260 BARKS 



British India, the cultivation being commenced at positions in the 

 Himalayas and Neilgherries that had already been recommended by 

 Royle. 



A few years previously the German botanist Hasskarl was com- 

 missioned by the Dutch on a similar expedition, and succeeded in 

 bringing plants and seeds to Java. 



From small beginnings the cultivation of cinchona trees has rapidly 

 assumed such enormous dimensions that the world is practically 

 independent of South America for its supply of cinchona bark, and 

 consequently of quinine. At present about nine-tenths of the bark 

 required is derived from C. Ledgeriana, cultivated in Java. The 

 cultivation of this species is now being pushed forward in the British 

 Government plantations in India. 



The chief species of cinchonas that yield commercially valuable 

 barks are : 



1. C. Ledgeriana, Moens (Southern Peru and Bolivia). 



2. Cinchona Calisaya, Weddell (Southern Peru and Bolivia). 



3. C. officinalis, Linne (Ecuador and Peru). 



4. C. succirubra, Pavon (Ecuador). 



The first three of these species viz. C. Ledgeriana, C. Calisaya, 

 and C. officinalis yield barks rich in quinine, and it is to the cultiva- 

 tion of these three species, especially C. Ledgeriana, that attention 

 is now being directed. C. succirubra has been largely grown in India, 

 but is now being replaced by C. Ledgeriana. C. lancifolia, Mutis, 

 and certain other species yield barks that are poor in quinine ; they 

 are therefore not cultivated, but nevertheless these barks are occa- 

 sionally imported from South America and used to some extent as 

 sources of the cinchona alkaloids. 



Collection. The following methods have been adopted in collecting 

 cinchona bark : 



1. Felling. In South America the bark is collected by felling 

 the tree, stripping the bark from it, and drying it either in the sun 

 or over a gentle fire in huts. Large thick pieces from the trunk and 

 large branches are pressed under weights, and often freed from the 

 dead outer portions (bark), and occur therefore in commerce in the 

 form of thick, flat, heavy pieces (flat bark) ; the bark from the smaller 

 branches curls as it dries into quills (quilled bark). Hence the bark 

 from the same tree may occur in two forms differing very considerably 

 in appearance. Cultivated trees are not allowed to attain the age or 

 size of the South American forest trees, and yield therefore no flat bark. 



2. Mossing and Renewing. Maclvor found hi 1863 that, if the bark 

 were removed in longitudinal strips and the trunk were afterwards 

 protected by covering it with moss, the cambium rapidly replaced 

 the bark that had been removed by a fresh growth, and this fresh 



