344 PLANTING ENTEBPBISE IN THE WEST INDIES. [Mabch, 



Government plantations during the last three years, and to the 

 facilities afforded by Government, in raising and distributing seeds 

 and plants on a large scale, private enterprise has now been largely 

 enlisted in the industry. 



As indicating what has been done on the Government plantations, 

 I may mention that up to a recent date they had cost, including all 

 pioneering and experimental work, about ,-£16,000, The sales of 

 cinchona bark and cinchona seeds and plants have yielded a return of 

 £12,000 ; whilst the plantations, as they now stand, have been valued 

 by experienced planters from Ceylon at £20,000. 



In my Eeport for the year ending September 30, 1880,1 mentioned 

 that the object of the Government in maintaining these plantations 

 was not on account of the pecuniar}'- returns likely to be yielded by 

 them, but for the purpose of showing that cinchona barks of good 

 quality could be successfully grown in Jamaica ; and, also, that 

 cinchona planting, as an enterprise in private hands, possessed all 

 the elements of a sound and remunerative industry. 



The sales of Jamaica-grown cinchona bark, during the last three 

 years, having fully proved both these points, the Government planta- 

 tions now naturally devote chief attention to the successful introduc- 

 tion and cultivation, on a small scale, of all the newer and richer 

 kinds of cinchonas, for the purpose of successfully establishing them 

 in the island ; and also to such necessary experimental and scientific 

 work relating to the industry which, for lack of means or of scientific 

 knowledge, cannot be conveniently undertaken by private enterprise. 



As already mentioned, much remains to be done in this respect ; 

 and as the plantations as a whole do not contain more than about 

 180 acres, this will not allow, on an average, more [than about five 

 acres for each of the twenty-five or thirty species, varieties, and forms 

 of cinchona bark now the subject of careful experiment and investiga- 

 tion on these plantations. 



In order to test the commercial value of Jamaica-grown bark, no 

 better plan could be followed than to send it, in lots, to the open 

 market, and place it in competition with barks from other countries. 

 That it has so satisfactorily stood this test, and brought in a large 

 return on the outlay, and, moreover, that the results of the sales 

 have induced cinchona planting to be undertaken in the island, by 

 private enterprise with energy and success, are matters for which the 

 Government, no less than the general public, are to be congratulated. 



Three years ago, the kinds of cinchona bark under cultivation in 

 Jamaica were only three, viz., Cinchona succirubra. Cinchona officinalis, 

 and the so-called Cinchona calisaya, now proved to be identical with 

 Cinchona hybrid or robusta of Ceylon and India. 



Since that time numerous kinds have been introduced which are 



