226 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE CHAP. 



feet by four for Cinchona sitccirubra, and three feet by three 

 for C. officinalis. This latter is more of a shrub than a tree. 



When the holes are filled up the young plants are put out 



during the October rains, a damp cloudy day being chosen. 



Planting The roots alone should be covered with earth which is to be 



seedUng pressed firmly around the stem, and temporary shade rnay 



be given by fixing a small branch of a tree or a fern frond in 



the earth close by the seedling. Beyond keeping the plants 



clean and supplying vacancies, very little cultivation will be 



The weeds to required during the first few years. The weeds should be 



and C not Cl Se ' cno PP e d down with the cutlass, and on no account should 



hoed. the ground be hoed up, as the delicate superficial roots would 



Staking the thereby be injured or destroyed. In windy places, where the 



plants are two or three feet high, they may be tied to stakes 



driven firmly into the ground in a slanting direction, so that 



they touch the plants at only one part. A little dry grass 



may then be placed between the tree and the stake to protect 



the bark, and the tying must be done firmly with some flat 



fibrous substance such as mahoe fibre. 



Thinning HARVESTING. When the trees have been planted close 

 out the trees. tO g et h er) t h ev will require thinning out about the fourth 

 year, when about 25 per cent, of the trees may be uprooted. 

 This process may be continued year by year until, at the end 

 of the seventh year, only a half of the trees originally planted 

 will be left, and these may be allowed to grow until they 

 encroach too much on each other when a further thinning 

 may be judiciously undertaken. The trees are uprooted and 

 Barking. barked in the following manner : The roots are sawn off at 

 the stool and washed in water, and all the branches of the 

 trees are cut off, the bark from them, and from the roots, 

 being peeled or whittled off, care being taken not to remove 

 any of the woody tissue. Root bark is more valuable than 

 that from other parts of the tree, as it is richer in the alka- 

 loids. Rings are cut round the stem at distances of eighteen 

 inches apart, a longitudinal cut is then made along the stem, 



