iiS 



fUE TROPICAL AGRlCULftj^t^T^. [Dec. i, 1S85. 



in the management of the estate about this time, 

 the numb et of these failures have not been recorded : — 



Number 



of Treis Number Number 



on olst of Trees of Trees 



March uproot* cop- 



1S84. ed. piced. 



298,610 5,052 1,837 



Number 



Number of Trees 

 of Trees on Slst 



planted March 

 out 1SS5. 



1111,370 43:>,091 



About 4U0 plants of Cim-huna Cnrllicu/eim have now 

 been put out in a plot of grouud near the drying 

 sheds. They an; growing well ami seem to prefer the 

 climate of Naduvatain to that of Uodabetta. Some 

 of the older plants flowered for the first time both 

 at Naduvatara and in Sim's I'ark at Coonoor. 



The single remaining specimen of Cinchona Santa Fe, 

 which I reported last year to have been saved from 

 death by Mr. Jamieson, was planted out last January 

 in a plot adjoining the C. Carthar/nias. It is perfectly 

 healthy and has grown considerably since it was planted 

 out. iie.sides this specimen, I have a dozen others 

 in the propagating bouse in the Government Gardens, 

 all or most of which will, I hope, be sufficiently 

 advanced to admit of their being planted out before 

 the end of the season. These dozen are cuttings from 

 the original plant; the largest of them is only about 

 four inches high though nearly two years old. They 

 have been most ilitlicult to raise, and have required 

 the greatest possible care and attention. 

 * * * 



(c) Hooker. — Great advances have been made during 

 the past year in the renovation of this estate. Large 

 tracts have been cleaveil 'j'i the wortble.ss trees which 

 were growing upon it, and replanted. The ground has 

 been deeply tilled, and all the young trees have been 

 manured. The accompanying table shows the amount 

 of planting which has been done during the past year:— 



Number Number 



of Trees Number Number Number of Trees 



on 31.st of Trees of Trees of Trees on 31st 



Slarch uproot- cop- planted March 



1884. ed. piced. out. 18S5. 



331,P51 2,685' ... 223,000 555,166 



(d) n'ood. — The condition of this estate I can only 

 characterize as being increasiugly miserable. The 

 planting which was done in the early part of the 

 year was disgraceful. That which was carried out 

 during the latter months under different auspices was 

 good, but whether good or bad nearly all the plants 

 have been destroyed by the ravages, which have been 

 committed by the pestilent sambur. [See extract in 

 article.] 



I append no taMe to show the number of trees 

 growing upon this estate, as, owing to the evil circum- 

 stances which have attended all planting operations, 

 no accurate calculation is possible. I can only hope 

 that next yfar, after the barbed fence has been put 

 up, I may be able to give a more favorable report. 



6. Upkeep. — The weediug at proper times, deep 

 tilling, the maintenance of the roadways, clearance of 

 drains, he, have been thoroughly well executed on 

 all of the three first plantations. On the Wood estate 

 much is still required to be done in this respect. 



7. Manuue— («) Jhchihctta. — The whole of the 

 liiaiiuve collected during the hist year had been used 

 for those plots, which have been more recently planted, 

 so tbfit there w.is none ai'ailahle for the older trees, 

 I havf, however, been able to make arrangemeDts by 

 which the stock of manure will for the future bo 

 gieatly imrea.sed, and next season I hope to have cunugh 

 to enrich a large portion of the ohler parts of the estate. 



(/;) iVii(!Hrn(«)H.— Thi.s estate is very bailly_ off for 

 triftnnre, and mpas\ncs will have to bo adopted to increase 

 the supplv, 



((•) Ilonln- and (</) Wood. -'RoWx of these estate.'! 

 Rre fairly well supplied by the cattle which arc bn.ugbt 

 III) by the coolies who work up jn t ho plantations. 

