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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December r, 1884. 



March 18S3, 9,C7,795. Number of trees uprooted, 23,072. 

 Number of trees coppiced, lS,9-6. Number of plants 

 planted out permanently, 3,90,259' Balarce end of March 

 1884, 1,315,44G. 



There are a great number of private plantations in 

 Ceylon which can, even now, number more plants 

 than exist on the four original plantations on the 

 Nilgiris. Mr. Lawson remarked nn the figures: — 



It will thus he seen that 1,315, 4t6 trees existed en 

 the Government cinchona estate on 31st March 1S84 as 

 against 067,795 in the prcviou" j'ear, but it must be 

 recollected that quite half of this number, if not more, 

 consist of young plants, which will take some years to 

 come to maturity. The reason why so many more plauts 

 are to be found now than existed formerly upon the same 

 extent of ground is that the trees are planted out 4 feet 

 by 4 feet instead of G feet by 6 feet 



Dodabetta. — The trees on a considerable portion of this 

 plantation at the close of the year looked in fine con- 

 dition, but on some of the older and more exposed sites 

 there were so many signs of the trees having passed their 

 prime that I have directed that they should be coppiced. 

 The tiees on Dodabetta are [O. officinalis about 22 or 

 23 years old. and they had been repeatedly stripped. 

 Mr. Lawsnn went on to state: — 



The Cinchona carthagena plants, which were put out last 

 year, have made but little progress, and I do not think 

 that this species will thrive at this high (7,090 feet)elevation. 

 The Cinchona Santa Fi was proving a complete failure 

 when I put the single surviving plant into the hands of 

 Mr. Jamieson, the Curator of the Government Gardens 

 and Parks. Since that time the plant has steadily im- 

 proved, and Mr. Jamieson has been able to raise from it 

 seven healthy cuttings. 



The seed of Cinchona verde and morada, which was bought 

 last year from Mr. Christie, was also raised by Mr. Jamieson 

 in the garden propagating houses, and, when ready will 

 be plauted out in the nurseries at the wood plantation. 

 To prevent damage from the tresspass of cattle, I have 

 put a wood and wire fence round about three-fourths of 

 the whole estate. 



Naduvatam. — The trees on a large portion of this estate 

 present, as at Dodabetta, a fine appearance, but as on that 

 estate, so here, there are many plots on which the trees 

 show unmistakably that they have passed their prime. I 

 have, therefore, issued directions that all such plots shall 

 be coppiced. But, in order that there may not be too 

 great a felling taking place at one time, I have ordered 

 that the coppicing should be spread over several years. 



I purpose taking advantage of the opportunity, which 

 this change in management will afford, of confining to 

 particular plots particular varieties of cinchona. At pre- 

 sent all the different kinds are intermixed, and the result 

 of this is that, as some kinds grow more quickly than 

 others, those which are of slow growth have a tendency 

 to get smothered. The harvesting of a crop of a mixed 

 plantation is attended also with more expense than is that 

 of an unmixed one. Perhaps a still more important reason 

 for keeping the different varieties separate is that, while 

 at present the statements which are made of the number 

 of any given kind of cinchona on an estate are little more 

 than guesses, I shall in the future be able to inform 

 Government very exactly. 



i '. CartJiagena cuttings were planted out below the new 

 storehouse, and are doing well. 



Eighty-four thousand five hundred and thirty-nine plants 

 were planted out, besides 15,987 as renewals. Tin- young 

 plants of 1882-83 did extremely well, and the plots are 

 ie;t!lv in a very fine condition. I regret, however, to 

 have to report that the planting in " Denison " No. II. 

 proved almost an eutire failure owing to the degradation 

 of sambur. I have now erected a wire fence round this 

 block, and therefore hope that; the current year's renewed 

 planting will prove as successful as were those of the 

 previous year in the other plots. 



I may remark in passing that the Cinchona succirvbra 

 in the year under report blossomed to a very small 

 extent in comparison with previous years. 



