Feb. 1, iSSe.j THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



535 



able difficulty in disposing of it, but eventually a 

 portion was bought for our own East Indian plant- 

 ations, and the reniaindcr was sold to the Netherlands 

 Government for about ioO. 



So far as is known the seed sent to India was in 

 every respect similar to thit supplieil to Java. At 

 first Manuel had endeavoured to keep the ]>roduce of 

 each tree separate, but the contents of his packets 

 became accidentally nn'xed and no fiirther attempt was 

 made to preserve any distinction. Lint for some reason 

 the residts from British India have not, as a whole, 

 been equal to tho^e obtained in Java, Mr. David 

 Howard tells me that at Naduwatt-am, where the seed 

 was sown, the soil and cliniate did not suit the speeu\s 

 and almo^t all the original trees died, whilst the 

 neighbouring .vf/ee/r^/*;-*/ was allowed to hybridize 

 the riowers of those that remained ; .so (hat there the 

 strain wa-s lost. Lower down in the "W'yuaad, how- 

 ever, on Captain Cit.K's plantation, the true /.rdi/cyiniut 

 is now being grown, and jiroduces bark tjuite equal 

 to the avera;;;e of the .lava trees. There is also good 

 promise of bark of the .same sort from Ceylon ; though 

 the essential conditions, a rich deep soil with good 

 tiraiuage, are not there so common, and though at 

 present nuH-h of 'heir so-called iff/'/c/m/m has no claim 

 to the name beyond the fact that the seed was 

 brought anil paid for as such. 



The Java consionmeut of seed w.as sowu in 186G 

 at the Tjinjiroean plantation, on the opposite side of 

 the valley to Xagrak. aud produced abtiut se\-en thou- 

 .sanil plants. These original trees were seen by BIr. 

 Forbes ou his visit in ISSO, aud are described by him 

 a.s, at that time, " .somewhat scraggy looking, about 

 2 feet in circumference, and between 20 and DO feet 

 in height." The story of the incredulity, astuuish- 

 ment, and delight of the Government chemists uu 

 their first analyses of the bark is also graphically re- 

 counted by the same author, who doubtless had the I 

 narrative from Dr. Jloens himself ; nevertheless these 

 early results were not comparable with what ^ave 

 since been o^)tained. 



To return now to the Lcdgeritjua plantations of 

 Nagrak. The trees one sees collected there are supposed 

 to be of the purest strain, yet I could not avoiil 

 being struck with the great diviTsity of their botan- 

 ical characters; and I may confess that hail some of 

 them been shown to me separately as specimens I 

 should probably have assigned them not only to ili.s- 

 tinct varieties but perhaps to dilferent species. I 

 can e.xpress no opinion as to the precise botanical 

 position that ('. Lcch/ena/tu should or-eupy. I was 

 a.ssur«l by Mr. V.an Komunde that the plant is always 

 identifiable; and he agrees with his preilecessor. Dr. 

 Moc^rs, in the opinion that it is a true species. The 

 late Mr. John Eliot Howard, you are aware, reganled 

 it as a variety of C. Cttll/Mi/a, and this view is shared 

 by many other botanists; »"hilst it has been treated 

 by Dr. Otto Kunze as a hybrid between C. oficinnli.i 

 and C. micrantha. [An eccentric theory, in which 

 no botanist of mark agrees. — Ed.] The present 

 Director lays particidar stress on the angle of the 

 8.xil of the brancheji »a a distinctive feature, the , ingle 

 in C. Ledf/ciMita being alwaysacute. The haves, though 

 of variable outline, are nsunlly relatively long, narrow 

 and pointed ; and under all eireunistanees the upiiir 

 siile e.xhibitt what, for want of a better term, otie 

 may call a velvety surface, that is to say, it has a 

 soft deadish lustre, very dili'erent from the evergreen 

 gloss of the typical Calia/itfti. The most valuable 

 trees, from a quinine-yielding point of view, have 

 small and pure white or creamy flowers ; any red tinge 

 is said to indicate the presence of (punidine rather 

 than quinine in the bark. It is worth remembering 

 that a few years ago the highest percentage of (piin- 

 ine was said to have been produced by one or two 

 trees with a tinge of red in the (lowers ; but by the 

 way in which the fact is stated it appears as though 

 it was regarded as something e.xceptional, and in any 

 ca-e the proportion then attained has since been much 

 ex -eeded. 



