392 
T M E TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1888. 
near Bogota (elevation 4000 to 6000 feet), are healthy 
ami strong growing, aucl are being propagated. The 
prospects of establishing it on the Nilgiris is promising. 
It is supposed to be a strong growiug and large tree, 
which its present appearance does not helie : its 
yield in quinine is much the same as that of succiru- 
hra, and it will probably succeed in the same localities 
as that species." Mr. Cross tells me that he believes 
the " Chiiia Cuprea " from Bogota is the same species. 
In 1884 they flowered and seeded, aud in the same 
year 400 young plants were put out aud grew 
rapidly. 
One of the trees planted by Mr, Kowson in Ossing- 
ton Estate, Naduvatam, was cut down and uprooted, 
last year; it had been growiug in a poor soil with a 
southern aspect, and was five and a half year old. 
This year some bark was taken from au original tree 
six years old, on the Government Plantation, and ex- 
amined with the other specimens, with the following 
results : 
Government 
Stem-bark 
Quinine ... ... — 
Cinchonidiuo ... '40 
Quiuidine — 
Oiuchoniue ... ... 1*64 
Amorphous alkaloid 1-51 
Ossiugton Ossiugton 
Stem-bark Root-bark. 
— 1-10 
•22 -55 
— -36 
1-60 1-77 
1-33 -62 
3-55 3-15 4-40 
The appearance of the bark was not very different 
to that of other species ; the outer surface was marked 
by transverse rings at rather regular iutervals and 
warty exuberances. The powder of the stem, and 
especially of the root-bark, was decidedly more yellow 
than other kinds of cinchona. Although this bark is 
known in some quarters as "hard Carthageua," no 
particular hardness was noticed in the small sample 
from the locally cultivated trees; if the hardness de- 
pends upon the heaviness the name would not apply 
to this bark, as the specific gravity of some of the 
powder showed it to he like the cuprea, lighter than 
the red and crown barks. The analyses, however, are 
of the most importance, and these show the ba.rk to 
have the same composition as those brought by Mr. 
Cross from Usenda and Sylvia in the district of the 
Cauca, and analysed by Mr. J. B. Howard in 1878. 
It is very evident tint this variety of Oarthagena 
bark, now being cultivated on the Nilgiris, is a very 
useless one commercially, and that the better kind, 
brought from the Magdalena valley, never reached 
India at all, or was one of the plants that was un- 
suited to the climate and died. Now we know of 
the little value of this species, its propagation will not 
be continued, a few trees only will be reserved for 
botanical identification and future chemical investiga- 
tion. In the first analysis of the root bark the small 
quantity of alkaloid named quinine appeared to have 
some of the properties of homoquinine, an alkaloid 
found in cuprea bark, but further tests on a larger 
scale showed it to be chemically and physically 
identical with quinine. Oinchouidiue was also readily 
dected in each sample, and as the absence of this 
alkaloid constitutes a perfectly distinct character of 
the Iteinijias, it is very clear that the barks above 
examined are from a separate species of cinchona 
from any of those hitherto introduced into India. 
Iu concluding this paper I must acknowledge the 
use I have made of the works of Markham, Howard, 
Kaisten, Triaua, Ilumbolt, Cross, Fliickiger, Van 
Gorkom, the Reports of the Madras Government, and 
the statistical notices of the cinchona trade in the 
Pharmaceutical Journal and Chemist and Druggist. 
THE IIYHIUDLSATION OF CINCHONAS. 
I1Y DAVID IIOOPJ5II, F.C.S., F.I.C., 
Government Qidnol agist. 
The hybridisation of plants belongs to the depart- 
ment of vegetable physiology, and when plants con- 
tain alkaloids and principles which admit of precise 
quantitative determination, the processes of Nature 
might well he studied from a chemical point of view. 
Ciuchona hybrids have received a great deal of at- 
tention from a number of botanists, and without re- 
producing the different conclusions arrived at, and 
only using botanical terms sufficient for explanation, 
I intend to treat the subject in the light of the 
chemical analysis of the barks. 
