Dec. I, 1885.] 



fHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



417 



THE NUiIGmi CINCHONA PLANTATIONS. 



JIK. M. A. IAWSOn's RKroniS FOR 18«l-85. 

 la adilitiou to the iiotice ot these reports taken 

 over on pages 401-3, wo now give detailed extracts; — 

 3. Season and 1;ainfai,l— (<0 J)o(labetln.--TakKn 

 altogether the season was not unfavorable for 

 carrying on the general work of thci estate. The 

 total amount ot rain registered during the year was 

 01'20 iuehes, and was spread over 12;! days, but of 

 this <|uautity more than half, or 3177 inches, fell 

 iluriug the two months of October and November. 

 The early part of the year was unusn.xlly dry, and 

 until the end of April, hardly any rain fell. In 

 both Jlay and .June 5 inches were rccor<led, but 

 the greater jmrtiou of this fell in a very short spac(^ 

 of time, during one or two violent thunderstorms. 

 The result of these heavy showers, falling upon the 

 dusty earlh, especially ou the steeper slopes, was 

 that the water ran otf before it had time to sink 

 into the ground beyond a few inches. July, again, 

 was an exceedingly dry month,. ISi inches only being 

 recorded, aud it was not till the end of August that 

 the earth was sufliciently wetted to begin planting. 

 In this month, 639 inches were spread over 20 days. 

 The following mouth of .September was very droughty, 

 and some of the plants which had been put out in 

 the end of August died in couseiiuence. October and 

 November, liowever, were, as I have already mentioned, 

 most uuusally rainy, aud the ground was thoroughly 

 soaked and our failing springs rc-establishcil. Some 

 damage was done on the steeper slopes throvigh the 

 earth being washed away ; also in one of the ravines, 

 two hmidred trees or more were destroyed by some 

 large rocks which were undermined, aud ou being 

 dislodged from their site, clashed through a portion 

 of the plantation immediately below them. The 

 trees thus destroyed were some of the finest ou the 

 estate. After this heavy bu.-st of raiu, the weather 

 continued propitious till the end of December, so 

 that all the plants which had been put out were 

 well established, and able to withstand the prolonged 

 drought of the next five months. 



('1) XtulnvaUim. — The rainfall on this estate for 

 the past year was 92i)6 inches, and was spread over 

 lU days. The earlier months of April and May 

 received 3 and 4 inches respectively, ahd in June 

 7'34 inches fell. This saturated the ground, so that 

 the planting, of which a very great deal had to be 

 done, was commenced as early as possible. lu .July, 

 19-35 iuchcs of rain fell, but at the same time this 

 rain was accompanied with such violent storms of 

 wind that the whole of the Jime planting, at least 

 all those portions of it which lay at all exposed to 

 the south-west were destroyed, had to be 

 replanted later on iu the season. Aiter this the 

 weather continued normal till the end of December. 

 .V large portion of the planting was not completed 

 till the end of November, and I greatly feared that 

 the plants would not be sufficiently established before 

 the rains ceased, to be able to withstuml the dry 

 weather of the ensuing spring. However, to give 

 them the best chance of prospering, I had them all 

 double ferned, and I am glad to be able to report 

 uow, after having received our first spring showers, 

 that they have survived, and are beginning to grow. 

 (If the 1-lSO iuehes which were recorded iu October, 

 no less than 110 inches fell in about thirty hours. 

 Of course such a continuous downpour necessarily 

 caused some wash, but owing to the ground being 

 well covered with weeds, the damage done was 

 comparatively trifluig. 



('■) y^../,vi-.— The rainfall recorded on this estat<! 

 for the past o.Ticial year was 101-27 inches and was 

 spread over 13G day^^. The weather thrnu-hout the 

 year was favorable for all kinds ot work, and great 

 strides were made in the restoration ot this- plantation. 

 Til' c\tcnsivo new planliEigs and renewals are all 

 <luing well. 



;</) U'ooJ. — The total amount of rain which fell 

 on this estate during the past year was SOOli inches 

 and was spread orer 139 days. So far as the season 

 53 



was coucern>.ii, nothing further couM have been 

 wished for. 



