7 



PROSPECTS OF CINCHONA BARK. 



In to-day's sale a good supply of South American bark was offered. Several lots crown bark, fair 

 to good quill, brown to silvery, sold at 8^d. to l/10d. per lb., Loxa at l/6d. Of red bark four bales good 

 coloured soft bark, very dusty, were bought in at 4/3d. per lb. A parcel of good bold thick bark some- 

 what hard, and containing a good deal of outer bark, is held at 10/ per lb. High class red bark is ex- 

 tremely scarce, and as much as 14/ per lb. is paid for really tine lots. At the public sales held at Co- 

 lombo on May 5, a slight advance was established. The shipments from Ceylon, as compared with last 

 season, show a reduction, but it is quite possible that this will be of a temporary nature, as it appears 

 that the arrivals at Colombo from the interior are still very heavy. The following are the latest figures 

 relating to the Ceylon exports :— October 1, 1886 to May 5, 1887— 8,862,5341bs., same period 1885-86 

 — 9,056,0391bs., ditto 1884-85— 5,844,7761bs. 



A Java Cinchona Planter of high standing, who has recently made a tour through Ceylon to inves- 

 tigate the condition and prospects of the cinchona cultivation in that Island, gives it as his opinion that 

 the large exports from Ceylon will be played out in the course of two or three years, when Java plan- 

 ters will be fully coming on the market with their barks, of which one million lbs. are equal to several 

 millions from Ceylon, so far as alkaloidal richness is concerned. The Ceylon cinchona owners there- 

 fore stand between two fires ; to harvest before 1889-90 will be a necessity for them, and yet by so doing 

 freelv the market is likely to be kept in its present depressed condition. The Dutch Indian planter is 

 also of opinion that the area under cinchona cultivation in Java is generally under estimated, and that 

 for general vigour and beauty of growth the plantations in western and southern Java are unrivalled. 

 Java Planters have discarded all inferior varieties of cinchona, and give their attention solely to the 

 better kinds of Calisaya, more especially Ledgeriana. C. officinals is almost unknown with them ; whereas 

 in the climate and soil of Ceylon this hardy species, and its hybrid Robusta, is the most successful. 

 The prospects of cinchona planting in India do not appear by any means brilliant, for authorities well 

 able to judge believe that apart from the harvest in the Government Gardens, the private plantations 

 in India are not likely for some time to yield a total output exceeding l,000,0001bs. per year. The 

 bulk of the Government crop, in the Northern Plantations at any rate, is employed locally in the manu- 

 facture of febrifuge. — Chemist and Druggist. 



HOW TO RAISE FERNS FROM SPORES. 



Take a shallow, porous, red earthenware pan, about 3 inches deep, put an inch of broken flower-pot 

 in the bottom, over that a thin layer of moss or other fibrous material, then fill up the pan with ordinary 

 Fern compost upon the top of which scatter a few nodules of clay, press lightly so as to make fairly flat. 

 Now place a small piece of paper in the centre, upon which pour gently a whole Kettleful of boiling 

 water, which the paper will prevent from disturbing the soil. Remove the paper, place a sheet of glass 

 over the pan, and let it cool. We have now a congenial soil, and all spores of fungi, or eggs of iusects 

 are killed, thus leaving the Fern spores a clean field. 



Now take a frond bearing ripe spores, i.e., speaking generally, brown ones, and lay it for a day or 

 two between two sheets of white paper in a dry place. We shall then find the paper stained with a 

 brownish dust. This dust is made up of the spores and their cases, and it is only necessary to tap this 

 sheet gently over the prepared pan to finish the operation. Cover immediately with the glass. Make a 

 note of your sowing, species, variety, and date, and place, put the pan in some damp shady corner out of 

 the way, taking the precaution that worms do not get in from below. If possible forget its existence 

 for about three weeks, when a faint trace of green will be visible, showing the spores have begun to 

 develop. Very soon the little scales will become perceptible, and in a few weeks more the whole pan 

 will be covered. To this there succeeds an apparent dormancy, lasting sometimes for weeks : the repro- 

 ductive phenomena are, however, now going on, and the next thing will be the sudden appearance, at 

 first here and there, and eventually in a crowd, of the first little fronds proper, when the success of the 

 sowing may be recorded. 



Should, however, the prothalli cover, as is probable, the whole of the pan, it becomes manifest that 

 there will soon be a great struggle for existence, as the little plants require elbow-room. It is there- 

 fore well at this stage to prepare other pans iu the way indicated, and with a pointed knife or stick pick 

 out small patches about the size of peas. Insert these carefully in the soil, just so that they adhere to 

 it, and about an inch apart, and cover again with glass ; the result will be a greatly accelerated growth. 



To the beginner's great surprise, it is most likely that instead of Ferns appearing according to the 

 names in his register; other species altogether may predominate, even at first to the entire exclusion of 

 those he looked for ; these latter will, however, probably appear later. This is owing to the fact that 

 some varieties whose spores naturally fly about and settle upon all the Ferns around them, germinate and 

 develop much more rapidly than others ; hence, if any of their spores have settled upon the fronds from 

 which the sowing was made, there is no possibility of discriminating them, and all that can be done is 

 to weed them out eventually, should they threaten to choke out the sorts especially desired. 



The next, and, to the connoisseur, the most fascinating stage of Fern propagation by spores, is the 

 careful search through the resulting crop for new and improved forms among the rising progeny. 

 Here and there the experienced eye will detect some unusual or especially promising feature as the 

 young fronds develop ; these may either be marked and left where they are, or better still, carefully 

 lifted out, and placed in a pan reserved for that purpose. By and by, new fronds arise, which perhaps 

 confirm, perhaps upset his expectations ; but to the persistent cultivator every now and again his warmest 

 hopes are more than crowned, and he has the proud pleasure of scoring another success, and adding 

 one more gem to his and others' collections. 



