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upper limit they become mere shrubs. The leaves are of every 

 variety of shape and size ; the flowers are small, and hang in clusters, 

 like lilacs, generally of a deep rose colour, but those of the species 

 micrantka are entirely white, and they are most deliciously fragrant. 

 The species of chinchona are numerous, probably about 20, but there 

 are only some five which yield the bark of commerce. These, to 

 call them by their English names, are the red, the crown, the car- 

 thagena, the grey, and the yellow bark ; and they are found in five 

 distinct regions of South America. Humboldt tells us in his Asjoects 

 of Nature that they grow on mica, slate, and gneiss, from 6 to 

 8000 ft. above the level of the sea, with a mean temperature between 

 60 deg. and 65 deg. Fah. He has seen them grow to a height of 

 from 53 ft. to 64 ft., and these young trees, not more than 18 in. in 

 circumference. " This beautiful tree," he says, " is adorned with 

 leaves above 5 in. long, and 2 in. broad, growing in dense forests, and 

 seems always to aspire to rise above its neighbours." One cannot 

 help thinking that it has the power of selecting its associates, for it 

 is always found in close proximity to the groined arches of the fern 

 tree, the graceful traceries of the arborescent passion flowers, and the 

 allied genera of these which form the splendid architecture of the 

 eternal forest. A century aiid a half after its introduction to Europe, 

 so great had been the destruction of these trees by the bark cutters, 

 that fears were then entertained of their complete destruction, and 

 these fears were but too well grounded, for some of the species are 

 now very rare, and the most valuable of all maybe said to be extinct. 

 This is owing to the reckless manner of collecting the bark, which is 

 stripped from the tree, and the tree being left standing, of course it 

 soon perishes altogether. In some districts the Government is able 

 to prevent this wholesale slaughter, by compelling the cascarilleros 

 to fell the tree after stripping it ; this secures its reproduction ; but 

 I believe the greater portion of bark exported from Peru and Bolivia, 

 particularly the latter, and which is the better of the two, is stripped 

 from trees left standing and to perish. It was partly owing to this 

 consideration, and the desire to place the inestimable remedy in the 

 hands of the millions who live in fever-infested regions, that as early 

 as 1839 it was pressed on the English Government by Dr. Royle to 

 plant the Neilgherries with quinine-bearing trees, and by Dr. 

 Weddell, who accompanied the scientific expedition of the Count de 

 Castelnau, and to whom alone we owe our knowledge of the chin- 

 chonse of Upper Peru and Bolivia, who urged the introduction of 

 these plants into the French colonies. Ten years ago the Dutch 

 began their chinchona plantations in Batavia, and have now some 

 10,000 plants. Nearly 25 years elapsed before the Indian Govern- 

 ment took any effectual means to carry out the great benevolent idea 

 of Dr. Royle, and then it was that Lieutenant M arkham was sent to 

 South America to collect chinchona seeds and slips, and carry them 

 to India. This he did in 1860, and the total number of healthy 

 plants conveyed by him and planted in 1862 was 13,700. But 



