I go 



NA TURE 



\_Dec. 30, 188 



It is not necessary to follow in detail the interesting 

 account given by Mr. Markham of the recklessness with 

 which the natural supplies of Cinchona bark were drawn 

 upon. The inconvenience of a precarious dependence 

 upon the South American forests has for at least forty 

 years occupied the attention of scientific men in Europe. 

 Royle, in 1S39, urged the introduction of Cinchonas 

 into India, and pointed out the Nilgiri Hills as a suitable 

 locality. The Dutch botanists had been no less urgent 

 that the experiment should be made in Java, and Hasskarl 

 was commissioned to proceed to Peru in 1S52 to obtain 

 seeds. In this he succeeded, but the bulk of the seeds 

 eventually proved to belong to a species worthless medi- 

 cinally, which was afterwards named C. Pahudiana. He 

 also obtained, by the aid of a Bolivian named Henriquez, 

 400 plants of the yellow bark, C. Calisaya, only two of 

 which unfortunately survived in Java. The mishaps of 

 the Dutch enterprise cannot be followed here, instructive 

 as they are to any one interested in the cultivation. A 

 happy accident, to be presently alluded to, was a kind and 

 well-deserved turn of fortune in its favour, and a greater 

 measure of success than could ever have been hoped for 

 now seems assured to it. 



The Government of India in 1852 first proposed the 

 introduction of cinchona into that country, and several 

 abortive attempts to effect it were made with the aid 

 of the Foreign Office, but without success. In 1S59 

 Mr. Markham was officially employed by the present 

 Lord Derby, who was then Secretary of State for India, 

 to undertake a mission to South America for the purpose. 

 His previous travels in the Cinchona region, though for 

 ethnological and not for botanical inquiry, and his know- 

 ledge of the Spanish and Ouichua languages singularly 

 fitted him for the task. The plan laid down by him was 

 extremely comprehensive, and has at last been fully carried 

 out, or nearly so. It was nothing less than the introduc- 

 tion into India of all the species of Cinchona yielding 

 bark of known commercial value. This plan was adopted 

 as it was a priori uncertain which kinds would turn out 

 best adapted for Indian cultivation, and it was desirable 

 that all should be tried ; it involved no less than five 

 distinct expeditions to the different districts of the Andes 

 already mentioned. 



Mr. Markham visited himself in iS6o the yellow bark 

 region in Southern Peru and Bolivia, accompanied by a 

 young gardener named John Weir, recommendedby Messrs. 

 Veitch. The plants collected reached England in fifteen 

 Wardian cases, but the heat of the Red Sea was fatal to 

 them and they all eventually died. A supply of seed which 

 Mr. Markham had arranged for at Caravaya arrived in 

 India in 1865 and germinated satisfactorily. 



Mr. Pritchett, who had travelled in the Huanuco 

 district, was employed to make a collection of the grey 

 bark plants, and to these also the Red Sea was fatal, but 

 the loss again was retrieved by the safe transmission to 

 India of seed which grew well. The red bark region was 

 visited, at the suggestion of Sir William Hooker, by the 

 well-known botanical traveller. Dr. Spruce, who was 

 residing in South America at the time, and he was ac- 

 companied by Robert Cross, a Scotch gardener, recom- 

 mended by the Kew authorities. The plants collected 

 by Dr. Spruce were more fortunate, and reached India 

 in good condition in 1861 under Mr. Cross's charge. 



This skilful collector then returned to South America and 

 obtained the seed of the crown bark from the Loxa 

 forests, which reached India in 1862 and germinated 

 abundantly. Before returning to Europe he visited the 

 Columbian forests in 1863 and secured seed of Pitayo 

 bark (C. Piiayensis\ which however had lost its vitality 

 before it arrived in India. He was therefore sent again 

 in 1868, and this time secured both plants and seeds 

 which were transmitted to India in a living state. The 

 only remaining kinds of importance which had not been 

 introduced into India were the Calisaya de Santa Fd. 

 yielding soft Columbian bark, and Cinchona cordifolia, 

 yielding hard Carthagena barkj to procure these Mr. 

 Cross was despatched on another mission, from which he 

 returned in 1878, bringing cuttings of both kinds, and 

 these were successfully propagated at Kew, which had 

 indeed in every case been made the depot for the receipt 

 of the successive consignments and their despatch to 

 India. The Carthagena bark is now well established in 

 India, Jamaica, and it is hoped in Ceylon. But the fate 

 of the Calisaya de Santa Fd is still doubtful, as one 

 consignment succumbed to the heat of the Red Sea, 

 which is so great an obstacle to the transport of plants, 

 intolerant of great heat, and no news as to the second 

 instalment taken out in charge of Mr. Cross has yet 

 reached this country. 



We must but very briefly hurry over the interesting 

 pages in which Mr. Markham describes what has been 

 done in India. Red bark has everywhere taken the lead. 

 Next to this, in the Nilgiris, crown bark has succeeded 

 best ; the other kinds have made but little progress. 

 Unfortunately little care seems of late to have been taken 

 in Southern India to keep the difterent kinds distinct, 

 and as the species hybridise very freely it is not easy 

 to say what some of the plants actually in cultivation 

 precisely are. In the Himalayas, however, besides red 

 and crown bark-plants, C. Calisaya (yellow bark) and 

 C. micrantlia (one of the species yielding grey bark) also 

 do well. 



The share taken by Kew in this important enterprise 

 enabled the advantages secured by the Indian Government 

 to be extended to other tropical possessions in the Empire. 

 Sir William Hooker was allowed to transmit a share of 

 the seeds and plants to Ceylon, Jamaica, Trinidad, 

 Mauritius, and St. Helena. In the three latter islands 

 the cultivation has made but little progress ; in the first 

 it is now one of the staple resources of the planters ; 

 while in Jamaica the crown and red bark bring in an 

 annual revenue to the Government, which leaves an 

 ample surplus after paying the whole expenses of the 

 botanical department. 



One of the most singular incidents in the whole story has 

 still to be told. Mr. Charles Ledger, who had long resided 

 in South America, hearing of Mr. Markham's enterprise, 

 employed a native servant, Manuel Mamani, to collect seed 

 of the best Calisaya or'yellow bark tree. Four years elapsed 

 before he succeeded, as each year the blossom of the trees 

 was destroyed by frost. These seeds were transmitted to 

 London to the care of Mr. Ledger's brother, and it is 

 believed were offered to the Indian Government, who 

 refused to purchase them. Half was eventually sold to 

 the Dutch Government and half to Mr. Money, a planter 

 on the Nilgiris. This fortunate purchase has put quite a 



