REPORT ON THE CULTIVATION OF CHINCHONA IN BENGAL. 157 
The serub, and even young trees as thick as a man's body, fall 
rapidly before the knives of these clearers. Where patches of virgin 
forest are met with the axe must be used; but here every tree is not 
felled, as the smaller ones, being notehed near the ground, are borne 
down by the fall of the full-grown trees. In preparing ground for 
Chinchona planting at Darjeeling, the practice has always been to clear 
the land entirely of all vegetation,—not a tree of even the smallest size 
ever being spared. In these hills, forest should not be felled before 
the middle or the end of November; if the lgnd is cleared earlier, the 
grasses and underwood spring up among the branches of the fallen 
trees, and thus their burning is prevented. Felling may be continued 
until the middle of March. After two or three months’ exposure to 
the bright sunshine and dry air of the cold season, the felled trees are 
in a fit state to burn. By the end of March, therefore, fires may be lit 
in the afternoon, when the sun has thoroughly dried up the heavy 
dew, at the bottom of the slope covered with felled and dry jungle. 
The fire rapidly consumes the whole of the brushwood and the branches 
of the trees, leaving only the large branches and trunks to smoulder 
for weeks. 
Wherever virgin forest or bamboo jungle has existed it has been 
necessary, after burning the lighter vegetation, to cut up the trunks of 
the trees and the bamboos into short pieces, and either to pile them 
into heaps for burning, or to roll them into the steep ravines which 
are too stony for planting Chinchonas. The land thus cleared by fire is 
ready for laying out the ground for planting, and for marking out the 
bridle paths required to give easy access to all parts of it. These 
paths are made about four or five feet wide, and are connected with the 
principal roads of the plantation. The sites for the plants are fixed 
"by means of a cord about 100 feet in length, on which marks are tied 
5 intervals of six feet for C. succirubra, and at shorter distance for 
C. officinalis. This marked cord is stretched along the ground, aud at’ 
each mark on it a stick, about two feet and a half in length, is thrust 
into the ground, thus indicating the place where a Chinchona is to be 
planted. In order to secure uniformity in the plantation, each line is 
continued to the full extent of the ground to be planted before another 
line is commenced : the lines in properly laid-out plantations will thus 
be parallel. —— 
In the plantations of C. succirubra the lines are fixed at six feet 