 ' ' » » » 



8. Soils.- During the la.-,t winter the cattle on the j 

 estates fell into a very miserable condition, owiog to 



their not getting a sutliiciency of proper food. I have, 

 therefore, put up on the Dodabetta and A^'ood estates 

 siio.i for the prcseivatiou of fodder during the wefc 

 season. I have had hitherto no personal experience 

 of sUo:i, but it seems to be an establislu-tl fact that 

 they are most valuable for storing up iiutrili»uis food 

 in climates siu'h as obtains on these lulls, where herb- 

 age is j)lcntiful only at those times when the 

 preservation of it in a ilry state would be impossible, 

 I hope I shall be able to ri'port next year that the 

 experiment has proved successful, 



^ ft » 



There is still a small demand for seed, the varieties 

 which were chiefly sought after last year being O. 

 i<i'-c'cinfhra d.ud C. jnfbrt.'cens. A complaint was receivetl 

 a short time ago from a gentleman that an order lio 

 had given had not been properly attended to, but upon 

 investigation it turneit out to be due to his Iiaving 

 been confused by the names C. fn'.bf^cfna and C. roht>.-iUi. 

 I therefore give below the nomenclature as understood 

 by this department, with the view of preventing a 

 similar disappointment ui the future. 



* ■ » » 



10. Crop.— The total amount of bark taken from 

 the trees on the estates during the past year was 

 11H,017 lb. Besides this there remained over on 31st 

 March 1884 P2,526 lb,, making a total of 210.513 lb, as 

 specified in the table given below. Of this quantity 

 84,88 1 lb, was disposed of during the year, so that the 

 balance at present in stock is 125,663 lb: — 



Crown lied 



Name of Plantation. Bark, Bark, Total, 



lb, lb, lb. 



Dod,al)Ptta ,09,874 ... 9fi,,-*74 



Naduvatam 27,580 45,775 73,355 



Hooker 100 14,300 14,400 



Wood DOO 22,014 22,914 



Total.. 



128,454 



82,089 210,543 



15. The Qdinolooist Depaktment. — Mr. Hooper 

 was appointed last summer by the Secretary of State 

 for India to act as tjuinologist. He arrived in Madras 

 last October. He commenced work immediately, and 

 within a fortnight of his arrival had so far eijuipped 

 his laboratory that he was able to begin the an:ilyses 

 of the Government barks, Mr. Hoojjer has submitteel 

 a report on the work he has done during the last 

 half-year. It is full of iuterestiug matter and argues 

 the possession of great professioual skill aiul industry 

 on his part. It will be seen from the report that 

 Mr. Hooper has not confined himself to the study 

 of the cinchona barks only, but that he has also in- 

 vestigated the properties of many other products of 

 economic interest. 



One of the first things wdiich Mr. Hooper turned his 

 attention to was the manufacture ou a small scale of 

 the liquid extract of cinchou a as originally ilevised 

 by Dr. De Vrij of the Hague. A gallon of this pre- 

 paration was sent to Dr. Corni^b, the Surgeon-tren- 

 eral, for experimentation, and just before he left lor 

 Enflaud, Dr, Cornish reported in very ftivorable terms 

 upon its therapeutic and keeping value. In con- 

 sequence of this report, Government have ordered Mr. 

 Hooper to produce 1,000 lb. weight of this fluid 

 e.xtract with the view of having it still more fully 

 tested, Mr, Hooper will, therefore, as soon as possible, 

 carry out these instructions in the laboratories comiect- 

 eJ with the Medical Store Dcpartmt^nt in Madra.i. 



The advantage of the nbove-mriitloued prejwratiou 

 over other kinds of febrifuge is the great economy 

 and simplicity of its production. So simple, indeed, 

 is the method that any ilruggist and chemist could, 

 60 long a.s he had a biu'k of a deterniiucd alkaloidal 

 value. in;d(e the extract without any difUcnlty in his 

 own shop. 



ir the liquid extract Continues to hohl the !\igli 

 ripnlation which has hicn given to it by Dr. (Cornish, 

 and I see no reason to doubt its doing so, t!ovorn- 

 ment will liave at last as cheap a febrifuge as can 

 possibly be turned out. 



