May i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
777 
SAPPHIRES (?) IN TASMANIA. 
(The Anglo Australian in London.) 
We have, off and on, heard a good deal about 
precious stones from Australia, but hitherto no- 
thing very grand in this direction has been 
realized. The South Australian " rubies " turned 
out to be garnets, and the Queensland opals were 
a disappointment. Now, however, Tasmania is 
apparently coming forward, and may possibly prove 
an exception to the rule in regard to Australian 
precious stones rarely being up to the expectation 
roused on the subject. Mr. Dobson, who is now 
over here (the solicitor to the Main Line Eailway), 
has with him some specimens of sapphires from 
the eastern coast. I say sapphires provisionally, 
because that is still, I believe, a question lor the 
"experts" to determine. 1 hope shortly to be able 
to report definitely on this matter. Should Mr. 
Dobson's gems prove to be genuine sapphires, the 
find may be of commercial importance, as I believe 
there are plenty of like stones to be had whence 
these samples came — European Mail, March 29th. 
4. 
COFFEE NOTES FROM BRAZIL. 
Advices from the distriot of Bom Jesus de Itabapoana 
Rio de Janeiro, to a Campos journal, state that the 
drouth has paralyzed the coffee trees for two years, for 
they are burnt into their very centre. The large re- 
ceipts in Brazil have not ceased, and stocks are in- 
creasing. Revisions of their estimate of the present 
crop by Phipps & Oo. place the yield higher than their 
former computations. The guess now is on the market. 
Another estimate is that of the Journal of Commerce 
of Rio, which places the figures at 5,000,000 for the 
present crop. Both these authorities also estimate the 
coming crop, the former at 3,250,000 bags, and the 
latter at 4,000,000.— St Louis Grocer, Jan. 10th. 
From a private letter received in this city* it is 
learned that in the provinoe of Minas the panic is 
general throughout the entire population, over the 
alarming drouth that rules in the interior. Generally 
the sun has burnt up the coffee beans; and the coffee 
orchards are almost entirely destroyed. The crop will 
not produce sufficient to cover the cost of preparing 
it. Cereals have also seriously suffered. Despondency 
has seized upon all the planters who have before them 
only the prospect of a total loss. — Diario do Gommercio, 
21st February. This is pretty good for a single letter 
from Minas ; when others commence to come in their 
effect will be terrifying. — Rio News. 
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN COLOMBIA.* 
Tho cultivation of the cinchona tree on a large scale 
in Colombia is rattier a dream of the future than an 
accomplished fact; though the eminent suitability of 
the soil and climate in those districts where it was 
originally found wild are almost a guarantee for its 
success when attempted. In 1884 the Government of 
the Republic passed a law for the purpose of protnof- 
ing the plantation of cinchona, indiarubber, cacao, asiil 
eucalyptus trees. This law authorized the President 
to award prizes for the plantation of cinchona trees at 
the rate of 1,000 dollars for each 10,000 trees, to be 
payable when the trees had arrived at the age for 
cropping. The trees to be planted were required to be 
of certain species, namely, C. Ledgeriana, C. officinalis, 
C, lancifolia, and 0. pitayensis (the two latter being 
the best indigenous sorts). Certain smaller prizes 
were also to be given for the plantation of caoutchouc 
trees, and especially of a native species called in this 
country " caucho virgen," which grows in the cold 
country from 6000 feet upwards. The President was 
also authorized to purchase up to 1.000.000 trees for 
distribution to intending planters. This law has re- 
mained a dead letter, however. No prize has been 
awarded under its provisions, and no new plantations 
have been ade since it was passed. 
There are three important cinchona plantations in 
Colombia at, preseut. The oldest is near the village of 
Colombia, in the south of Tolima, belonging to the 
* From a Consular Report on the Agricultural Condi- 
tion of Colombia. 
Compania de Colombia, a company which for many 
years exported large quantities of the bark of the 
native C. lancifolia whilst the supplj' of wild trei s 
held out. Their plantation is composed of 80,000 trees, 
all C. lancifolia, and is situated exactly where the 
wild trees formerly grew. They have lately sent small 
quantities of the cultivated bark to Europe, and the 
quality is pronounced to be fine, with about 0 per 
cent, of quinine. Another plantation, also in Tolima, 
at Chaparral, on the Central Cordillera, has 450,000 
trees from one and a half to five years old, many fie 
for cropping. The owners have secured the services 
of Mr. Robert Thomson, formerly Superintendent of 
the Botanical Gardens in Jamaica, to manage the 
plantation. The trees there are of various sorts, includ- 
ing C. Ledgeriana, C. succirubra, C. officinalis, etc., 
besides the native species. The following analyses of 
specimens of bark from the Chaparral Company's 
plantation, made by Mr. D. Howard, show that the 
barks cultivated in Colombia compare well with the 
average of those of any other country, excepting, 
perhaps, the choice Java Ledgerianas. 
These analyses, considering the age of the trees, 
give very good promise. 
1. C. Ledgeriana, 3 years old, 
grown at 8,000 feet... 
2. C. succirubra, 3 years old, 
grown at 7,500 feet... 
3. C. succirubra, 3J years old, 
8 months renewed without 
moss, grown at 7,500 feet 
4. New species from Ecua 
dor, not named 
5. C. Thomsoniana (named 
provisionally), 2 years old, 
8 months renewed without 
moss 
6. C. officinalis, 3J years old, 
grown at 8,000 feet 
7. C. officinalis, 8 months re- 
newed with moss ... 
8. Jamaica hybrid, 3£ years 
old, grown at 7,500 feet 
9. C. Ledgeriana,22 month? 
old, grown at 7,500 feet 
'■33 3 24 
I 
i-00 3-75 
'•00 5-25 
>'70 4-28 
1-30 
>66 
;-i2 
■71 
2- 48 
3- 49 
322 
2-34 
2-03 
0- 66 
303 
1- 90 
0-43 
0-07 
0-21 
0-23 
2- 46 
0-55 
trace 
017 
0'67 
0'55 
0-06 
0-07 
0'62 
0-13 
0'20 
0-07 
006 
0-25 
0-05 
0-07 
0-02 
The third plantation is near Bogota, but I have 
been able to procure no details respecting it. These 
companies have exported little cultivated bark as yet, 
owing to the low price of quinine in Europe, and 
are waiting in expectation of a possibie rise in the 
pri^e. 
Of the two indigenous species, C. lancifolia and 
C. 2?itai/ensis, cultivated in the country, the former 
is the more valuable from the amount of quinine it 
contains, but it contains only a small quantity of 
other alkaloids. The C. 2>itayensis, on the contrary, 
is not very rich in quinine, but it is the richest 
known bark in the valuable alkaloid quinidine; it 
is, in fact, the only variety containing quinidine in 
anything like considerable quantities. Analyses made 
by Mr. Howard of Pitayo bark have shpwn from 
2 to 3 - 75 per cent. The Chaparral plantation is 
close to the district in which the C. pitayensis tree 
orginally grew. 
The best altitude for the cultivation of the value- 
able barks in Colombia is from 6,000 to 8,500 feet, 
in a temperature of 56° to 62°. The tree producing 
the Cuprea bark (Remijia purdicana),* and which 
grows as low as 2,000 feet, is not worth cultivating. 
The large exportation of this bark in 18^1-83, which 
somewhat disturbed the minds of the planters in 
* The botanical names of these trees have evidently 
been transposed. — Ed. Pharm, Journ, 
