214 CORRESPONDENCE. 
plexity of the organie constituents of the barks, leading (especially 
under the influence of lime or alkalis) to deteriorating changes in the — 
alkaloids, and partly also to the tendency of the heat to which the pro- 
duct must be subjected operating in the same direction. If I had a 
bark plantation in India, I should unquestionably order the bark sent 
home, even if I had skilful and experienced workmen to whom the task 
could be safely confided in India of attempting to reduce the cost of 
transport.—lI have, etc., 
Joun Error HOWARD. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
Conservancy of Chinchona Forests in New Granada. 
21, Eccleston Square, June 13, 1864. 
The following letter from New Granada may be of interest to the ‘Journal 
of Botany.’ 
Yours, etċ., 
CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM. 
--— “ Bogotá, March 4, 1864. 
My DEAR Sm,—I have to thank you for having sent me a copy of the 
‘Edinburgh Review’ of last year, in which I have had the satisfaction of read- 
ing the article on the cultivation of Quina-trees in the East Indies. Permit 
that is allowed in the woods, where they are destroyed by the barbarous 
method of pulling up the roots. Fortunately this destructive method, which, 
without any doübt, would extirpate this precious plant in a few years, is only 
practised in the forests of Pitayo, where it is due to the immoderate desire for 
making money, which has taken possession of the Indians who own the greater 
part of the land; but in none of the other establishments for the collection of 
bark in this country has a similar scandal been repeated. On the contrary, 
beneficial rules are observed for the conservancy of the woods, more especia 
in those where I have a proprietary interest. The method consists in leaving 
a part of the trunk, about three feet in height, whence shoots may sprout; and 
in clearing away the surrounding trees to enable the rays of the sun to pene- 
trate. By this means most of the trees that are cut down quickly shoot up, 
and, the rays of the sun penetrating to the cleared ground, the seeds which fall 
