Mav 1, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



797 



course, they are very difficult of access, and they are 

 getting destroyed rapidly. <-'. siu-cirubra, for iuMsiice, 

 which was louud formerly iu all the valleys that 

 open to the plain of Uiiyaiiuil, is now almost confined 

 to the western slopes of" Jlount OLimlionizo. lu If'SH 

 an expedition was sent out under Mr. elements 

 Markham to the Andes to procure living plants witfi 

 seeds, for conveyance to India, and after many ad- 

 ventures and disappointments its afforts were crowned 

 with success. There are in the genus about 

 thirty-six species, differing from one another in their 

 climatic constitution, and still more in economic value, 

 but they are very dithcult of botanical discrimination, 

 because the primary types are linked to one ano- 

 ther by puzzHng intermediate forms. The Dutch sent 

 out an expedition to the Andes under Hasskarl in 

 1,'<54, but unfortunately a large proportion of the 

 plants which they obtained proved to belong to C. 

 Pahudiana, a species of very small medicinal value. 

 In the Indian plantations four distinct species have 

 been planted extensively— 1. C. succirubra, which 

 yields the red bark of commerce, yielding about 5 

 per cent of alkaloids, ciuinine and cinchonine in al- 

 most equal proportions. It thrives at a lower elevation 

 than the three others, but is specially sensitive to 

 frost and long.continued drought. 2. C. micraiitha, 

 which yields the grey or silver bark, also poor in 

 quinine, but rich in cinchonine. 3. 0. Calisaya, and its 

 variety Ledgeriaua, which yields the royal, called 

 also the yellow or Calisaya bark— the richest of all 

 in alkaloids, of which quinine forms half or three- 

 quarters (uot less than two, and, in exceptional 

 ca.ses. as ranch as ten per cent of quinine). 4. C. 

 ofKciualis, which yields the pale or l>oxa or crown 

 bark, containing half or 1 per cent of alkaloids, of 

 which more than half is quinine. 



In India the product of the bark is lused mainly 

 in the form of a mixed febrifuge, in which the 

 different alkaloids are not separated from each other. 

 This is prepared from th- finely powdered hark by 

 mixing it with milk of Ume and spirits of wine. At 

 the close of 1882 there were iu the Bengal plant- 

 ations a stock of nearly ."S.OtW.niin trees, of which 

 three-quarters were 0. succirubra, yielding an annual 

 crop of 400,000 lb. of dry bark. The am.iunt of 

 capital altogether expended in Bangal in the plant- 

 ations and manufactory w:is £10(1,000, and on this 

 the receipts for 1.S78-0 yielde.l 4i per cent on the 

 capital outlay, exclusive of 5,500 lb. of the alkaloid 

 taken for the Government hospitals, replacing an 

 an equal amount of quinine, which if purcha.sed 

 would have cost the Government £44,000. Dr. King 

 estimates that by the end i.f l.s-s.q the total amount 

 .saved to (iovcrnment w.as £M0,0II0; and Mr. Wood, 

 the Government ([uinologist, estimates that the cost 

 of the mixed febrifuge will ultimately be brought 

 down to It. per ounce. The price of the .sulphate 

 of quinine in England has been reduced during the 

 last few years from 13.^. to ry<. per ounce. As before 

 explained only four out of the ihirty-six species have 

 been extensively planted in India, and of the economic 

 value of many of the others very little is known 

 clearly. 



IXDIARiKiiEli. — The .substance .sold under the name of 

 indiarubber is the stitTeiied milky juice of at least six 

 different genera of trees, belonging to three widely ditfe- 

 rentnatural orders — Liindolphia and Willngbbtiaiii Apo- 

 cynacea;, Castilloa an.l Ficus iu Artocarpere, and 

 Hevei and Manihot in Kuphorbiace;«. I'art of it 

 comes from South AmcrTca (shipped princiiially from 

 Para and (,'arthageua), part of it from .Sierra Leonc', 

 Mozambique, and Jladagascar, and the remainder 

 from tropical Asia. Besides these two genera of 

 Apocynaccie there are at least six others which yield 

 a similar milky juice not at present utilized to any 

 considerable extent. In the Inited States in l.sS3 

 there were 120 indiarubber factories, employing l.VHiO 

 hands. Tln^ total importation of raw materi.il into 

 the States in that year was 30,iX)0 tons, worth about 

 £0,000,IKIO sterling. The value of the manufactured 

 goods made in a single year is estimated at £.JO,f>00,000. 

 Tlie (juantity of unwa.shed rubber imported into the 



United Kingdom in 1883 was more than IO,0(X) tons, 

 worth about £3,500,000, but in 1885 it had sunk to 

 less than £2,000,000. None of the trees which yield 

 indiarubber have yet been brought into cultivation 

 on a large scale, and the time will soon come when 

 either this will have to be done or the supply will 

 gradually lessen. There are about sixty distinct 

 species of these rubber-yielding genera, and the 

 botanists and foresters will have to settle between 

 them which of these are best worth cultivating and 

 where it will pay to gi-oiv them. Infortunately, at 

 the present time the price of indiarubber of all kinds 

 is exceptionally low, the best Para rubber being now 

 only worth about 2.«. Hi/, per pound in London against 

 I.,-, in If'ts4, and the best of the African and Asiatic 

 kinds about 2.i. per pound. 



Lixt of' I he IiuHaruhbir-pTodvciny Genera, their Xalive 

 Countries, iriih the Xumher of Species in each and 

 Annua/ import : — 



60 



T003 



(lnTT.\-PErit'n.\.— Gutta-percha of the best quality is 

 the product of Dichopsis Gutta, a tree belonging to 

 the natural order Sapotace;e, inhabiting the Malayan 

 peninsula. In order to obtain it the Malays follow 

 the wasteful plan of cutting down the tree. The bark 

 is first stripped otf, and the milky juice which then 

 exudes is collected in the shell of a ('oconut, or 

 the sjiathe of a Palm. The juice quickly stiffens on 

 exposure to the air and forms gutta-percha. The 

 average quantity obtained from one tree is 20 lb. In 

 IS75, 10,000,000 lb. in weight were imported into 

 this country from Singapore, and this would involve 

 the destruction of, perhaps, 50,000 trees. It was first 

 brought into notice in 1842, and at that time the 

 tree was plentiful in the forest of the Lsland of Singa- 

 pore ; but during the next five or six years it was 

 totally destroyed in the islanil except a few trees 

 that were kept as curiosities. In 1847 it was plentiful 

 in the forests of Penang, but a similar fate soon 

 befell it there, and now the time has come when, 

 unless it bo systematically cultivated somewhere, the 

 sujiply will decrease. According to the latest authority 

 there are six distinct species of Dichopsis growing 

 wild in the Malayan peninsula, and iu .lava and Su- 

 matra, and several species of the neighbouring genera, 

 Chrysophyllum, Sideroxylon. liassia, Miniusops, I'ayena, 

 and Imbricaria, yield a similar milky juice; bat it 

 still remains to be settleil which species are best 

 worth cultiv.iting, and where they cau be most pro- 

 fitably grown. Tlie annual value of the gntta-pi^rcha 

 imported into England is between £300,(iuO and 

 £-5Uf),0oO per annum. J. O. UaUer.—Gardenem' Chroni- 

 ca f . 



