4o8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[December i, 1889, 
thoroughly dry. After drying they should be stored 
away in a suitable dry place having a wooden floor. 
When more than three bales are put together, one 
on the other, the pressure of such a weight takes 
away the softness and elasticity of the leaf, but 
on the other hand renders it a better Smoking To- 
bacco. Every one, therefore is at lineity in this 
particular to use his discretion to suit his interest. 
Besides yaguas cases are used for packing Tobacco, 
those made of cedar-boards being preferable, but 
packing in yaguas or baling is by far the best. Such 
is the prevailed opinion amongst planters in Cuba 
that it is a common saying there, that " God made 
the Yagua for the Tobacco " (Dios hizo la yagua 
par el tabaco.) 
Appendix. 
(a.) A Nursery 110 yards long and 22 yards wide 
will grow a sufficient number of healthy seedlings 
to plant a field of 10 acres. 
(b.) For a Nursery of the foregoing size about two 
pounds cf good, healthy seed should be sown, and if 
these do not grow, fresh seed must be sown again. 
(c.) On an acre of land 10,000 plants can be 
cultivated, but the ex»ct number is 9,680 plants. One 
man should not attend to more than the number of 
plants which can be grown on an acre of land. 
(d.) The number of plauts that will give a quintal 
(100 lb) of Tobacco cannot be exactly estimated, for 
it depends on the state of the weather and the 
fertility of the soil. But in generel terms it may 
be said that if the soil is good and the weather is 
favourable 1,000 or 1,500 plants will give a quintal. 
(e.) Should it rain whilst cutting is going on, the 
operation must be discontinued until the weather is 
agiin fine — as the leaf must on no account be cut 
wh le wet. 
Tobacco should not be cut during rainy weather, 
as at that time the suckers are growing freely and 
take away the quality of the leaf, which is in a 
measure regained by succeeding dry weather. 
Bbtun oe Wash, 
Take 5 lb. of old, strong Tobacco stalks and put 
into 2 or 2\ gallons of water, and boil sufficiently 
to reduce the quantity of water to about one-third 
so as to obtain a stroo, well boiled infusion. The 
vessel in which this infusion is made should be new 
and perfectly free from grease. Take a clean barrel, 
fill with clear water, and put into it a sufficient 
quantity of Tobacco-stalks, there quarters of 
which should be of the former crop and one-fourth 
of the last. Allow it to ferment for four days, and 
on the fifth day, when it should be used, add as 
much of the infusion to this as will darken it, and 
it may cow be used. 
♦ 
CINCHONA HISTORY. 
The idea of acclimatising cinchona in the British 
West Indian islands was conceived about thirty years 
ego, when the exploring party who bad been sent to 
South America to otlaain cinchona plants and seed for 
British India were instructed to send any surplus they 
might have to the governors of Jamaica and Trinidad 
for experimtnting purposes. In 1861, the year following 
the receipt of the seed, there were already four hundred 
plants ready for planting out in the Jamaica botanical 
gardens. As the climate of Bath Gardens, where the 
first experiment was made, was unsuitable for the 
successful growth of cinchonas, they were tried at 
Cold Spring Coffee Plantation, at an elevation of 4,000 
feet. There the climate and Soil proved all that could 
be desired, and in November, 1862, a plant of Succirubra 
cinchona had attained to the height of 44 inchts, with 
leaves measuring 13J inches long by 8f inches broad. 
The same plant, when two years old, measured 6 feet 
in height, wilh ten branches, having a circumference 
of stem at base of 4 J inches. 
The experience gained in these preliminary attempts 
paved the w»y for the larger enterprise undertaken by 
the Jamaica Government in 1868, from which date 
c iuchoDa planting in the island took a fresh departure. 
A further supply of feed, consisting of C. officinalis a>.d 
C. calisaya, was obtained from Ceylon. In 1886 the 
Government cinchona planta'ions in the Blue Moun- 
tain district occupied 143 acres. For the purpose of 
encouraging the cultivation of cinchona by private 
enterprise, the Government plantations during the last 
few years have distributed 1,250 oz. of cinchona seed, 
] ,200,000 ciuchona seedlings, aud 469,000 cinchona plants. 
Large shipments of cinchoua bark were made from 
the Government plantations during the year 1879 to 
1884, and the prices realised proved that the climate 
and soil of Jamaica were particularly well suited to the 
successful cultivation of cinchona plants. As much as 
10s. per lb. was obtained for root birk of C. officinalis, 
while on large shipments the average price realised was 
6s. Id per Id. All the various species of sinchoua have 
been introduced to Jamaica, including the valuable 
C. Ledgeriana. 
About 2,600 acres hive been taken up by private 
planters for the cultivation of cinchona in Jamaica 
and 'he industry there is now well established. But 
as Jamaica was late in the field, and only now pro- 
duces bark of snfficient age to be placed in the market, 
the planters are compelled to hold back their bark 
until there is such an improvement in the market as 
will justify regu.ar shipments. This, it is hoped, will 
only be a question of time. Meauwhile, two samples 
of Jamaica Loxa bark, from trees six years old, 
grown on a private plantation at 5,000 feet, have 
been lately analysed by Mr. David Howard and found 
to contain: — 
Quinine Cinchonidine Cinchonine Amorphous 
1. 2 23 p. c. 0 44 p. c. 0 04 p. c. 0 51 p. c. 
2. 1-74 „ 057 „ 0-06 „ . 055 ,. 
In each case there was a trace of quinidine. 
The tests are thus very much what Loxa bark of 
similar appearauce from South America would give. 
It is rather a Chaguera than a Crispa or Uritusinga, 
which gives the richer yields that characterise the 
finest officinalis from the Dodabetta plantations. The 
fine old South American HO Loxa quills, which would 
now be worth in London from 2s. 2c?. to 2s. 6d. per 
lb., are used by French pharmacists for Savouring 
liqueurs. They are said to give to the latter a bou- 
quet which cannot be obtained with any other variety 
of bark, or even with Loxa itself when grown in 
India, Java or Jamaica. For this season only the 
genuine South American Loxa realises prices wholly 
out of proportion to its alkaloidal value. It is also 
said that common hatd pitayo bark at 2d. to 3d. per 
lb. is used in Spain for giving a " body " to sherry 
wine. — Chemist and Druggist. 

An Italian Engineer has experimented with sugar 
as a means of preventing the incrustation of boilers, 
with satisfactory results. A boiler which used 
to be incrusted in six weeks had two kilogrammes of 
sugar introduced every week for four months, and 
then a film of incrustation was found which could 
be easily washed off. — American Cultivator. 
A Recent reliable writer says he has destroyed weeds 
in lawns by dropping crude carbonic aci d right into the 
hearts of the plants. Roots of dandelions dug up a week 
after the crowns were dressed with acid were found 
to be killed right down to the tips, a foot below the 
surface. It is not sufficient to merely kill the leaves 
of the plants ; the acids must enter the hearts quite 
in the centre. Carbolic acid is poisonous, and should 
not be allowed to come in contact with the skin. 
— Ibid. 
Waste of Manure by Rains. — Prof. Roberts tells 
one side of the story in the statement that on an 
average one ton of water passing through barnyard 
manure takes away sixty cents of fertilizing material. 
But if not kept somewhat moist, rich barnyard 
manure will waste even more by such violent fer- 
mentation that it burns away all its ammonia and 
leaves only the ash. In piled-up heaps of manure 
in Summer there is usually more danger of waste 
by burning than by washing. Do not put manure 
under the eaves, but, leave it exposed, if you wish 
cover with a layer of earth, and the loss will not 
be serious.— Ibid, 
