December i, 1884.] THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



483 



Mr. Lawson's report proceeds to state : — 

 Nurseries — Dodabetta. — Thirty-nine thousand plants and 

 seedlings as per margin were sold to the public, and 650 

 plants were sent for experimental purposes to Malabar and 

 Mudatnalai. 94j lb. of cinchona seed were sold to the 

 public. A large quantity remained on hand at the close of 

 the year under report. 



All of this I had destroyed, as towards the end of the 

 monsoon 1 found that it was being attacked by weevils and 

 mould. 



Naduvatam. — Thirty-six thousand plants and 339,000 

 seedlings were sold to the public. Besides the above, the 

 following plauts were supplied to the Forest Department for 

 experimental purposes at Calicut and Mudumalai: — 

 800 C. pubescens. 

 750 C. succirubra. 

 550 C. calisaya, var. ledgeriana. 

 10 0. carthat/ena. 

 390 lb. and 4| oz. of cinchona seed were sold to the public 

 The great demand of the past year was for seed of C 

 maynifolia and pubescent. 



tlooker and Wood. — The nurseries on these estates were 

 well stocked with plants and seedlings, which will be used 

 for replanting up the decayed portions of the plantations. 

 Crop. — The total crop of all four estates amounted to 

 186,652 lb. of dry bark including 2,837 lb. of bark, the 

 balance on 31st March 1883. 



Details are given and then Mr. Lawson proceeds : — 

 Dodabetta. — The crop for the year under report was the 

 largest harvested since the beginning of the enterprise. 

 The cause ot this great increase is due to the fact that 

 I coppiced two blocks (Nos. V and VI). I did this because 

 I found that the trees on these tracts were very sickly, 

 and it appeared to me certain that they would shortly die. 



Fifty-two thousand two hundred and forty-three trees 

 were operated on as follows : — 



Stripped ... ... 41,023 



Shaved ... ... 459 



Coppiced ... ... 5,004 



Uprooted ... ... 1,557 



The difficulty of obtaining moss in sufficient quantities is 

 yearly increasing, and, considering that in a few years more 

 very many private estates will come into bearing, I have 

 turned my attention to the shaving system, and which 

 I hope will prove successful. 



We notice in the accounts that " collection of moss " 

 in the one month of October 1S83 cost R483, ex- 

 penditure which present prices of bark will not justify. 

 Mr. Lawson proceeds : — 



Naduvatam. — The crop for the year amounted to 

 97,152 lb. This was collected from 22,830 trees, which 

 were treated as below : — 



Stripping System 50 



Coppicing ,, .. .. .. .. .. 9,330 



Uprooting ,, .. .. .. .. ..13,179 



Shaving ,, .. .. .. .. .. 271 



Hooker and Wood. — The chief system of harvesting was 

 by coppicing and uprooting. 



In the former estate 0,872 trees were uprooted owing to 

 the injury caused to them by the severe hail-storm which 

 occurred in April ns stated in paragraphs 9 and 32. 

 The bark was disposed of as follows : — 



LB. 



Shipped to the Home Market .. .. 30,510 

 Supplied to Bombay Medical Department. . 1,000 

 Local Sales 62,616 



Balance on 31st March 1884 



94,126 



92,526 



Total Crop .. 186,662 

 There were three sales by public auction at Madras dur- 

 ing the year, namely, in December, January, and February 

 when 62,610 lb. were sold. The prices realized on each 

 occasion were very much lower than at any of the former 

 siles; e.g., the upset price in the December's sale of 

 '• renewed crown" bark was R265, the reduced price E199, 

 and even then the bark was bought in. In the January 

 sale the upset price was B.182, the realized price R136 as 

 against K265 realized in the first sale. In every descrip- 

 tion and variety of bark the fall in prices was very great 

 and I feared that the sale of bark in Madras would "have t 



be discontinued on account of fnilure. Since then I have 

 learnt that the low prices which were obtained were due en- 

 tirely to the great fall which had taken place in the value of 

 bark at home, and that, when compared with the prices 

 realized in England, those obtained in Madras were 

 satisfactory. 