The barks of the various trees of the Calisaya 

 type, that w to **j, o( C. Caliiaya, var, Javanicir, 



I ii 



0. Lediici-iana, C. Uaskarliann, C. Josephiana aud 

 the SohubK-raft h\'I'riil. grown und<-r the same con- 

 ditinns of locality and soil, <'annot, I was as.sured, be 

 distinguished one from an ther by any well-defiueil 

 phy.sieal characters, the era ks and s perticial mark- 

 ings hcv.r^ very much alike: in all ; though the epidi'iniis 

 of Lalyerituia sometinus exhibits a ten.Iency to peel 

 off, not noticeable in true CWUat/ti. The bailcs of 

 ('. ojprinalis atid C ^uirir'ihta are of course much 

 more easily identilied. 



All the Lcth/irianns in this plmtatiou had had 

 f' ir tops lopped off to pn vent further growth in 

 1. i^lit; a precaution dictated by practical eonveiiience 

 since the in*rodti(!tion of the pro. e -s of scraping the 

 bark, c-ni- i. og which I shill have something to 

 say presently. 



Having wandereil about the grouiids until we were 

 tired ami examined the plantin.gs of all the more 

 important species uiuUt cultiue, we returned to the 

 nurseries in oider to inspect the seedlings of various 

 ages not yet ready to be planted nut These for the 

 most part are kept in beds covered with roof-like 

 shades nuide of split bamboo. The young plants are 

 carefully protected in this way for two years before 

 being transferred to the open ground. M'hen planted 

 out the young trees are placed at dilferent distances 

 apart according to the needs of each species — C. 

 Leifi/eruina, for exanq)le, being spaced 4 feet apart, 

 C. sticvirvhra^ a much larger tree, about 7 feet apart 

 ami so on. The ground is at first kept carefuly 

 weeiled ; subsequently, as the trees grow up, the close 

 shade of the foliage prevents any considerable under- 

 growth. Long narrow holes or trenches, a foot or 

 more in depth and s(veial feet in length, are dug 

 between the rows, chiefly for the purjjose of drainage, 

 but they are useful also in collecting the soil v.'bich 

 would otherwise be washed away during heavy rains. 

 The primary aim in Cinchona culture is to obtain 

 the maximum quantity of bark containing the largest 

 percentage of alkaloids, espvcially of quinine. "NVith 

 this object, various experiments have been made in 

 connection with the propagation and cultivation of the 

 trees, as well as in the manner of harvesting the bark. 

 A lerge number of plants are raised from seed. 

 There is, however, an element of uncertainty in the 

 result, arising from the cross-fertilization of the 

 flowers by insect agency, and the consei|tient produc- 

 tion of hybrid.=, the bai-k of which generally yields 

 a smaller propirtion of alkaloils than either of the 

 pan'.uts. It has been stated, how far correctly I do 

 not know, that in the ease of (! , J.nhj, yinna the first 

 two or tliree crops of seed are most liable to yield 

 hybiid plants, and that the subse([U{ait produce comes 

 much more uniforndy true. The better species are 

 also proiagated In a considerable extent by means 

 of cultin^s. 



Hut the process of cultivation most in favour at 

 the present time is that of grafting. The different 

 rat<' of growth of the ilifTerent species of Cincho"a, 

 and their diversity of habit, are ahnost as remark- 

 able as their difF(-rence in alkaloidal value. The (piick- 

 growing .species however, arc not those whi.h yield 

 the richest bark ; and the object sought has b. en 

 to eiulow the latter with the vigorous habit of growth 

 of the stronger sorts. The most easily cultivated 

 ami in every way the most eligible of the rapid- 

 growing species is C si'ninilna, and this is used as 

 the stock whereon are grafted shoots of C. Lcd(jryia»a. 

 The stock may either be a plant obtained from 

 seed or one grown from a cutting. The graft is 

 inserted whilst tiu' foster plant is still verj' young ; 

 in the case of a seedling, as soon as it posstjsses 

 a firm enough stem. The yoinig plants after the 

 insertii'U of the gmfts require care and protection for 

 several inontbs before I.einc placed in the open 

 grounil, but when once estalili.sbid t!u<y are as hardy 

 .as the rest. Tiie grafts are always taken from trees 

 of which the l)ark has given satisfae ory results on 

 analysis, and the plants produced retain the chemical 

 characters of the parent. There are now large plant- 

 ations of grafted Ledgerianas, tho bark of which 

 is known to contain 13 per c«pt of rfuinine. 