There are two well-defined species of Cinchona on 
the plantations of the Madras Government, the one 
is C. succiruhra (Pavoh), yielding red bark, and the 
other C. officinalis (Hooki r), yielding the c-own bark 
of commerce. Between these two species, many hy- 
brid barks are recognized, and have been cultivated 
aud exported to a very large extent form thi« country, 
and the time has come when their nature should be 
thoroughly investigated. The facility with which 
these plants made their appearance on the estates 
seems to imply that forms of cinchona were produced 
that were more adapted to the climate and situation 
of their adopted country than the parent forms 
brought orgiually from South America. Those 
having a greater vigour of growth shoul 1 be propa- 
gated, as the robust habit is usually indicative of a 
richer bark. Hybirds assume the quick growing char- 
acter "f the succiruhra, yet they contain a greater 
proportion of quinine than that species. They do 
not as a rule contain the precentage of quinine u-ual 
to officinalis, but the large quantity of bark yielded 
by the tree, and the high total alkaloids, make them 
equal iu value to the best crown barks. 
It will first be necessary to discuss the alkaloidal com- 
position of the two species between which hybridisation 
on the plantations has taken p'ace, and for this purpose 
the analyses of natural stem bark will be quoted, ex- 
cluding brauch, root, and all barks submitted to arti- 
ficial treatment. Cinchona succiruhra has a peculiar 
centesimal arrangement of alkaloids in its bark varying 
between certain limits. In the following table it will 
be seen that iu fifty selected harks the quinine ranges 
from 17 to 27 per cent., cinchonidine from 20 to 51 per 
cent., cinchonine from 17 to 47 per cent., and amor- 
phous alkaloids from 4 to 23 per cent.; besides these 
the alkaloid quiuidine occurs in traces in red barks, 
and occasionally reaches 0 5 per cent. 
Composition of 
Alkaloids 
in Red 
Barks. 
Cinchoni- 
Cincho- 
Amorphous 
Quinine. 
dine. 
nine. 
Alkaloids. 
1 
. . 17-6 
43-4 
29-4 
9-6 
2 
. . 17-8 
35-3 
38-3 
8-6 
3 
.. 18-0 
39-8 
34-5 
7-7 
4 
. . 18-3 
29-8 
431 
8-8 
5 
.. 18-9 
51-7 
25-4 
4-0 
6 
. . 190 
270 
42-0 
12-0 
7 
. . 19-2 
33-3 
387 
8-8 
8 
. . 19-4 
30-7 
40T 
9-8 
9 
. . 196 
48-4 
26-4 
5-6 
10 
.. 19-7 
36-6 
373 
6-4 
11 
. . 20-0 
27-0 
460 
6-1 
12 
. . 20-0 
30-0 
40-0 
10-0 
13 
. . 20-3 
41-4 
26-8 
US 
14 
.. 20'4 
36-7 
32-4 
10-5 
15 
. . 20-6 
339 
32-6 
12-9 
16 
. . 20-9 
42-9 
29-1 
7-1 
17 
.. 21-3 
42T 
21-5 
151 
18 
. . 21-4 
26-5 
42-6 
9-5 
19 
.. 21-5 
35-6 
24-9 
18-0 
20 
.. 21 '6 
87-1 
267 
14-6 
21 
.. 21-6 
34-3 
37'3 
, - 6-8 
22 
.. 21-9 
34-7 
315 
11-9 
23 
.. 22T 
34-9 
29-7 
13-3 
24 
.. 22-2 
36-6 
33-4 
7-8 
25 
.. 22-2 
36-8 
23'1 
17-9 
26 
.. 22'4 
35 4 
30-0 
12-2 
27 
. . 22-4 
326 
32-8 
12-2 
28 
.. 22-6 
35-4 
35-4 
6-6 
29 
. . 22-7 
39 '3 
23-0 
150 
30 
. . 22-7 
44-5 
28-8 
4-0 
31 
. . 23 0 
41-0 
27 i 5 
8-5 
32 
. . 23T 
261 
357 
15' 1 
33 
. • 23T 
33-7 
342 
9-0 
34 
. . 23-5 
423 
18-2 
16 0 
35 
.. 23 '5 
28\3 
24-4 
23-8 
36 
.. 23-5 
38-6 
27-9 
10-0 
37 
. . 23-7 
36-2 
26-1 
14-0 
38 
. . 23-9 
36-5 
25-4 
14-2 
39 
. . 24-4 
35'4 
31-0 
9'2 
