55^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Feb, i,' j886. 



brought forward. It did not at all follow that a 

 plant would deteriorate by being taken from its 

 native country, as under proper cultivation its value 

 might be increased. In concUision he begged to 

 thank Mr. Brady very cordially for bringing forward 

 the .subject in so interesting a manner. 



Mr. Holmes had listened with special pleasure to 

 this paper, having long taken considerable interest 

 in the Ledi/eriana bark. Mr. Brady had had enviable 

 opportunities of seeing these plants in their natural 

 state, for those who had only seen dried specimens 

 must be well aware that it was almost impossible 

 to judge, irom the small proportion of leaf which was 

 attached to them what dilfereuces there really were 

 between these trees as they grew. Mr. Brady had 

 spoken of the gloss on the leaf of the Ledyeriana 

 as being in some respects different from that on 

 the Culiaai/a, and he should like to know if he had 

 noticed a similar gloss on any other species. As 

 far as he had observed, it only occurred on varieties 

 of the Ca/iaaya. He had also meutioueil Dr. llo- 

 muude's opinion that the Li:d,/eriaiM might be dis- 

 tinguished bv the way in which the upper portion 

 of the bark" peeled off; but he had placed on the 

 table some specimens of Catisni/a, which had been 

 collected some thrty or forty years ago iu South 

 America, and others from Ceylon and Java, in all 

 of which the same feature was observable. That 

 therefore, could not be taken as a characteristic 

 mark of the Lcdf/ei-iaiia. Mr. Brady also spoke of 

 the Ledyeriana as being the true "rojo" of the 

 Bolivians, but he should like to ask him whether he 

 had noticed on the leaves the red tint by which that 

 was supposed to be distinguished by the Indians. One 

 interesting fact he had observed was the angle at 

 which the branches started from the tree. Anyone 

 who noticed the trees iu the Square or in any part 

 of the country would observe that each tree had its 

 own distinctive angle of branching; and the same 

 very much was the case with the veius on the leaf. 

 The fact therefore, that this variety or species had 

 a distinct angle of branching seemed to point out 

 that it must be either a well marked variety or a 

 species, hut so far as one could judge by the bark 

 alone, he still held to the opinion that it was only 

 a variety of the Calisui/a. Mr. Brady also spoke of 

 the C. luvcifolia being' cultivated iu Java, and he 

 should like to know if it was old enough to yield 

 bark, as he had as yet met with none iu commerce. 

 Jlr. Baker said the V. llasskaiiiana was not cultiv- 

 ated in India, and did not appear to be known. 

 If Mr. Brady could give any information about it, 

 it would be interesting. 



Mr. Brady, in reply, said he had spoken of the 

 garden at Buitenzorg ' as being the finest in the 

 tropics ; his experience only extended to Peradeuiya, 

 Singapore and Hong Kong, and he hoped he had 

 not underestimated the charms of any of these. 

 A large number of the questions put referred to the 

 C. Ledi/eriana, with regard to which he liad not ex- 

 pressedany opinion of his own whether it was a species 

 or only ti variety. When it was debated by men like 

 John KHot Howard, Von Kuntz, Mr. Holmes, Dr. 

 Komunde, Dr. Moens and others, he had no right to 

 hold any opinion. His observations with regard to the 

 want of distinctive cliiu-acters in the barks referred 

 to were also only a repetition of what he had been 

 told by Dr. Komunde, He had, however, put the 

 question to Mr. David Howard, whose opinion on the 

 point was entirely iu accord with what lie had heard 

 in Java, that he knew of no characteristics by which 

 the barks of these so-called varieties of Cut'isui^as 

 could be distinguished one from another. It was held 

 that the condition of the bark varied a feood deal 

 with the climate, and that the characteristics winch 

 appeared in one place did not necessarily hold good 

 in another. He did not know whether C. lancifvUa 

 had yet apjieared iu commerce, but a certain amount 

 bad been harvested and analyses made of it. "\\ itb 

 regard to the gloss on the leaf and the texture of 

 the surfaci^ of U'd(/eiiana, lie could only say that a 

 mase of it seen together in the auusUiue had an 



appearance very distinct from the true Calisaya. In 

 the latter there was the evergreen sheen and bright 

 surface. It was like the difference between the gloss 

 of -satin and that of velvet ; the Led-gcruota had a 

 soft, deadish lustre. As to succiruhr ' , the foliage was 

 altogether different both in form and texture. 



