed red bark supplied to the Bombaj 

 Medical Department at K 1-9-0 per pound, this being the 

 average price realized at the Madras auction sales during 

 1882-S3. 



Rupees 55,890-10-5 were realized by the sale of 6?j<516 

 pounds of cinchoua bark sold by public auction in Madras. 

 These prices compare favorably" with those at home, and. 

 when consideration is made of the risk and trouble of 

 shipment and of the many incidental charges attendant 

 upon sending bark to England, there is no doubt but that 

 the suggestion made in the latter portion of para .4 of the 

 Kight Honorable the Secretary of State's Despatch recorded 

 in G: O., No. 623. dated lOtli May 1884— to the effect that, 

 further sales of bark should be held in this cmmtl y— will 

 result in a material saving if carri-.d out 



The proceeds realized I > v the sale of eh si na ] 

 seed amounted to 114,352 as against the budget estimate of 

 R5,C00; the difference, is due to the fact that nearly all 

 the older private planters have tilled up their estates, and 

 that the present low rates obtained for bark have deterred 

 others from opening out new ones. 



The expenditure was R94, 181, and Mr. Lawson ex. 

 plained : — 



It will be seen that the actual expenditure has been 

 less than the estimated expenditure by R14.328, while the 

 actual receipts have fallen sHort of what was estimated 

 by R22.260. This deficiency is clue to the heavy fall in 

 the v due of the bark which was sold at the last 



The figures for trees in the plantations show an 

 enormous falling off from the i umber assumed by poor 

 Mr, Mclvor, who took no census and did not allow 

 for deaths : — 



Number of plants in permanent plantations on 31st 



