THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1889. 
COFFEE DISEASE IN BRAZIL. 
The British Secretary of Legation in Rio de Janeiro, 
in a recent report states that for many years, thoueh 
with varied intensity, a destructive disease has existed 
in the best zone of territory for coffee in the province 
of Rio de Janeiro. It has never been so bad as the 
coffee-leaf disease in Oeylon and Java, but still has 
done much harm. A scientific Government employe, 
Dr. E. Guide, in correspondence with Dr. Soltmedel, 
of Java, has now almost proved that the Brazilian 
root-disease and the Ceylon leaf-disease have the same 
origin — namely, a small worm in the root, belonging 
to the group of Nematoids. similar to the worm in 
beetroots in Europe. — Rio News. 
THE CINCHONA PLANTATIONS IN JAVA. 
The Soekaboemi Agricultural Society is an association 
of planters in Java which has done a great amount 
of good work in collecting information and publishing 
statistics relating to the principal products of the 
island, notably cinchorf., in which its members are 
interested. By the last mail we received from its 
secretary a highly valuable statistical table, giving 
the result of a series of questions which were addressed 
by the association to all known cinchona planters in 
the island. The questions include the estimated yield 
of the crop in kilos., its estimated average percentage 
of quinine sulphate, and the estimated total yield 
of sulphate of quinine for the seasons 1888 and 1889, 
as well as the actual quantity of bark harvested in 
1888, its average percentage yield, and its aggregate 
contents in sulphate of quinine. These questions 
were submitted to the whole of the Java cinchona 
planters, numbering 115, if we count the Government 
gardens as one concern. The response has been quite 
as good as might have been expected. Of the 115 
plantations concerned, only 33 neglected, either on 
purpose or through apathy, to send any returns at 
all ; while of the remainder, 54 have fully answered 
the questions submitted, 16 have sent incomplete 
returns, not caring to venture upon any forecast as 
regards the coming crop, 5 report their estates as 
planted with immature trees, having yielded no crop 
yet, and 7 have abandoned their cinchona cultures 
and uprooted the trees. 
Area of Plantations. 
But all the principal estates appear to have answered 
the inquiries, and the tabulated reply will, therefore, 
enable us to form as correct an estimate of the coming 
crop of Java bark as it is possible to obtain under 
the circumstances. The area under cinchona culture 
and the number of trees on the plantations are un- 
fortunately not given in the returns, but we find 
that, according to the latest official information, 
there were, in 1888, 10,622 bouws, or about 18,843 
acres [1 bouw=about 1J acres) under cinchona culture 
in Java. The size of the estates differs widely, of 
course, and the quantities of bark harvested last year 
in each plantation range from 233,000 lb down to 
672 lb. Most of the Java cinchona estates are situ- 
ated in the western portion of the island — in the so- 
called " Regencies " of the Preanger and the residency 
of Batavia — and their outturn virtually forms the 
bulk of the yield of the island. Roughly speaking, 
we find that Western Java contains 72 plantations, 
with an actual yield in bark in 1888, so far as the 
returns go, of nearly 3,300,000 lb ; Central Java has 
19 plantations, returning an aggregate yield of about 
400,000 lb ; and Eastern Java totals up to 24 planta- 
tions nominally, with a harvest of about 220,000 lb. 
The largest yield of bark obtained on any single private 
plantation in 1888 was collected on the Soekanegara 
estate, near Tjiaudjoer, in the Preanger, where 233,000 
lb. were gathered ; and the smallest at Djasinga, 
near Buitenzorg, Batavia, which yielded only 672 lo. 
