ThU 



MAXIIAI. OK THK NILAGIl 



Chinchona 



Culture. 



Cultivation. 



Manure. 



CH. XXX. may be folio ?ved generally in the formation of a chinchona estate. 

 Further detailed information will be found in Mr. Mclvor and 

 Dr. King's Manuals. The experience of past years seems to favour 

 close planting/ especially in the case of condamrneas planted 

 in exposed situations, also the propagation of plants by seed and 

 not by cuttings or layering. Seed from plantations where natural 

 facilities for hybridization exist is to be preferred, as the growth 

 of hybrids is generally stronger, whilst the tendency in them 

 seems to be towards a greater secretion of alkaloids. Hybrids of 

 condaininea and saccirnbra, whilst partaking in great measure the 

 vigour and strength of the sucdruhra, yield bark whose richness 

 in quinine alkaloids approximates to that of the bark of the 

 best varieties of condaininea. The natural tendency of the 

 Nilagiri chinchonas to produce strong and rich hybrids is the 

 most promising feature of the cultivation. 



The results of the experiments in the application of manures 

 to the chinchona tree will be found in Mr. Broughton's report, 

 April 1872. The effect on the growth of the tree was not 

 marked, nor in the case of the Red barks was the secretion of 

 alkaloids improved; but the Crown barks, to which guano, 

 ammonia sulphate, and fai-myard manure had been generally 

 apphed, showed a great increase in the alkaloids. In fact the 

 result of applying the last-named manure was the doubhng of 

 the quantity of alkaloids. As regards the growth of Crown 

 barks, subsequent experience goes to show that it is greatly 

 favoured by the application of farmyard manure in the first few 

 years after planting out. 



There are four modes of gathering the bark : (1) by coppicing, 

 (2) by stripping the bark in longitudinal sections, (3) by uprooting, 

 (4) by scraping or shaving the bark. Of these methods, until 

 recently, the second only had been followed in the Government 

 plantations, and consequently nearly all the experience gained 

 so far is of this method, which may be regarded as the discovery 

 of Mr. Mclvor. It therefore remains yet to be shown what mode 

 of treatment is on the whole best suited to the several descrip- 

 tions of chinchona with a view to obtaining the most valuable 

 yield of bark from a given area of cultivation in a given series of 

 years : in a word, what method is economically and scientifically 

 the best. 



There are two modes of coppicing : (1) cutting the tree down and 

 allowing the shoots to spring from the bare stump, (2) felling the 

 tree but leaving a root or stem shoot, or several such, to replace it. 

 These methods— certainly the latter — are known to succeed as 



Harvesting 

 of bark. 



1 C. succinihra should be planted 4 feet X 4 feet and C. condaminea 3 feet X 3 

 feet ordinarily, and thinned out from about the fourth year if necessary. 



