696 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April i, 1890. 
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE GOVERN- 
MENT CINCHONA PLANTATION AND 
FACTORY IN BENGAL FOR THE 
YEAR 1888-89. 
Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the Government 
Cinchona Plantation and Factory in British Sikkim, 
being that for the year 1888-89, by Bkigade Subgeon 
G. King, m.b., l.l.d, f.b.s., Superintendent of the 
Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, and of Cinchona 
Cultivation in Berigal, and Officiating Government 
Quinologist. 
1. The valley in which the plantation is situated 
participated in the dryness which was so general over 
the province during the earlier part of the season. 
But the effects of the unusual drought were but 
trivial, compared with the mischief caused by a vio- 
lent hail-storm which occurred towards the end of the 
official year. By this storm many thousands of young 
plants in the nurseries were utterly destroyed. These 
plants had just been uncovered, in order that they 
might be hardened off prior to transplantation, 
and they were therefore little fitted to withstand 
a hail -storm of such extraordinary violence. Even the 
larger trees in the plantation by no means escaped. 
Their leaves were torn to shreds, and they will retain 
for some time the scars left on their smaller branch- 
lets by the hailstorms. 
2. Changes in the Plantation. — Durirjg the year, 
395,003 trtes either died or were uprooted for the sake 
of their bark. On the other hand, 353,730 trees were 
planted out. The renewals were thus slightly less 
numerous than the losses; but as the newly-planted 
trees are all yellow barks which > ielcl only quinine, 
whereas those uproot< d were red barks, yielding a 
mixture of quinine with cinchonidine and cinchonine, 
the alkaloidal value of the plantation has been very 
considerab y increased. As wiil be seen by the table 
given as appendix D, the plantations now contain a 
total of 4,810,231 cinchona trees, of which nearly two- 
thirds are yielders of pure quinine. Seven years ago 
the proportion of pure quinine-yielders was but as 
one to four. The conversion of the plantation has 
therefore gone on pretty rapidly. 
3. The Fear's Ciop. — The crop harvested during the 
year was the largest we have ever taken. It consisted 
of 207,460 pounds of red bark, 128,770 pounds of 
ledgeriana, and 36,870 pounds of other sorts, giving a 
total of 373,100 pounds. Of this total, 293,750 pounds 
were taken from the old plantation, 67,740 pounds 
from the younger one at Sittong, and 11,610 pounds 
from the youngest of all the Rungjung plantation in 
Bhootan. If the crop of the past year be added to 
those of previous years, the grand total of yield of 
these plantations since their beginning is brought up 
to 4,351,478 pounds of dry bark. During the year, 
1,867 pounds were supplied on indent, or sold to 
Government institutions, the rest of the crop being 
made over to the factory as usual. 
Against the expenditure there was harvested a bark 
crop of 373,100 pounds of dry bark, the cost per pound 
of which was therefore, as near as may be, 3 annas 
1-333 pies per pound. 
5 Factory— -For the factory the sum of R30.025 
was the budget allotment for the year ; but, as stated 
in the last paragraph, it was found necessary to ask 
for a transfer of the sum of R11,000 from the plan- 
tation. The actual allotment thus stood at R41,025; 
but of this only R37.304-16-6 were spent, a saving 
being effected of R3,720-0-6. The factory expenditure 
was swelled to this unusually large sum by the cost 
of providing the stock of fusel and kerosine oils re- 
quired for working the new process for manufactur- 
ing quinine. A considerable expenditure was also 
incurred in new machinery for the same process. A 
further sum on account of machinery will, moreover, 
fall to be debited during the year we have now 
entered on. All the charges hitherto incurred for 
factory buildings, plant, and machinery have regularly 
been debited to working expenses, and I propose to 
debit all future charges to the same head. The factory 
hae no capital account, as some orgies of its expen- 
diture seem to suppose, every charge having been 
regularly debited agaiDst the outturn of manufactured 
product. The ouiturn for the past year was 8,575 
pounds, in the proportions of 2,191 pounds of sulphate 
of quinine and 6,384 pounds of cinchona febrifuge. 
If the price of the raw material be added to the 
factory expenditure, the total cost of the outturn is 
seen to be as follows : — 
Rs. A. P. 
Factory expenditure on chemicals, 
labour, and machinery 37,304 15 6 
Raw material, viz , 162,940 pounds 
of bark crop of 1887-88, at 4 annas 
2-713 pies per pound 43,037 6 0 
145,430 pounds of bark crop of 
1888-89, at 3 annas 1,333 pies 
per pound 28,277 12 10 
1,08,620 2 4 
In other words, the outturn cost, as near as may 
be, R12-10-8-08 per pound. As a matter of conveni- 
ence, I have taken the cost of febrifuge and quinine 
as the same; for in the present transition stage of 
the factory it is difficult to disentangle the expen- 
diture in labour and salaries, which has been incurred 
respectively on the manufacture of the two products. 
6. The New Oil Process for Manufacturing Quinine. — 
This process has been in use for the manufacture of 
sulphate of quinine during the year, and no less than 
2,191 pounds of that drug have been prepared by 
it. Arrangements have also been made for its appli- 
cation during the current year to the manufacture of 
cinchona febrifuge. Up to the year under riview, the 
new process can scarcely be said to have been used 
on a manufacturing scale. But the production of 
2,191 pounds is sufficiently large to entitle it to be 
fairly considered as a manufacturing experiment. This 
enlarged experience of the working of the process only 
increases our confidence in it. It works without a 
single hitch ; the bark is entirely exhausted of the 
whole of its alkaloid ; and the quinine produced is 
professionally reported to be as pure in quality and 
as satisfactory in appearance as quinine of the best 
European brands. A brief account of cold oil pro- 
cess was submitted by me to Government in March 
1888, together with a short history of its invention. 
The history then submitted was, however, by an un- 
fortunate inadvertence, inaccurate in some respects; 
and sufficient credit was not allowed for his share 
in its conception and perfection to Mr. C. H. Wood, 
who for many years was Quiuologist on the planta- 
tion. Mr. Wood has now prepared a short history of 
the invention, and a full account of the method of 
working the process. And this important and interest- 
ing paper I now enclose as appendix A of this re- 
port. I again take an opportunity of bearing my 
testimony, not only to the excellence and simplicity 
of this admirable process, but also to the generous 
way in which Mr. Wood, without any pecuniary 
reward, initiated and invented in his private laboratory, 
while Mr. Gammie perfected it in the Government 
Factory. Without Mr. Wood the process would not 
have been invented, while without Mr. Gammie it 
would not have been successfully applied to manu facture. 
7. Sales of Febrifuge and Quinine during the Year. — 
The total issues for the year were 6,178 pounds of 
febrifuge, 28J pounds of crystalline febrifuge and 
1,283 pounds of quinine. 
The tota issues of the previous year were 7,831| 
pounds of febrifuge (common and crystalline), and 
267J of quinine. There was thus during the year a 
considerable falling off in the issue of febrifuge. But 
this is hardly to be wondered at when the extraor- 
dinarily cheap price of quinine in the open market 
is considered. 
8. Stock Accov.nt. — The amount of bark in stock 
at the end of the year was 359,790 pounds, which 
has been valued at the cost price per pound of the 
year's crop. The other manufactured products have 
been taken at their cost price, and the chemicals and 
stores at their actual value. The total value of stock, 
calculated in this way, stands at Rl,l.0,699-10-8, 
