EEPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 169 



flesliy bodies or scales, attached to the tube and alternate with its lobes, 

 constituting- what is called the coroua. These seem to be extensions or 

 reflexions of the lilameuts, which arc united to the central style, and 

 which, thus united, compose the peculiar column distinguishing the 

 plants of this order. Mr. Sereno Watson, of Cambridge, was also able 

 to distinguish a second row of scales attached near the base of the 

 first, and forming thus a double corona. The older parts of the stem 

 are covered with a peculiar corky epidermis, deeply furrowed by irreg- 

 ular cracks and fissures. It is to be expected that the remaining cun- 

 durango plants will mature the coming season, so that their botanical 

 relatiou ships may be ascertained. 



CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA. 



The great medicinal importance of the cinchona-barks, their high 

 price, and the prospective exhaustion of the natural supply, have led 

 during the past ten or twelve years to attempts in many places to cul- 

 tivate the cinchona tree. The principal of these attempts, in point of 

 magnitude, are those of British India, Ceylon, and Java, but attempts 

 have also been made with more or less success in Jamaica, Guadaloupe, 

 in Martinique, in Algeria, at liio Janeiro, Saint Helena, at Melbourne, 

 in Australia, and in the Caucasus. 



The earliest experiments in this direction were made by the Dutch, 

 in Java, who commenced a plantation in 1854, but from various causes 

 their attempts were at first unsuccessful. The principal difficulties were 

 the selection and cultivation of varieties which were poor in the amount 

 of quinine they naturally afforded, and errors in cultivation with respect 

 to soil, elevation, and temperature. These errors have of late years 

 been corrected, and au account of the state of the cultivation of the 

 cinchona in Java, in 1868, shows the following number of trees of dif- 

 ferent varieties then in cultivation : Of Cinchona calisaya, 509,582 ; Ci7i- 

 cJiona succmthra, 27,578 ; Cinchona condaminea, 28,874 ; Cinchona lancifo- 

 lia, 573 ; Cinchona micrantha, 38G. 



British Uast Indian cxperi7nents.— In i859-'G0 the British government 

 commenced their experiments in the culture of the cinchona-plants in 

 the East Indies. These experiments were intrusted to skillful scientific 

 gentlemen, and every known means emi^loyed to give them a fair and 

 judicious trial. The result of these experiments has been highly satis- 

 factory. The propagation of the trees has been greatly extended, so 

 that tiie number now in plantations exceeds a million. 



The first and principal plantation was that of Octacamuud, in the 

 Neilgherry Mountains, which are in about latitude 11° north and longi- 

 tude 77° east of Greenwich. 



These mountains rise 4,000 to 5,000 feet from an undulating plain, 

 which is 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea-level. The amount of rain- 

 fall during the year is about 70 inches. We have no information at 

 hand of the range of temperature during the year. 



The second plantation is that of Darjhieling, in the Sikhim district, 

 at the base of the Himalaya Mountains, in latitude 27° north, and at 

 elevations varying from 1,800 to 4,000 feet above the sea. 



Next in importance are the ^plantations in Ceylon, at an elevation of 

 0,000 feet above the sea, with a moist climate, and an annual tempera- 

 ture of about 590, presenting in these respects great correspondence to 

 the natural location of the cinchona trees in South America. 



The result of these different trials in India has been quite satisfactory, 