•1. IvKCEii-r.s AND E.xPENDiTuiiK — (rt) Receijits.—'Vhe 

 revised estimate of reciipts for the past year {riil.e 

 O. O., dated 8th November lRf>4, No. 1229, Koveuue), 

 was KJ.5,900. Tho actual amount realized has 

 been !;. 1,895. The dilTercuco between the estimated 

 aud actual receipts, viz., .I!38,995. has been due 

 partly to a lar;; i- quantity bl bark biiug sold by 

 auction in Madras than was originally inti'uted, Kl,S,so 

 lb. were sold instead of fiO.OUO lb., partly owuig to 

 a larger proportion of the more e-ist.ly crown as 

 compru-ed witji the cheaper red barks lic-iiig .sold than 

 was originally proposed, and partly duo to a slight 

 recovery in the prices realized. Statem(;nt No. 7 

 shows liie rise and fall in the prices which have 

 been offered for the different kinds of" (Jovernment 

 barks at the auction sales in Madras since December 

 18S3. The receipts ou account of tho sale of cinchoua 

 seed aud jjlants amounted to 111,033 as against 

 the estimate of K700. Again, under Miscellaneous 

 items, KSIO \Terc realizcil as against the estimate 

 of K50. This increase under the latter head was 

 due chiefly to a market being found for the stems 

 of the trees which wore coppiced the year before ou 

 the Dodabetta estate. 



(h) lv.rpen<IHure. — The budget allotment for flu; 

 working and other charges ot the depart-nent w.-is 

 K9L215 {'tide G. O., dated Sth November lS.s4, 

 No. 12-9, lioveune, paragraph 8). This included the 

 sum ot K2,100 for the pay for six months for 

 the Government Qninologisf. The actual expenditure 

 has been RS7,i)l)3 or E3,342 less than the 

 budget allotment. CV-rtain unexpected charges have, 

 however, been paid out of the allotment, which 

 altogether amounted to B9,.5.35. 15ut for these, 

 therefore, the saWugs would have amoimted to 

 Ill2..->r7. These unexpected charges were partly those 

 connected with the establishment of the Quiuologist's 

 Department, which altogether amounted to R6,853, 

 and partly to an old Kuglish debt of 112,(131, which 

 had been contracted in the year 1S82 for lb.^ 

 manufacture of bark into febrifuge. 



5. PEitstANENT rLANT.\TioN — (fj) DodtibUta. — Tile 

 trees on this estate, takpu altogether, are in a fair 

 condition. Those parts of the plantation, the trees 

 on which I stated in my report of last year to be 

 past their prime, have been coppiced aud interplanted. 

 The coppiced stumps liave already nearly all of 

 them t u'own out shoots, aud the inter-pl.anting is 

 also doing well. For fear of denudation of tho soil 

 taking place during the heavy sjiring rains and 

 before the ground would be covered with weeds, I 

 had a number ot brushwood revetments made on all 

 the steeper slopes where the trees had been cut 

 down. The following table shows the number of 

 trees which were growing in the " Perm.anent Tlaut- 

 ation" on tho 31st of March last to be 633,487:— 



Number Number Number 



of trees Number Number ot Trees cf Trees 



on 31st of Trees of Trees planted ou 31st 



Blareh uprooted, coppiced. out. March 

 1884. 18S5. 



489,305 200 5,618 150,000 633,iS7 



(/i) JVmliivatmii. —Thts estate is )m))roving, but it 

 will be many years before it again arrives at its 

 former state of perfection. The plantings ot 1882 and 

 18S3 look remarkably well. This is dtie to their having 

 been liberally manured. The stumps of the trees which 

 were coppiced the year before last, as also those 

 which were dealt with in a similar maimer last year, 

 have thrown up shoots most satisfactorily, and 1 shall 

 therefore continue to coppice small portions ot the 

 estate year by year, whenever the trees show signs 

 of having past thtiir prime. The accom|)anying table 

 professes to show the number of trees growing at 

 the pri-seut time on the estate, but it must he ])ointpd 

 out that the table credits the pl.antation with all the 

 plants put out during the ye.ir, whereas the .hum and 

 July failures ought to bo deducted. Unfortiniately , 

 owing to gross irregularities which beguu to fa>Uo plucu 



