404 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Dec. I, 1885. 



reach about '100,000 pounds, and of which about 

 130.(_HX) halt'-kilo^ranis have been gathered, Ml.SnO 

 half-kiloy were dispatched to Katavia by tlie end of 

 the quarter. At the beginninj^ of tlie second quarter 

 several Ijedgoriiina dcscundaats, whicli were sliaved 

 on both .sidcH duriiifj; hist year, began to droop to 

 such an extent, tliat it was considered necessary 

 to uproot the sickly individuals. At Tjiiijiroean 

 and at Nagrak only traces of a temporary droop- 

 ing were noticed, at Tjibeureuni such was in a 

 suuill measure tlie case, while at Tjibitoeiig and 

 at liioenggocnocng tlje damage done is pretty con- 

 siderable, and an unseasonable harvesting is therefore 

 absolutely necessary. The drooping and dying of the 

 scraped trees is probably due to insufficient working 

 of tlie .soil in some plantations, so that tlie trees 

 were uiklMc to recover quickly fruni tlic oj>eration 

 performed on them, ami also originated in an in- 

 sufUcient expiry of time between the successive oper- 

 ations, liut in all probability the abundant and con- 

 tinuous rain also exercised an injurious influence. 

 Altogether about r),(jOO six to seven year old Ledger- 

 lanas, chiefly of inferior quality, were dug out. 

 But in close plantations also at KioLn>.:goeuoeng, which 

 Viiid yielded only a single crop of Ledgenana shavings, 

 the scraping method gave leii's favorable results. It 

 is true that no dying trees were there met with, 

 but the plants remained dooping for a considerable 

 time, and the long-continued rain caused the uncovered 



Eortions of bark of a very few indi\iduals even to 

 eginto rot. As the experiments carried out with the 

 scraping method have not yet given'a decisive answer to 

 the question, how and when it ought to be performed, 

 the results obtained call for reflection and caution, 

 and the experiments will for the present be car- 

 ried out on a more limited scale. Should it 

 appear that the trees in close plantations camiot 

 undergo the operation without danger, then, on account 

 of the great advantage which such close plantations 

 offer, through the formation of a maxhnum of pro- 

 duct with a minimum of upkeep and the formation 

 of humus in a large measure and the physical and 

 chemical improvement of the soil which accompany 

 it, the practice of the scraping method must be en- 

 tirely aoandoned as soon as possible. At the end of 

 the past quarter a commencement was made with 

 the clearing of a Calisaya plantation at Tjbeureum 

 which yields a pharmaceutical bark perhaps surpassing 

 in form and appearance anything sent as yet into 

 the European market cither from the American forests 

 or the Asiatic plantations. On 7th May and nth June 

 sales of cinchona seed were held, which realized 

 respectively /I ,G;V2-'2.'> and fSM). The search for 

 Ledgeriana trees of high quinine yield among the 

 descendants of the mother trees '2'^ and 88, reserved 

 for artificial propagation and for the production of 

 rich seed plants, has been carried on also during 

 this year. The results were again very satisfactory, 

 as among the 7 and H year old descendants were found 

 eight specimens which seem to contain more than 

 11 per cent quinine ni the bark. A series of analyses 

 of succirubra hybrids raised from Ledgeriana seed 

 gave rather important results, as will be seen by tlic 

 accompanying statement. Although shape of l)lossom 

 and habit of a tree give no riglit to infer a very higli 

 quantity of quinine in the bark, yet tlie hybrids 

 chosen, agreeing witli Ijcdgeiiana cither in habit 

 and form of leaf or blossom, were distitignished 

 throughout by a very high collective yield of qiiiniiu\ 

 Analyses ;t and 1 are specially noteworthy, as they 

 exhibit, with a modiuni yield of quinine, which is 

 also met witli in typical Ledgerina of a similar a^e 

 — H years, a yield of cinchonidine whicli cx<'ceds 

 even that of succirubiii. barks. The experiments are 

 l)eing continued, cluctly \\ith the object of finding 

 among these hybrids trues which an be set apart 

 for the supply of seed, like No. 2'M' , whose bark is 

 distinguislied by a high yield of tjuimne of Ui:(;j 

 per cent, and in wliich neither cinchonidine nor t;in- 

 cbonino is met with. 



Van Komunok, 



/)irtc(ur v/ Hoi I. Ciuchona fC)it(i jh tsi . 



iiuiideon{j, 3rd July 1885. 



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PLANTING 



NOETHERN 



IN AUSTRALIAN 

 TERRITORV. 



The following is from an abstract of tlie very 

 interesting and voluminons (juarterly report on the 

 Nortliern Territory hy the (iovcrnnient Resident 

 (Hon. J. L. Parsons) : — 



I'ahnerston, 1st, Jnly 1885. — The cloud of mis- 

 fortune has not lifted yet from Agriculture, about 

 which I, for one, however have an unshaken con- 

 fidence uf its ultimate prosperity, and of the settle- 

 ment here of hundreds of luippy fiimiiies i>n;,'aKed 

 in the cultivation of tropical products. It is, no 

 doubt disheartening to see failure after failure, 

 and delay succeed delay, for which not the climate 

 nor the soil are responsible, hut the want of prud- 

 ent foresight and of business nuinageuicut. Even 

 liberal expenditure will not make amends for the 

 want of timely juejiaration and readiness, when 

 everything depends apou the season. Two strong 

 survey parties, under Jlessrs. Kingston and Cuth- 

 bertson, have gone to the Daly. By the close of 

 the present dry season it is expected that the whole 

 of the suitable land on both banks will have been 

 surveyed, and the (Jovernirjeul will then be in a 

 ]iosition to )ilace agriculturists upon a birge area Of 

 country. Letters continue to reacdi nie from t^tucens- 

 land, Fiji, Mauritius, and elsewhere, containing en- 

 tjuirics respecting our laud laws, climate, soil, and 

 other particulars, with rclercni:e to troi>ical agri- 

 culture. 



Toit Darwin, 21sl Sept.— .Mr. Olto lirandt has 

 com)ilcted his sugar factory at Shoal I'.ay. Al- 

 though the cane is several weeks past its prime, 

 he obtained the satisfactory average of nearly one 

 ton and n half of tine wliite sugar per acre, He 



