130 



THK TROPICAL AGKICULTURIST, 



[August t, 1885/ 



of stagnant subsoil water. It will, however, thrive adniiiahly 

 in the onlinary marshy grounrl, where it enjoys a spaee 

 of free soil of from :J to 4 feet Jeep before reaching 

 the level of the subsoil water, the amount of free soil 

 required ax)parently depending chiefly on the aeration of the 

 water ; if this should be absolutely motionless and charged 

 with snit the Ounis are much less tolerant of its proxim- 

 ity thiu when ptu-e and moved by a slight dranage current. 



I think tb« truth to be that this tree will not endure that 

 its surface roots should be permanently immersed in 

 stagnant water, whatever statements may have been made 

 to the contrary, but that it thrives admirably, although 

 its ta,i)-root (which is virtually a continuation downwards 

 of the trunk) shoidd descend vertically into the same; 

 in other wonls, it can and will imbibe enormous quantities 

 of water voluntarily, but dies if the water be administered 

 by force. I feel no doubt that marshes fulfilling this 

 condition of the existence of a certain depth of unsatm-ated 

 superficial soil may be comjdetely drained and sanitated 

 by extensive plantations, provided the subsoil-water should 

 arise from the imperfect removal by drainage filtration 

 of the merely local accumulation of rainfall ; but I utterly 

 refuse to believe that httge sjjongy ))lains completely 

 saturated, not only with their own rainfall, but, further 

 absorbing whole rivers discharged from neighbouring hills, 

 can be restored to human habitation and commerce by 

 any such insufhcient device. It requires no argument 

 to show that while each tree can pump and discharge 

 into the atmosphere a quantity of water far exceeding 

 the rainfall of the .'■pace it occupies, the trees cannot 

 deal with an unlimited quantity of extraneous moisture, 

 and the less so that only the more elevated spots in 

 such plains are at all suitable for their cultivation. 



I find I have omitted to mention in its place an 

 interesting experience illustrating the bed effect of 

 superficial stagnant water on Gum trees. I had a flourish- 

 ing row of large trees growing on the very edge of a 

 permanently flowing irrigation ditch ; there occurring a 

 scarcity of water, the ditch was left dry for six days out 

 of seven, and when dry there remained a pool behind a 

 sluice at the foot of one of the trees, which suddenly died. 

 On repeating the experiments with another tree it al.so died. 



Seasoning. — The recently felled timber is so charged 

 with sap that in drying it becomes much warped and 

 cracked, and there is no doubt that seasoning it is most 

 difficult and troublesome. I am asShrcd that the Australians 

 immediately strip the trunks, and then keep them for 

 a long time in water — sea-water by preference. On a 

 large scale this difficulty, as well as that of preparing 

 the wood for market, could be easily dealt with by making 

 the requisite pools and constructing saw-mills. 



AVhen we consider that the Blue Gum averages a growth 

 of 10 feet a year, that it possesses a bark admirable for 

 tanning purposes, that the cast bark serves for firewood, 

 and that its timber endures a crushing or longitudinal 

 strain gi'eater than Oak, and is unsurpassed by any for 

 Bhip-bullding and for timbering mines, and is capable of 

 developing licat fierce enough to smelt sulphurets of copper 

 in a rcviTbatcry furnace, and that this wood can be grown 

 In soils often useless for many other purpose, we can find 

 110 dIfKeulty in believing that a large business might be 

 jiilfle !)j' industvinl plntitatlon.s In seltetcd localities, of 

 whlcli 'belt; must atint many in ail the etthtrnpical 

 eou.Dti-ieS, eithet In >hy stlndy JtlainS accessible to li'l'iijatloti, 

 !)r on the s'ti-t tjf Itlarr.hlaiuls above descfibed, I new not> 

 linWever, Insist On IhU uUceSsity Of carefiil study and 

 fexperlmnnt bcforu ethliHrlting definitively in such il veiitnre, 

 buUi as reifards the chmifig of the tref! itself thriving, 

 a.i well as tif the economical condifioHs telating to cxpeusft 

 nud final disposal of the timber. My oWn e:»pei'ieMtie is 

 limited to Chi'i, In the north of which country . I inftdfe 

 ihv phinlations alluded to, but they may jiertaps be of 

 Dome use to your friends.— (Sn/r/fHtcs' Chronicle. 



