f iL' H £ 
1YT ONTHLY 
Vol. III. I 
COLOMBO, SEPTEMBER ist, 1888. 
[No. 3. 
NOTES ON CINCHONA. 
By Anton Kbssler. 
(Translated for the. "Tropical AyriculturhC' from a reprint 
from the Journal of Iinluslry and Agriculture 
at Batavia of September 188(3, by J. Bent Young.) 
If you hang a coffee beau or a tea seed by a thread 
in a glass vessel] partly filled with distilled water, so 
that it just touches the surface, keeping the vessel 
covered with a perforated sheet of glass or card, the 
seed will in a short time begin to germinate as if it were 
covered with earth; a young sprout, the future stem, 
stretches itself upwards vertically from the seed, whilst 
a well-developed taproot forces itself into the water' 
This continues for a certain time, until the seed shalj 
havo transferred all its contained nutriment to the 
young plant. After this the development of the little 
stem and root comes to a standstill, till after a short 
while the young plant dios for want of nutriment. 
The root finds nothing in the water that it can use 
for furtheringthe growth of the young tree or for its own 
development,* and the fluid was only of use to the 
root to protect it from dessication during the time that 
the plant was being developed at the cost of the seed 
to which it owed its origin. 
Should you desire to preserve the plant, you will have 
to remove it into the earth. By this njeaus the young 
root finds a suitable site for exertion, and rapidly 
multiplies itfiell in numberless side roa'tlets, and more 
especially in thai direction where nourishment is the 
most abundant. 
If on its way it meets a layer of earth rich with 
nutritive constituents, it penetrates it i:_ all directions 
with fine capillary rootlets or fibre-, whilst a little 
further it torces its way in long threads almost with- 
out any capillary rootlets if it chares to reach a layer 
of poor soil ottering but little suitable nutriment. 
Superficially observed it would seem as if the plant 
Benight for food with consciousness : nd iutentiOD, 
alter the maimer of an animal. To account for the 
phenomenon, however, there is not the smallest need 
of any such bypothes s. 
Still it is evident that after the roots have sprouted 
from the main root, they develops themselves in 
that direction where they meet the most abundant sup- 
ply of nutriment nod the most {avorable condi- 
tions wlul>t the tender rootlet.-, which are sent 
out by the 11 ain root into soil that is unfertile or 
uiisuitcd to tlnir dt velopment must perish, so that 
• The probable small quantity ol auiino.iin and sul- 
phuric aoid laid 111 the atmosphere is here leit out of 
comiduratiou. 
only the bare main root survives. Experimental demon- 
stration of this can be obtained in an interesting 
manner. 
Instea 1 of transferring the seedling into an inti- 
mately ansa] am ite.l mixture of soil, let it be planted 
iu a glass vesst 1 in which poor barren soil and rich 
mould are so placed as to be kept iu clearly distinct 
portions, although in juxt ipo-ition. After a time let 
the system of i outs be examined by soaking them iu 
water so as to Iojspu the earth, and gently rinsing 
it off the roots. Let the roots thus entirely freod from 
earth be place 1 in cle ir water, in the same position as 
that in which the plant grew; it will he seen that the 
whole syst-m of roots will arrange itself into the 
shape which it assumed in the ground — and it is 
observable that the different portions of earth are more 
or less interlaced with roots in the ratio in which 
they are more or less suitable for the nourishment of 
the plant. Through the barren portions run the 
bare branchless roots, whilst the fertile divisions of 
th 1 ! s-'il,, however they may be placed, whether in 
horizontal layers, on the surface, along the sides of 
the vpssel, or at the bottom of it, are interwoven 
with fine white capillary roots. 
Iu this lies the means of ol taining aD answer to the 
question. — What kind of soil or what kind of manuring 
compost is most suitable to the development of 
any particular plan' to be cult vated? For this 
purpose let a vessel be divi'ed by vert'cal parti- 
tions into several, say four, compartments. The 
two partitions are to he placed at right an gles 
with each other, and to be sunk into the bottom, 
so that the thus formed four compartments may 
remain perfectly separated from each other. Let 
a square of from eight to ton centimeters (3 or 1 inches) 
he cut out of the upper edge of the two partitions at 
their intersection. Then fill the four divisions of the 
vessel with the soils to be examined, and form a small 
cylindric hole in the eartli by means of a wooden plug 
at the intersection of the partitions where the squares 
have been cut out. 
Iu this hole filled with ordinary earth, place the 
plant t> he experimented on, cutting off the taproot, 
so that it shall not reach the bottom of the hole. At 
the expiration of some months, the earth in the 
vessel is to he carefully washed away, so that the roots 
freed from all attached particles become visible. In 
many eases it will be apparent that the development 
of the roots in the four compartments has been very 
different ; by cutting off these roots, level with the 
stump ut the taproot, mid weighing them, after they 
shall h ivo b' eu dried in the open air, their relative 
development in each of the kinds of soil subjected 
to the experiment can be ascertained. Iu th is 
way 1 planted young seedlings of suecirubra and 
officinalis in bamboo baskets of about 30 centimeters 
[12 in hes nearly] iu diameter and height, and which 
were divided by vertical tin plates soldered together, in- 
to four nearly equal sections. As above described, there 
remained u small hole formed by cutting squares outof 
tho upper rim of the tiu plates, where they were soldered 
