APRii, I, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



7'^5 



PLANTINCJ IN NETHERLANDS INDIA. 



IBE JAVA COKFEE CKOP ; CINCHONA ; nllEWEliV. 



(Translated for the Slniils Thii>'f.) 

 Tlie Ciovcrnient Coffee Crop in Java, tliis year, 

 bids fair to be a short one, the estimate hardly 

 amounting to half a milliou of piculs. This liow- 

 ever vvouM not much signify under ordinary circuni- 

 stances. It is usual for Uie yield, every three or 

 four years, to be for once far below the average 

 outturn. But two very unsatisfactory crojis one 

 after the oilier as in the ca«e now, bode ill for the 

 future owing toils arising from the estates becoming 

 worn out even in the best districts the wor^t of it is 

 that these plantations can with ditiicully be replaced 

 by new ones. 



Tlie royal sanction has been given to the Articles 

 of Association of a company started to work beer 

 breweries in Netherlands India on a capital amount- 

 ing to 12'), 000 guilders. The tirst brewc ry has been 

 established at Batavia. 



The official report on the Government cinchona 

 cultivation in .Java for the third quarter for 18S,i 

 show that, in that year, the crop of bark reached 

 421,tjl2 .\msterdam pounds. The yield would have 

 been larger had not cropping been hampered by 

 heavy rain and want of labour. There was every 

 prospect of the outturn in 18S() proving to be far 

 above that secured last year. 



•■ A VISIT TO THE CINCHONA PLANTATIONS 

 IN .JAVA.' 



Mr. J. C. B. Moens writes to the Itnlifrhe Her- 

 ciiiir as follows (we translate from the Dutch! : — 



Fndct the heading the fnd. Mciciiur of 9th .Jan- 

 uary last contains a translation of a i)aper by j\Ir. 

 H. li. r.iady. which he read at an evening meeting 

 of the I'harmaceutical Society on i*t}i December, and 

 which was published in the I'Ihh imu-n'tit-ol .fuunwl 

 uttj TiiniMutioits ol 12th December. This paper, 

 which does full justice to the friendly rece|>tion of 

 the traveller by the Director of Cinchona Cultivation, 

 van Romiuide, gives rae an opportnity for the follow- 

 ing remarks. 



That no difficulty was placed in liis way, 

 either of travelling over .Java or of sceciiig the ciu- 

 chona gardens, apparently surprised Mr. Brady some- 

 what, as he had no doubt heard that it was not 

 such an easy thing. It is indeed astmiishing how 

 stich a strange and wholly unjust idea should still 

 continue to exist, in spite of the numerous visits of 

 Englishmen, not ouly to .Javii but also specially to 

 the cinchona gardens. There whh a time, partic- 

 ularly in iHTSand IST'.t, whenthefunic of ' ■ii„li„i„i Lrdtj- 

 tritiiiii was known throughout (%;> lou also, that Eng- 

 lisliiiieii cainecontimiHlly to see the ciiK^liona gardens, 

 ofteu almost without an introduction, and only sel- 

 dom provided with recommendations from the Gov- 

 emnient, and it has often been my very pleasant duty 

 to give the travellers permission to see as much of the 

 gardens as thev wished, althouch my duties did not al 

 ways perniit of my accompanying them. .Umost every 

 week Drought some of the pilgrims, and it was usual 

 at Handong to consider every stranger as an Knglishmaii 

 wh(t had come to see the cinchona gardens. The 

 report that vvc obsencd secrec> with regard to the 

 cinchona cultivation we o«e to the period when 

 •lunghuhn was at the head of tlic enterprise. Krom 

 that time also dates an order, b\ winch everyone 

 who was not pro\ided willi :< writtin perniit from 

 .lunguhn was refused entrance to the gardens, and 

 it was oven the case that Prof de \'riese was re- 

 iiiaod ndmission to the nursery-houses, altliough he 

 had the sn«'cial ])eruiissiuii of the Go\ernment. 