It would appear that there were several causes operat- 

 ing which resulted in the fall in the value of bark: — 



Is*.— The enormous amount of cinchona which is now 

 grown iu all suitable parts of the world has brought 

 about the natural result of making bark cheaper. 



2ndly. — For advantages, supposed or real, to be gained, 

 tlii- manufacturers of the cinchona drugs have of late (as 

 will be seen from a letter from Messrs. Oakes and Co, 

 quoted below *) been preferring to buy South American 

 rather than Indian barks. 



Srdly.— The manufacturers, being few iu number, have 

 been able to restrain the market. 



The first cause of the depreciation of the value of bark 

 cannot but be a source of congratulation to Government, 

 while the two last might to a large extent be obviated 

 in the future by the establishment of a maufactory for 

 the extraction of cinchona alkaloids in this country, and 

 by using every possible means for the extension of the 

 market for a cheap febrifuge in those parts of the In- 

 diau Empire which are most afflicted with malarious ail- 

 ments. 



All — even the poorer classes of natives— are becoming 

 acquainted with the efficacy of quinine as a febri- 

 fuge and seek for it greedily ; but the present price of 

 the alkaloid is far beyond the reach of any but the rich, 

 and therefore, before cinchona can be brought to the doors 

 of the many buying poor, some method must be discovered 

 by which the medicinal virtues of the bark may be ex- 

 tracted in a manner that shall render the sale of it cheap and 

 at the same time be profitable to the grower. Pending 

 the discovery of such a method, I would suggest, for the 

 consideration of the Government medical experts, whether 

 it might not be of advantage to supply the local dispens- 

 aries with crude bark to be used, as it was in old times. 



I regret to report that the packing presses which were 

 bought from Messrs. Groves & Co. are not giving as much 

 satisfaction as might be desired. The bark is packed more 

 quickly with less expense and in better form by the old 

 system of wooden boxes and rammers. 



Then follow details of buildings, including drying sheds, 

 &c. Figures are given, showing that less thau 10 per 

 cent of trees coppiced failed to sprout, a much better 

 result, we believe, than is generally obtained on most 

 places in Ceylon. There was also a reeoppicing after 

 an interval of 10 years, The result was most satis- 

 factory, but the young shoots were destroyed by 

 sambur. We quote again : — 



Several experiments under the various systems of crop- 

 ping were carried out, the results of which are beiug noticed 

 and recorded. Samples of bark from each tree under each 

 system are being retained at the office for analysis by the 

 Quinologist, who is expected shortly. The results will be 

 reported to Government in due course. 



Labor. — Laborers were plentiful on all the plantations, 

 but a large number of the more experienced Canareso coolies 

 were enticed away by the high wages which were paid at 

 the gold mines of the Wynaad. 



Fuel Supply, — The different shoals upon which the es- 

 tates have been hitherto dependent for fuel are now nearly 



* Messrs. Oakes and Co.'s letter dated 27th February 

 last.—" After Monday's sale we undertook to wire to ' 

 you the offers received for the unsold lots, but at tin' 

 same time expressed our opinion that the seriously re- 

 duced prices of bark as represented by the offers would 

 probably be unacceptable to the Government, and in any 

 case would prove a discouragement to the holding of 

 further auction sales, which had hitherto proved greatly 

 to the convenience of manufacturer's agents here and 

 profitable to the Government as compared with the result of 

 the shipping the produce to England. Our opinion ap- 

 pears to have been telegraphed to Europe, and a reply 

 has been received today rculting in the enhanced oilers 

 accepted by us. "We are convinced that the prices are 

 considerably above the parity of price of ciuchona bark 

 in Europe, and are naturally gratified at the result." 