Hooker. — This estate, which iu past years has been sadly 

 neglected, presented so deplorable a condition that I 

 proposed that it should be abandoned. As, however, it ! 

 was thought that this proposal might have been made ' 



upon conclusions arrived at too hastily, it was decided 

 that it should be retained, and I have, in accordance 

 with this resolution, commenced the renovation of the 

 plantation. Owing to a severe hailstorm in April 1883, 

 which stripped them of all their leaves, nearly the whole 

 of the C. succirubra were so injured that they had to be 

 uprooted at once iu order that the bark upon them might 

 not be lost. The land upon which these plauts stood 

 has been pitted, cud I propose replanting it with C. robusta, 

 a variety which has proved itself to be more tolerant of 

 cold and wind than C. succirubra. 



One hundred and ninety-one thousand plants of C. 

 officinalis were planted out during the year ; of these, 

 104,740 were renewals. But, as the trees amongst which 

 they are plauted are so few in number and so meagre, 

 these may very fittingly be regarded as " new plantings " also. 

 Speaking generally, this estate is greatly exposed to 

 wind from the south-west; to mitigate the evil effects of 

 this, I propose to protect the worst parts with thick 

 shelter belts of Fn-nela deltoidea. 



We should like to know if the shelter plant referred 

 to is indigenous to Ceylon, and likely to make good 

 shelter belts at our higher elevations? It will be seen 

 that sambur (our Ceylon elk) do great damage to 

 cinchonas on the Nilgiris. We proceed with our 

 extracts : — 



Wood.— This estate, like the last, has been sadly neglected. 

 It has also greatly suffered from the ravages of sambur. 

 I proposed that on this account it should be abandoned, 

 but as this suggestion was not approved, I have commenced 

 ts renovation, and I hope in two or three years to make 

 it a valuable estate. Its position with respect to the 

 winds of the south-west monsoon is more favorable than 

 that of Hooker, and the soil in many parts of the estate 

 is deep and rich. 



I have placed a rough fence round the whole of the 

 plantation, and this, with the occasional help of a shikari, 

 will, I hope, be sufficient to keep the sambur away. 



At the present time there are very few old trees on 

 the estate, and those which do exist are in so unhealthy 

 a condition that the yield of bark from these will be ex- 

 tromely small. 



I purpose disregarding altogether the trees which are 

 at present standing and intend planting in broad stretches, 

 the following varieties, viz., C. officinalis in the higher 

 parts of the estate, C. magnifolia and 0, robusta in the more 

 exposed and less rich soils, while on the best and more 

 sheltered and lower parts of the estate I propose filling 

 up with C. ledyeriana, C. morada and G. verde. 



Ninety-nine thousand five hundred and sixty-six plants 

 were put out on the estate during the last year Of these, 

 95,743 were first plantiugs, i. e. they were planted upon 

 those portions of the estate where the original cinchona 

 trees had been uprooted. The remaining 3,823 were 

 renewals. 



It will be noticed that Mr. Lawson speaks of U. 

 pubescms, O. robunta and C. magnifolia, the latter 

 name, if we recollect aright, having been deprecated 

 by Dr. Tiimen, to whom, by ths way, there is the 

 following reference in the report : — 



Dr. Thimbu's Visit, — Iu May last Dr. Trinien, Director 

 of the .Royal Gardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon, was invited 

 by the Madias Government to visit Ootacamund, in order 

 that I might confer with him on certain vexed questions 

 relating to the names of some of the varieties which are 

 grown on these hills. AVe went over all the estates in com- 

 pany with Dr. Bidie and Mr. Gass and examined very care- 

 fully all the trees about which doubt existed. The result 

 of our inspection was that we were able to settle most of 

 the questions, aud this has already been made known to 

 you in Dr. Trimen's Keport dated 30th June 1883. 



We notice in the accounts that a sum of 11453 and 

 2 annas was paid to cur Director for the travelling 

 expenses of his visit. There are details about upkeep, 

 including wire fencing for parts of Nadavatum in- 

 fested by sambur deer and cattle. A great deal of 

 manure, chiefly cattle-dung nnd pnudrette, is applied 

 to the cinchonas with obvious good results, except in 

 the <ase of some artificial manure (bones and poonac 

 chiefly). Bark from the trees so treated was to be 

 analyzed, however. 



