170 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



and for several years past a small amouut of bark from the eultivat^d 

 trceK has been sold in the London market at remunerative prices. 



A rceent Engiisli publication, called the " Quiuology of the East India 

 Plantations, by John Eliot Howard,'- give much information regarding 

 the different medicinal alkaloids contained in diliereut varieties of the 

 bark, and the efiect of location, climate, and cultivation upon those 

 products, and although certain general statements are made respecting 

 altitude and temperature, yet no such detailed account of these points 

 is given as to render the statements perfectly satisfactory to readers in 

 this country who are anxiously looking for information bearing on the 

 question of the cinchona cultivation in the United States. 



The v.'ork enters learnedly and fully into the chemical analysis of the 

 different parts of the cinchona tree, as the root, the wood, the sap, the 

 leaves, and the bark, and seems satisfactorily to determine tije origin 

 and produetion of the quinine elements. We have availed ourselves of 

 such information in the work mentioned as we have thought might be 

 of g(Mieral interest. 



Elevation above the sea-level. — "Eecent observations on this 

 point,'' says Mr, Howard, "may save the apparently useless attempt to 

 cultivate these plants at a level below 4,000 feet above the ocean. Bark 

 of Cinchona snceirnbra, grown in the Wynaad at an elevation probably 

 not exceeding 2,400 feet, was thinner than that of Xeilgherry growth, 

 and gave but 0.5 per cent, of sulphate of quinine, and 2.9 per cent, of 

 cinchonidine, showing that quinine is formed in much less quantities at 

 low elevations." 



We will here remark that the cinchona barks contain several alka- 

 loids, having ver^' different medicinal values. The princij^al of these 

 alkaloids are quinine, cinchonidine, and cinchonine. They form a 

 chemical series differing priucipidly in the proportion of oxygen which 

 they contain, and while the sum total of these products may not differ 

 greatly in barks grown at different elevations, yet their relative quantity 

 may vary greatly, and that fact is a matter of great importance in 

 a medicinal point of view. It appears from the result of trials that, 

 for medicinal purposes, the quinine and cinchonidine are of nearly 

 equal value, while the other a.lkaioids are comjiaratively of little worth. 

 Of course, therefore, that eoudition of elevation and mean temperature 

 which results in the production of the greatest proportion of quinine 

 and cinchonidine will be an important consideration in the culture of 

 the cinchona trees; practically, indeed, the question of profitable culture 

 hinges upon the amount of crystallizahle quinine v.'hich can be obtained 

 from a given quality of bark. It is found also tl^at the amount of the 

 valuable alkaloids is affected by the amount of sunshine and shade 

 afforded the trees. The bark countries of the Andes are situated in a 

 region of perpetual trade-winds, which bring abundant rains and fogs 

 during the greater part of the year to interrupt the sunshine. But the 

 climate of the mountain-ranges of Southern India differs from that of 

 the bark region of South America in having six mouths of unclouded 

 sunshine, when the singular dryness of the atmosphere robs the rays of 

 none of their heating jjower. It appears that in India the elevation of 

 G,000 to 7,000 feet is most tavorable to the production of quinine in the 

 Cinchona succiruhra, and that above 7,000 feet the product diminishes. 

 Cinchona succiruhra, Peruviana, and inicrantha thrive at elevations rang- 

 ing from 4,000 to G,000 feet, while C. ojjlcinalis, Bonplandiana, and cres- 

 pilla continue to grow more vigorously on the Doolabetta i)latitations at 

 elevations varying from 7,000 to 8,500 feet. The crown barks are 



