224 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE chap. 



trees. The trees will grow better on newly cleared forest 

 land than on grassy lands, but in all cases the subsoil should 

 be examined to see whether it be suitable. Clays must be 

 avoided, and so must poor sands. A rich deep vegetable 

 loam resting on a porous gravelly sub-soil is the best for 

 the growth of the plant, and the locality must be well 

 sheltered from strong winds. Such land exists in quantity 

 in the mountains of Jamaica, Dominica, and elsewhere in 

 The soil of the West Indies. Mr. Morris states that the " soil of Jamaica 

 Jamaica. j^ ^^ evidently suitable to cinchona, and the growth and 

 vitality of the plant are so satisfactory, as compared with 

 Ceylon and India, that there is little doubt that cinchona 

 cultivation will pay as well, if not better, in Jamaica, than in 

 the East or anywhere else." 



A mountain CLIMATE.— The climate must be a mountain one, for 



essendal. although some of the species of cinchona, and especially C. 



succirnbra grow well at low elevations, the bark yields little 



Elevations or no alkaloid. In Jamaica, the cinchona plantations are 



atiwdi*^^ situated at elevations varying from 4,500 feet to 6,500 feet 



cinchona above the sea ; the mean temperature is 63° F., and the 



^^'^^^' annual rainfall average about no inches. Although the 



climate in such situations answers well for most of the 



cinchonas, it is rather too high for C. succirubra, which may 



be grown at elevations of from 2,000 to 4,000ft. When the 



Shelter belts forest is cleared for the establishment of a cinchona planta- 



Se^ridges"" tion broad shelter belts of trees should always be left on the 



ridges. 



Propagation.— Plants may be propagated by cuttings 

 and by layering, but the best way is to raise seedlings in 

 Nurseries, nurscry beds, or in boxes. When shallow boxes are used, 

 they should be pierced with holes below, and the soil should 

 rest on a layer of broken stones placed on the bottom of the 

 box for drainage, and covered lightly with moss or sphagnum 

 to prevent the earth washing down between the stones. The 

 soil may be composed of leaf mould, garden earth, and fine 