It is a remarkable fact that whereas the highest 
estimate for the 1888 crop on any single plantation 
was 179,000 lb of bark (on the Soekanegara estate, 
just mentioned), no less than five estates estimate 
their yield for 1889 above that figure, the highest — 
that of the Goenoeng Melati (meaning Jasmine-Moun- 
tain) estate, in the Preanger— being 270,000 lb. The 
average equivalent of sulphate of quinine obtained 
from last year's crop varies greatly, the highest return 
having been obtained on one of the smallest estates 
in Central Java, where the bark analysed on an 
average 9-42 per cent, of quinine sulphate. Next to 
this came two small estates, one in Central and one 
in Eastern Java, the former with 7, the latter with 
6 per cpnt. quinine sulphate. The Preanger plantations 
mjstly ruu irom 3 to 4 per cent. It should again 
be noted that not only do the returns reveal the 
fact that the estimated yield of bark for 1889 is 
generally considerably in excess of the actual yield 
of 1888, but the estimated standard of the bark is 
also much higher. In 1888 the aggregate estimate of 
those among the private planters who ventured upon 
the prediction amounted to 1,860,000 lb. with about 
7,659 lb of quinine sulphate, while the actual result 
was a harvest of 3,171,778 1b of bark, containing 
122,889 lb. of quinine sulphate, or an average of 4 - 14 
per cent. For 1889 the estimates are : bark harvest, 
3,600,000 lb ; quinine sulphate yield, 151,2501b, 
or say an average of 4 - 20 per cent. The year 1887 
was exceptionally humid in Java, and while the 
moisture was generally favourable to the young plants 
and those in the nurseries, it had a bad effect upon 
the old trees, and consequently upon the yield 
of bark. 
The Government Plantations. 
As already pointed out, the great mass of 
the cinchona grown in Java is produced in the 
province known as the Preanger Regencies, and 
occupying the south-western portion of the island. This 
province, is of a highly mountainous nature, beiDg 
traversed by two important chains, on the slopes 
of which, at an altitude of 5,000 to 6,000 feet, and 
in a temperature rather too low to be suitable for 
coffee-growing, the plantations are situated, many of 
them on the clearings of old mountain forests, which 
have been freed of the high alaug-alang grass over- 
growing them. The large Government plantations, 
containing over 1,500,000 trees in the open ground 
are also found in this province at Tirtasari, Tjinie- 
roean, and Nagrak, near Bandong. They produced 
in 1887 nearly 800,000 lb of bark ; their area is 
being constantly extended, and the old trees replaced 
by young ones of richer variety. It is now nearly 
thirty-five years ago since the first successful attempt 
at propagating cinchona was made in Java by Dr. 
J. K. Hasskarl, a German savant who had held the 
position of Government botanist in the Buitenzorg 
Garden, and Mr. F. Junghuhn, who had already made 
a great reputation in Holland and its colonies as a 
naturalist and scientific investigator. Although the 
former was the man who actually brought from South 
America, after a long and perilous journey, the plants 
from which the present cinchona trees in Java have 
originated, to Junghuhn belongs the credit of having 
carried the venture to a successful issue, and of 
having so carefully managed the plantations that when 
he relinquished their direction there were no less 
than 540,000 plants growing in the open, and some 
620,000 in hothouses. Exactly twenty-five years ago, 
ou April 24, 1864, this famous naturalist died at 
Lembang in Java, in the centre ol the plantations 
which he contributed to create. Mr. K- W. van 
Gorkom, one of the subsequent directors of cul 'ures 
in the Dutch East Indies, in his valuable book on 
the cultivation of staple products in Java, relates 
how Junghuhn's grave is placed at the crossing of 
the two principal avenues of succirubra trees in the 
Lembang plantation, a white needle which has been 
erected over the burial plaoe being visible at a great 
distance. In Jungbuhn's time two cinchona plantations 
were also commenced in other parts of Java, viz., 
Bezoeki in the extreme ea t, and on the hich mountain- 
plate iu of Dieng, in Malaug, one of the loveliest 
districts of the island, but neither appears to have 
been successful. 
Private Plantations. 
As regards the cinchona estates belonging to private 
owners, the report which we have quoted makes mention 
of two cinchona plantations at Lebak, in the residency 
of Bantam, but only one of these has sent in a 
