123 



mountain slope by a narrow artificial terrace, following- all the sinuosities 

 of the ridge, and occasionally bringing- to view land-slips and precipices 

 terminating- in deep gorges below. Stretches of the original mountain 

 forest here disclose their deep sombre shade, heavy with moisture and 

 rank with a dense undergrowth. The shrubbery is here frequently fes- 

 tooned with gray and yellow lichens, indicating- a perennial moisture, 

 while the familiar forms of northern club-mosses are strangely associated 

 with tree-ferns and trailing grasses. 



The first Cinchona plants are set out at the foot of a steep slope rising 

 at an angle of 45°, and extending upward over the recent forest clear- 

 ing- to an elevation of 6,000 feet above the sea. The trees, now com- 

 mencing the third year from planting out or the fourth from seed, look 

 very vigorous and thrifty, having a smooth, clean, stocky stem, often 

 two inches in diameter at base, and rising to a height of four to twelve 

 feet. Their ability to withstand the ordinary viscissitudes of this 

 climate has been tested by an alternation of unusually dry and wet 

 seasons since planting out, and their survival of harsh treatment from 

 bruises, land slips, and fierce winds is evidenced in frequent distorted 

 specimens scattered over the ground, the vitality of which remains 

 apparently uninjured notwithstanding- this harsh treatment. Of the 

 species here growing, including C. officinalis, C. calisai/a, C. succiruhra, 

 C. micrantha, and G. pahudiana, the former two have tiowered for the 

 first time this season, and 1 was, fortunately, just in time to secure 

 flowering specimens with early-forming fruit. This early flowering is 

 confined to a few specimens out of man}- thousands, most of the plauts 

 being in too vigorous a stage of growth to allow the process of repro- 

 duction. In succeeding years, however, this proportion of flowering 

 and seeding plants will increase rapidly, so that seed to any desired 

 amount can be procured from this source for distribution. 



The soil is a rich loam, intermixed with small comminuted fragments 

 of the underlying rock, and enriched on the surface by the vegetable 

 mold of the decaying forest. It has been suggested by Mr. Thomson 

 that small forest clearings, at suitable points, might be planted out with 

 diflerent species of cinchona, and after attaining a fair growth be left 

 to propagate themselves in the form of natural Cinchona forests. Mr. 

 Thomson, whose judirious seh^ction of this first successful Cinchona 

 plantation in the western world entitles his oiuuions to great respect, 

 is prosecuting- this enterprise with unwearied industry, and expects to 

 add about fifty acres annually to this Gro^ernment pUiutation, extend- 

 ing to various elevations, and fully testing the particular qualities of 

 the various species, both as to their adaptation to diflerent soils and 

 climates, and also as to their relative productiv^iess in the percentage 

 of quinine. 



These experiments being directly applicable to any future enterprise 

 in this line in the West India mountain region, renders the results so 

 far obtained of great value; in addition to which the facilities offered 

 in the procuring of seeds and plants from this convenient source greatly 

 enhances its prospective advantages. 



Eegretting that the short time at my disposal allowed only a limited 

 view of this interesting mountain district, I took leave of Mr. Thomson, 

 and, retracing more rapidly on the descending grade the mountain road 

 passed over on the previous day, reached Kingston late on the evening 

 of March 14. 



The practical application of tlie facts here brought to view may be 

 thus briefly stated : 



1. That the peculiar conditions of soil and climate suitable for the 



