March, 1910.] 



255 



Miscellaneous. 



may be dug out and destroyed. A 

 fungous growth sometimes attacks the 

 stems and roots of the plants. The 

 leaves turn red ard eventually fall off. 

 The plants are dug up and burned, the 

 hole being left open, and after a year 

 another tree is set in. 



The bark is removed from the stems 

 and roots as large as one's thumb not 

 later than one or two days after harvest- 

 ing. It is then carried to the drying 

 house, where it is exposed either to the 

 direct heat of the sun or to a wood fire, 

 for which the wood from the cinchona 

 tree is used as fuel. After being dried 

 the bark is ponnded to a powder and 

 put in sacks weighing 200 pounds each. 



A small chemical factory at Bandoeng 

 extracts the quinine from the crude 

 bark. This factory is the only one in 

 Java and uses about one-tenth of the 

 cinchona bark grown there, the remain- 

 ing 5,120,000 kilograms of crude bark 

 being exported to Holland. 



The manager of the plantation has 

 recommended to the Government that 

 a factory be established on the plant- 

 ation. The necessity for this is evident 

 when it is considered that for every 100 

 pounds of bark transported to the 

 factory at Bandoeng more than 90 

 pounds is waste. 



Land for cinchona is cleared in the 

 same way as for abaca and the brush 

 burned. The superintendent has dis- 

 covered, however, that better results 

 are obtained where the land is not 

 burned over, and recommends that the 

 brush be burned in piles. This leaves a 

 large unburned area containing a great 

 deal of vegetable matter. The logs re- 

 main on the newly-cleared plantation 

 and are not burned, but are left on the 

 land to decay and add humus to the soil. 



The percentage of quinine in the bark 

 varies from 2 to 15. By selection and 

 hybridising; the percentage has been 

 considerably increased. The export of 

 bark from this plantation was in 1897, 

 300,000 kilograms containing 4 to 5 psr 

 cent, of quinine, and in 1907, 1,000,000 

 kilograms containing 6 to 7 per cent, of 

 quiniue. It is expected that the trees 

 recently planted will yield from 12 to 15 

 per cent, of quiniue. 



The cinchona tree has few enemies. 

 It is easily grown provided suitable soil 

 conditions, elevations, and rainfall are 

 present. It can be harvested at any 

 time, and a delay in harvesting does not 

 result in an injury to the product. It 

 can be grown economically on either 

 a large or small estate. 



Two thousand natives are employed 

 on this estate, the men receiving about 

 20 cents and the women about 12 cents 

 as a daily wage. The native villages, 

 three in number, are models of cleanli- 

 ness and neatness. The manager is a 

 thorough believer in the value of a 

 check plot experiment system. 



Domestic Animals. 

 A large number of ducks are raised in 

 Java. The punies, cattle, carabaos, 

 sheep, and goats look about the same 

 as those in the Philippine Islands, but 

 are more plentiful. In Central Java the 

 cattle and carabaos are worth, res- 

 pectively, P16 and P40 each. I travelled 

 twenty days before I saw a pig. This 

 is evidently due to the fact that the 

 natives are all Mohammedans and do 

 not eat pork. 



THE PROGRESS OF INDIAN 

 AGRICULTURE. 



(Prom the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 

 XXXV., No. 1, Calcutta, Saturday, 

 January 1, 1910.) 



Some amount of impatience is at times 

 expressed because of the apparent tardi- 

 ness of the various agricultural depart- 

 ments in producing practical results. 

 The impetuous critic is apt to expect 

 that, so much expenditure having been 

 devoted to the improvement of agri- 

 culture iu this country, great and strik- 

 ing achievements should immediately 

 follow. Indian cotton should be so much 

 improved in quality that it should 

 become the first favourite at Liverpool 

 and Manchester. The cultivation of the 

 Indian sugar-cane and the manufacture 

 of sugar should be brought to such a 

 pitch of perfection as to render the 

 competition of Java futile. Indigo 

 should be placed in a position to oust its 

 synthetic rival. Flax should become a 

 profitable Indian crop, and Indian cigars 

 should be smoked in preference to 

 Havanas. Above all, the Indian ryot 

 should advance at one stride to the 

 status of a scientific cultivator. This is 

 the kind of progress which would appear 

 to be required to satisfy many of 

 those who look upon the establishment 

 of Agricultural Departments in this 

 country as a disappointing experiment. 

 We do not doubt that the majority of 

 these results will be attained iu due 

 time. It is impossible to read the 

 extremely interesting Report which the 

 Inspector-General of Agriculture has pre- 

 pared upon the Progress of Agriculture 

 in India in 1907-09 without taking 