Mr. JIoss said he had made a statement not long 

 ag.j iu that room that the bark which came from .Java 

 to Loudon — and of com-se the Java bark did not all 

 come to Loudon, for most of it went to Amsterdam — 

 but 75 jjer cent of that which came here was not 

 quilled, but in the form of spoke shavings. He had 

 been making inquiries since then, and found that he 

 spoke very well within the mark, and that at least 

 1)5 per cent was iu these spoke shavings, and that 

 only 5 per cent or even less was quilleci bark. In 

 fact it was quite exceptional to find any quilled bark 

 coming here from Java. He should be glad to know 

 if Mr. Brady could state the proportion of quilled 

 bark actually produced in Java. 



Mr. Brady said he could not say exactly. If a plant- 

 ation was "uprooted of course the bark was stripped, 

 but with that exception he believed all the bark 

 now was being scraped. Li Java they did not use 

 a spoke-shave, but a long flat knife. He believed 

 there would be an increasing quantity of scraped bark, 

 and a diminishing quantity of the peeled. 



Mr. Moss remarked in that case there would soon 

 be none for the Pharmacopcoia. 



Mr. Umney said it was very gratifying to him to 

 find that in Java some importance was attached to 

 the percentage of quiniue which the bark contained. 

 They had been informed lately that the iiuiniiie w.%s 

 of slight value in bark, for they had been told that 

 because quiniue and cinchouidine were alike in pro- 

 perty there was no real advantage in using bark 

 with quinine in it at all. It did seem, however, 

 that the people in Java had come to the same 

 conclusion as those in India and Mincing Lane, and 

 in fact he believed the same as most people enter- 

 tained except the editors of the Pharmacopceia. 



Dr. Paul had listened with great pleasure to Jlr. 

 Brady's account of his operations on the Java 

 plantations, which were especially valuable in the 

 lesson they taught as to the kind of plants winch 

 it was desirable to cultivate. The majority of 

 the bark now coming from Java was poor, being 

 derived chieflv from those plantations which Mr. 

 Brady had referred to a« in course of being up- 

 rooted. The orginal CuUsni/ci varieties, taken there 

 by Dr. Hassk.irl and .some of the earlier planters, 

 were now giving place to the variety known as 

 yielding I,edger bark. He was somewhat snrprise.1 

 to find that the Cinchona officinalis was so un- 

 successfnl in Java. This was one of the most 

 successful kind in the Neilgherry plantations, and 

 though it did not yield bark containing anything 

 like so much quinine as the Lidr/eriima, it g.ave an 

 amount of quinine varying from three to seven 

 and even as much as ten per cent. The Lcdijeriana 

 were still more prolific in their yield in India, and 

 also in Ceylon, but their tenderness and difficulty 

 of culture ahiiost counterbalanced the advantage 

 obtained when they did grow well. 



The President,' in proposing a vote of thanks to 

 Mr. Brady, said the lesson which Professor Bentley 

 wished to enforce could not be too strongly im- 

 pressed at the present day, viz., the iinportauce of 

 the economic and other sciences being encouraged 

 by Governments and corporations. There was an 

 enormous amuuiit of orginal work iu the various 

 sciences which could only be done by .systematic aid 

 given either by governments or corporations. The 

 fact of the iiitroduclioa into India and .Tava of 

 the cinchonas, and the interesting, wonderful and 

 unique fact that the la>k« by careful cultivation 

 actually produced in their new home a larger ipiantity 

 of important alkaloids than they did in their native 

 haliitat was of the greatest importance. It would 

 be obviously legUiniate for any government <u- rich 

 body to spend considerabli; sums in experiments, 

 uvfu though uiueteeeu out of twenty should fail, 