"rilEE Fd.S'gUS in Russia.— According to the IJttUetin 

 of tbo Hoclety of Naturalists of JIoscow, the hitherto 

 unaccountable destruction of Tine forcNts is caused by 

 the r;ivagcs of a species of Jlushroom which t.akcs growth 

 on the surface of the wood, and afterwards jicnetrates 

 iind destroys the tree. Maps are given in which the path 

 of the destroying fungus is traced through the I'iue woods 

 vl JKussia, — Gardmeii' Ch>'Oin''lt. 



CKNCHONA, TE.4. AND COFFEE CULTIVATION 

 IN INDIA. 



(From 0[/icial Hcport.^ published in ISSo.) 



CINCHONA CULTIVATION. 



In the Government plantation in Sikkim there was an 

 area of 2,269 acres under cultivation, containing nearly 

 4| millions of trees, and there was in addition a stock 

 of over half a million of seedlings and rooted cuttings 

 in the nurseries available to be planted out. The out- 

 turn of bark collected during the year amounted to 

 30G,1GO lb this quantity being much below the average 

 outturn of the four previous years. "With the stock in 

 hand at the commencement of the year there were 

 469,968ltj of bark available for manufacture during the year, 

 of which 320,.32olh were issued to the Quinologist for 

 manufacture, the rest begin stored. Of the febrifuge, 

 8,464tb were produced at a cost of ElO-4-7 per Iti, and 

 2501b of the superior crystalline febrifuge at a cost of 

 K15-fi-U per ft). 



Of the trees in the plantation, much the largest pro- 

 portion (3,.5:52,000) .still consists of Chinchona Succiruhra; 

 but these are gradually giving place to the more valuable 

 C. calisaya ledyeriami, of which there are now 854,218 

 trees permanently planted out. The hybird chinchona 

 numbers 354,.378 trees. The other descriptions exist in 

 small numbers only. 



The Nilgiri Government plantations contained an area 

 of 847 acres planted out with chinchona trees, the number 

 of these at the end of 1883-84 amounting to 1,315,444. 

 The bark collected during the year amounted to 183,7G51b 

 of wich 30,610 were shipped to England for sale and 

 62,6161b sold at auction in Madras, while l,000rb were 

 issued to the Bombay Medical Department, a stock of 

 92,526!b being left at the end of the year. 



In these plantations the principal kind cultivated is 

 C. offcinniis (964,000 trees out of a total of 1,315,444). 



There is one other Government plantation at Thando- 

 ungyee in British Burma — a small one containing under 

 90,000 trees, seedlings, and cuttings. 



in regard to private chinchona plantations the inform- 

 ation accessible is defective. What is known of them 

 is that at the end of 1884 there were in — 



Acres. Plants. Yield of bark." •'- 



Bengal ... B.sQ ... 1,116 778 ... 4,80016" i 

 Mysore ... 23 .. 22,949 ..." 3,473 ' " 



Coorg ... 1,808 ... 1,494.385 (Not knomi.) 



The small yield of bark in the Bengal plantation is 

 recounted for by the fact that the plants to a large extent 

 are quite young. 



TEA CULTIVATION. 



In giving the figures relating to tea cultivation in India 

 for 1883, it will bo interesting to compare them with 

 tho.se for 1875-78, the first year of the series entered ia 

 this volume:— 



1875-76. 



1883. 



Acres. 'Yield in tb 



Assam and Oa- 



chnr ... 

 Hengal ... .„ 



Xorth-Westefn 



Provinces 

 Punjab... 

 Madras.,. 

 Britiiih Burma...' 



Acres 



Yield in tb 



87,301 '20,028,890 180,453 52,171,207 

 26,378 : 4,9.11,220; 40,753 10,703,IS3 



4,303 



4,240 



2,392 



150 



031,182 



679,949 



220,070 



23,000 



7,819 



7, 



S, 



7,96) 

 6,424 



159 



1,202,147 



1,300,010 



529,490 



706 



' _Tutal ...112 4,836 i2G,526,317i 260,571 '65.90(1,099 

 'I'hns wjliii'i theSe nine ytars the acreage under tea 

 iiiete;ist'd by 109 pier cent nearly and the whole outturn 

 increased by l-ltf per cent nearly. 



In the Province of Assam the principal planting districts 

 ore — 



Cachar -19,901 actes. 



h5ib,sagjir 40,')a2 „ 



Ijakliinipur ... ... ... ot)..*^73 ,, 



Sylhet 28.0,s3 „ 



Darrang 1(),001 „ 



Nowgong 1(1,786 „ 



Kamrup ,., 6,1'20 „ 