 .lunghuhn did not trouble liiiii.self mach about Bucii 

 a permission, and his will was law with the over- 

 seers, who were dependent ou him. It is now .-.een 

 liow diOicult it IS to get rid of the bad reputation 

 which we then acquired. It is unfortunate that 

 4U 



Mr. Brady had no opportunity of visiting the estab- 

 lishments to the south of Biuidoug also. He would 

 then, after seeing the uiiginal trees, and tlie plant- 

 ation of grafts at Tirtasari, have got a better and 

 ju.ster idea of the C. I.iilfiriiinm than was possible 

 at Nagrak, where there are only dcscendents of the 

 original trees, and among these many which have de- 

 viated from the good type. The ('. /.nli/iriiuai in 

 certainlv verv different from the description given by 

 Weddell of ('. t'<i//.s.i//if, and in my work, " De Kina- 

 Cultuur in Azii-," page ?:>, I regarded it as piobalde 

 that the cinchona described by. Was Cnlixmia «as a 

 more or less hybridised C. l.ediieiiaiin. The special 

 characteuiitic of the species ^'. LnhjeiUtnu \s that the 

 clusters of blossoms are small and compact, the 

 blossoms small, yellowish white and drooping, mid 

 the blanches united to the stem at a very acute 

 angle. Dr. Trimeii, the able Director of the Botanic 

 Garden at Poradoniya in Ceylon, who was able per- 

 souallv to observe the varieties in tlie cinchona gardens 

 there," also regards the C l.nhj. liaiia as an undoubt- 

 edly distinct species. That Kuiize should state that 

 C. I.tJtjerUiia is a bastard between olfi'iii'ih'M and 

 C. iiiicraiitha is lest correct. Kuuze calls oihiiuidtH 

 itself a bastard, and derives J.edi/nunM from Cii/m<i-/h 

 and mumntla. Brady thinks that the climate 

 or the soil was not suited for the ( '. oiti.iini/is, which 

 he saw at Nagrak, as this variety had formed such 

 long spindly trees. Everyone falls into this mistake 

 who sees this variety of 'cinchona for the tirst time, 

 and cspcciallv when the acquaintance is made in a 

 plantation where there are other varieties of cin- 

 chona. It is, however, the peculiar habit of C. 

 uftiiiinili.s, and thev look no worse at Nagrak than in 

 Cevlon or on the'Nilgiris. In fact the plantation at 

 Nagrak is exceptionallv excellent, on acc;onnt of the 

 high quinine yield of the trees, whose barks often 

 give an average of 6 per cent of quinine sulphate. 



NOTES ON POPULAR SCIENCE. 



(Bv Du. .1. E. Tailou, f. 0. s., f. i,. k. Ac. 

 Editor of ficii'itii' Gofiiip.) 



Glass-rtooring is largely intfVeasing in use in Paris. 

 It is said to bo eheaper than wood in the long 

 run. and it has the advantage of admitting and 

 allowing of the diffusion of light. 



The sugar industry has been affected so often 

 for the worse that any further change must be 

 for the better. But this hardly seems likely yet 

 — at any rate to the cdiic sugar industry. It is 

 stated that the .vi/Hr/ic.viV, or "putting together," 

 of saccharose has been accomplished. Any laee- 

 ous matter obtained from potatoes, converted into 

 glucose by the usual means, and •-hen submitted 

 to the action of an electric current, has done it 

 all. The result showed SS-'iti of saccharose, but 

 even this does not make it cane sugar. — Aii<lral- 



THE CINCHONA M.\RKET, 



{From II Corrf^piiiidfiil.) 



There is trouble with the market, the analysis, the 

 growth, and with the Government in regard to cin- 

 chona. Prices liave fallen, and fallen below all anti- 

 cipation, and no one in particular can be bhmic^d 

 for the present unsatisfactory state of the niarket. 

 During the fortnight before the last mail left 

 London tiiere was good competition for all rich 

 tests, at steadv prices of )!.d to 'id. the unit. 

 The Stair estate sold a large pile of " Iteiicwcd 

 Crown," of the mark K. D. E. 'ver S. in m .unondid, 

 for -is Id. to 23 2d. per lb. The Stair uffinmiht ir 

 the true varietv and well grown, the renewed bark 

 bavin" had ialficieiit time allowed to develope 

 the alkaloids. The Ceylon shipments continue 

 on a very full scale. We hear from Ceylon that large 

 shipments will not be continued. Low prices have 

 lessened extension, and planters are now giving their 

 attention more to tea than cinchona. There is sonic 

 prospect of a better mnrkot in the future, which 



