44 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July 2, 1888. 
evil was remedied, but tbe disturbance in tbe flow 
of sap caused by this operation is always an evidence 
that the plants are temporarily hindered iu their 
growth. The dispute as to the utility and desirability 
or otherwise of pruning the cinchona trees, by which 
is understood the regular removal of the lower branches, 
is carried on year by year, but tbe question is still 
unsettled. Although we have ranged ourselves on 
the side of those who assert that as few hindrances as 
possible should be placed in the way of the uninterrupted 
growth of the trees, on the other hand we have 
not forgotten, that in consequence of the somewhat 
bushy development of the cinchonas, the product ob- 
tained consisted for a large part of branch and twig 
bark.* In order to bring about an improvement in 
this state of things, as an experiment a system of 
pruning was to'begin with, adopted, which immediately 
seemed to yield such good results, that it was speediy 
more generally practised. It consists in the regular 
shortening of those portions of the branches which 
threaten to press down the higher branches and the 
stem. This pruning did not cause the slightest hindrance 
to the growth of the plant, so far as could be 
seen, for, although the tree was deprived of one 
portion of its mass of loaves, immediately another 
mass of leaves that had been threatened with extinction 
took over the functions of growth and bark-forming. 
The lower branches, deprived of a portion of their 
mass of leaves and so checked in their growth, are 
quickly borne down by the higher branches, and can 
then be removed without harm, and harvested as 
needed. This method of pruning, at first practised 
on one year old plants, was, after the favorable 
results were decidedly apparent, also tried on older 
trees with the same good result, by which means a 
very considerable quantity of ledgeriana bark was 
obtained. The measuring of ledgerianas begun in 
1879 was continued. The average height of the eight 
year old plants raised from seed at Tjibeureum was 
now 4 92 meters with a stem circumference of 0 33 
meter. The maximum height was 6'50, the maximum 
stem circumference 0'46 meter. At Tirtasari the 
measurements of the seven year old grafts and 
cuttings respectively gave an average height of 4'76 
and 3'71 meters, and an average stem circumference 
of 0'37 and 0 30 meter, whilst the maxima of height 
and stem circumference respectively were 015 and 
4 - 90, 0'45 and 0 40 meters. Although these figures, 
especially as regards the measurements taken at 
Tirtasari, give no averages in connection with the growth 
of the plants, because the parts of the plantations selected 
for measurement had, as rule, developed badly, the con- 
clusion is now drawn from comparisons with the measure- 
ments of former years that a more regular thinning out 
of the crowded plantations is desirable, which can also 
be more easily performed if the trees, by a rational and 
at the same time general method of pruning, no 
longer experience the injurious influence of the 
lopping. The Helopeltis antonii contiuued to show 
itself during the year under notice on all the 
establishments except Kawah Tjiwidei, but, thanks to 
the vigorous pursuit of the insect and the decrease in 
the number of affected spots, the damage caused was 
of small account. During the month of June the 
helopeltis made a somewhat sudden and severe attack 
on old succirubra plantations at Rioenggoenoeng, when 
their catching was impracticable. The plants re- 
covered quickly, however, after they had been forced 
into vigorous growth by a thorough working of the 
soil. Caterpillars saused some damage at Nagrak and 
Lembang, and the western portion of Iiioeuggoenoeng 
again suffered much from the larvre of chafers, which 
gnawed off the roots of the trees. The damage caused 
by larv;e, however, is diminishing progressively with 
the regular closing up of the plantations. 
4. Harvest of Baric. — The crop of 1886 amounted 
to 525,098 half kilograms of bark, which were sent 
to the Netherlands for sale. No bark was taken by 
* One of the most prominent impressions received 
in our visit to the Java plantations in 1886 was the 
tendency to a bushy habit of the Ledgers grafted on 
succirubra stems, — Ed, 
the military medical service. The bark was obtained 
from the thinning out of close ledgeriana and suc- 
cirubra plantations, and also from the digging out of 
backward and sickly trees, the rooting out of eleven 
bouws of 0. succirubra, which had ceased to grow, 
four bouws of 0. joxephia.ua and two bouws of C. ca/t- 
Sttya auglica. The product consisted of: — 
Amouut. Net Weight in 
Variety of Cinchona. Bales. Chests. Half Kilos. 
G. succirubra ... 590 40G 100,830 
C. ojsepkicma (C. calisaya 
sehuhhraft) ... 219 225 65,141 
0. calisaya (C. oaliaaya 
javanica) ... 3 1 580 
C. calinai/a auglica ... 97 31 18,281 
C. calo/i'tera ... 3 4 810 
C. ledgeriana ... 1,516 — 238,764 
C. officinalis ... 263 3 37,109 
O.lancifolia ... 26 2 4,183 
Total ... 2,7-23 732 525,698 
Prom these figures it appears that the crop of 1886 
exceeded that of the preceding year by 92,930 half 
kilograms. The iucrease is chiefly due to the much 
larger outturn of C. ledgeriana, of which the crop in 
1885 consisted of 155,287 half kilograms. The note- 
worthy increase of bark from the C. ledgeriana planta- 
tions must be ascribed chiefly to the intensive system 
of culture generally practised for the last three years. 
For, although it is true that in 1880 some plantations 
yielded for the first time a crop of ledgeriana bark and 
added to the increase of the production, iu the past 
year a still greater number of plants had to be spared, 
because, through an untimely harvesting carried out 
in 1835 on a large number of trees, which, in conse- 
quence of the scraping method practised on them in 
1884, had assumed a sickly appearauce and threatened 
to die, large openings had appeared in the plantations. 
As an instance of the favorable influence of the inten- 
sive culture on the production, it may be mentioned 
that thirty bouws planted with grafts and cuttings at 
Tirtasari of an average of five years old gave a crop of 
38,246 half kilograms of bark, in connection with which 
it may be stated that iu these plantations every- 
thing was spared that had a chance of further 
development, whilst at the same time it is deserving 
of record, that in the greater part of these thirty 
bouws the grafts were planted at a distance of 8 x 8 
Rhineland feet and contributed for the first time to 
the regular harvest about the middle of 1880. The 
rule adopted, to harvest seasonably , often and vioderately, 
was strictly observed, a rule which, as it were, 
naturally results from the well-known fact, that the 
growth of the trees is for the most part dependent 
on their mass of leaves, and from which the greater 
advantage of the close plantations is evident, since 
in these a maximum mass of leaves is met with. As 
has been mentioned under section 3, in the brief des- 
cription of the method of pruning adopted, a large 
crop was obtained by the pruning practised at first 
on the young plants but soon afterwards on the 
older trees. In the case of those that had grown up 
shrubby it was first determined which of the many 
stems should be cultivated as the main stem, and then 
those portions of the other stems which hindered the 
growth of the main stem were systematically removed, 
whilst only then was the wholesale removal of branches 
proceeded with where they were weighed down by the 
higher ones, or threatened to be soon weighed down. 
It was found possible by this means to adhere 
strictly to the rule to harvest only a little in this 
manner in order to spe°di!y obtain another crop ; 
but this was not the case with a systematic pruning, 
as it was formerly carried out, by which the tree 
in most cases was deprived of a very considerable pro- 
portion of its organs. In the method of harve^tiug now 
followed no sign of a temporary drooping of the plants, 
of which so many instances are to be seen as a conse- 
quence of the former mode of pruning, are to be observed . 
As the trees treated in the manner mentioned can 
continue to develop not only in height, but also in 
breadth, the question, often so difficult to solve, 
whether iu close plantations one should adopt thinning 
