IN EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 



79 



cinchonin ; this plant is now annihilated for bark purposes in its 

 native forests. 



The Uritusinga or Loza variety grows in its native forests to a height 

 of 60 feet and more (Pavon), and attained in Ceylon a height of 

 28 feet with a stem girth of nearly 2 feet in fifteen years ; the 

 price of its bark was in 1879 about 7s. per pound, and of renewed 

 bark 11s. Mr. M'lvor obtained 6,850 cuttings from one imported 

 plant in twenty months. But all Cinchonas produce seeds copiously, 

 so that the raising of great numbers of plants can be effected with 

 remarkable facility. The bark yielded 74 to lO'O per cent, 

 sulphate of quinine (Howard). 



In Java some of the best results were obtained with Cinchona Hasskar- 

 liana, Miq., a species seemingly as yet not critically identified. 



Cinchona succirubra, Pavon.* 



Middle Andine regions of Peru and Ecuador. A tree attaining a 

 height of 40 feet, yielding the Red Peru Bark, rich in quinine and 

 cinchonidin. It is this species which is predominantly cultivated 

 on the mountains of Bengal. It has been found hardy in Lower 

 Gippsland and the Westernport District. It grew in Madeira at 

 an elevation of 500 feet, after having been planted two and a half 

 years, to a height of 20 feet, flowering freely. All these cinchonas 

 promise to become of importance for culture in the warmest 

 regions of extra-tropical countries, on places not readily accessible 

 or eligible for cereal culture. The Peruvian proverb that cinchona 

 trees like to be " within sight of snow " gives some clue to the con- 

 ditions under which they thrive best. They delight in the shelter 

 of forests, where there is an equable temperature, no frost, some 

 humidity at all times both in air and soil, where the ground is deep 

 and largely consists of the remnants of decayed vegetable substances, 

 and where the subsoil is open. Drippage from shelter trees too 

 near will be hurtful to the plants. Closed valleys and deep gorges, 

 into which cold air will sink, are also not well adapted for cinchona 

 culture. The cinchona region may be considered as interjacent 

 between the coffee and the tea region, or nearly coinciding with 

 that of the Assam tea. Cross found the temperature of some of the 

 best natural cinchona regions to fluctuate between 35 and 60 F. 

 We ought to consociate the Peru Bark plants with naturally-grow- 

 ing fern trees, but only in the warmest valleys and richest soil. 

 The best temperature for cinchonas is from 53 to 66 F. ; but they 

 mostly will endure in open places a minimum of 32 F. ; in the 

 brush shades of the Botanic Garden of Melbourne, where years 

 ago cinchonas were already raised by the thousand, they have even 

 resisted uninjured a temperature of a few degrees less, wherever 

 the wind had no access, while under such very slight cover the cin- 

 chonas withstood also a heat of a few degrees over 100 F. The 

 plants are most easily raised from seeds, best under some cover such 



