126 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Cinchona in the elevations of Sikkim. In the Keilghemes more than 

 600,000 Cinchona-plants were distributed from the Government- 

 plantations in 1879, and 1,322 Ibs. of seed [Barlow]; from 80,000 to 

 250,000 seedlings being obtainable from one pound of sound seed, as 

 almost every grain will grow. All its varieties produce bark of great 

 value. The total amount of alkaloids is at an average of 4 per cent. 

 If the trees were cut every seven or eight years and simultaneous re- 

 planting should take place, Dr. King could keep up an annual supply 

 of 366,000 Ibs. of bark merely from the plantations under his control. 

 In 1883 there were as many as 128 millions of plants under cultiva- 

 tion in British India, of which 22 millions were two years old. The 

 importations of Cinchona-bark into the United Kingdom in 1884 

 amounted to 106,000 cwt., of the value of 907,000 ; in 1882 the 

 quantity was 139,000 cwt. and the cost 1,781,000. In 1886 it came 

 to 145,367 cwt. In 1891-2 the export of Cinchona-bark from India 

 came to about 14,000 cwt. [Journal Society of Arts]. Now much 

 bark is locally treated in India for the extraction of the alkaloids. 

 The total number of deaths of the Indian population from fever was 

 considered to approach a million and a half annually before Cinchona- 

 culture was introduced. 



Cinna arundinacea, Linn. 



North-America. There recorded as a good fodder -grass ; peren- 

 nial, somewhat sweet-scented. Particularly adapted for forest- 

 meadows. Blyttia suaveolens (Fries) is according to Dr. Asa Gray 

 a variety with pendent flowers. 



Cinnamomum Camphora, T. Nees. 



The Camphor-tree of China and Japan, north to Kinsin, attaining 

 a height of about 40 feet. It endures the occasional frosts of a clime 

 like that of Port Phillip, though the foliage will suffer. It likes light 

 damp soil. The wood, like all other parts of the tree, is pervaded by 

 camphor, hence resists the attacks of insects. The well-known cam- 

 phor is obtained by distilling or boiling the chopped wood or root ; 

 the subsequently condensed camphoric mass is subjected to a purify- 

 ing sublimation-process. Camphor is extensively used in the manu- 

 facture of smokeless powder, and also forms one of the principal 

 ingredients of celluloid. 



Cinnamomum Cassia, Blume. 



Southern China. This tree produces the Chinese cinnamon or the 

 so-called Cassia lignea. Hardy at Maritzburg, Natal [J. M. Wood]. 

 Sir Joseph Hooker found on the Khasya-mountains up to 6,000 feet 

 three cinnamons producing similar bark namely: C. obtusifolium, 

 C. pauciflorum and C. Tamala (Nees), the latter species extending 

 to Queensland. Dr. Thwaites notes the true Cinnamon-tree (C. 

 Zeilanicum, Breyn) even up to 8,000 feet in Ceylon, but the most 

 aromatic bark comes from lower altitudes. The root gives a sort of 



