July i, 1881. J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
97 
the orders of private planters in Java could scarcely 
be executed, while to British India and Ceylon plant- 
erg on this occasion no seed of this Variety could be 
spared. The Cinchona Ledgeriaiia appears, more than 
the other kinds, to require a long dry season, in order 
afterwards, when the rain falls, to bring forth blossom 
in abundance, so that after the extremely dry year 
1877 nearly every tree blossomed. After the unusually 
wet east monsoon of this Tear, there is the fear that 
now also again little blossom will appear, — audiuthat 
case that in 1880 also the fruit will not ripen before 
December. The planting of cuttings of Ledgeriaua 
was continued steadily, but the success continues small, 
although attempts were made in many ways to intro- 
duce improvements into the mode of treating the cut- 
tings. As the experiments made sometime ago — es- 
pecially in 1870 to graft Ledgeriaua on other varieties 
of cinchona were not crowned with such success as 
to lead to their continuance, this year another method 
of grafting was practised which has succeeded ex- 
cellently and promises well. The Ledgeriana grafts 
are now grafted on succirubra stems of about a 
year old, or on good rooted cuttings of this variety, 
in the manner employed iu Europe for the grafting 
of rhododendrons &c. The whole operation takes 
place in the forcing-houses, where plants remain 
until they have made a good growth. A portion of 
these grafts, about 2,600, have already been planted 
out, and they are now at the commencement glow- 
ing very vigorously. The question is, — and it can only 
be settled by the experiment,— if the graft can con- 
tinue to grow on the succirubra stem aud then share 
in the advantage of the quick strong growth of the 
red cinchona, or if this cannot take place in the long 
run. In the latter case an experiment will be made 
of placing the grafts very low down on the succi- 
rubra stems, and then planting the e so deep that 
the graft itself will have the chance of sending out 
roots and growing on its own account. The great 
advantage expected from this artificial propagation is, 
besides a quicker growth of the Ledgerianas, the pos- 
sibility of obtaining a Dumber of plants from the best 
of the trees experimented on. The attempt to grow 
cuttings of these, though often made, never succeed- 
ed, while now about a thousand thriving grafts of 
these trees very luxuriantly developed are ready to be 
planted. Among these are inter dlifi about a hundred 
slips of the tree No. 67 which .yielded 13"3 p. c. 
quinine. The layering of Ledgerianas, formerly tried 
now and then with good results; has been carried out 
this year on a larger scale, and this method of propaga- 
tion also succeeds excellently. The plantations of 
V, officinalis were extended only on the high-lying 
8Bf ablishmenfc Kawah-Tjiwidei : the newly opened 
gardens there continue very good. 0. succriubra was 
planted especially where the soil or the lay was less 
suitable lor other varieties of :inchona. The number 
of trees of this species was increased by 42.600. 
The decrease in the total number of plants in the open 
is due to the following circumstances: 80,000 plants of 
Ci officinalis have been written off as worthless, as 
will be further mentioned in sec. 3. At Lem bang and 
at Tjibitoeng old gardens o) V. Sebuhkraft were rooted 
out, which showed little sign of further growth, so 
that a replacement by C. succirubra appeared desir- 
able The uprooting Will be continued during I860. 
At Tjinjiroean, where, iu Holds planted for 'the second 
time, great mortality w:> experienced, it appears 
from an enumeration that from this cause the figure 
for the existing plants was put too high, and this 
number has therefore been proportionately diminished. 
The harvesting reduced the Bomber by about 200,000 
plants, mostly of badly developed trees of inferior 
varieties. Of the best kinds, C. Ledgeriana aud C. 
officinalis, this year the harvesting has been chiefly 
hy the taking off of St tips and the cutting in slivers 
(scraping) of the bark, and with officinalis also by the 
25 
partial stripping after MclvorVmethod. Only on Nagrak 
ahout 2,400 officinalis plants were uprooted from 
a field which needed thinning out. 
3. Extension ; Upkeep. 
At Kerideng Patoeha another piece of ground of 
about 10 bouws in size was opened. The want of 
work-people hindered the completion, so that at the 
end of 1870 only 4 bouws were cleared f>r planting. 
At Rioen-Goenoeug also a piece of jungle land about 
two bouws in size was added to the existing planta-' 
tion. On the newly opened land situated on the 
Malawar mountains to the north of Tjinjiroean, and 
now as a separate establishment bearing the name 
Tirtasari, a wooden house was erected as a temporary 
residence forthesuperintendent. The want of labour here 
also prevented the speedy carrying out of the preparation 
of the land, but still by degrees some bouws were cleared 
for planting, while good progress was made with the 
chief roads. As this establishment has hitherto been 
reserved exclusively for C. Ledgeriana, obtained from 
the original trees by artificial reproduction (cuttings, 
grafts and layeringsj the further operations could 'be 
put off until a supply of labour offered. In Novem- 
ber the first two bouws there were planted, half 
with cuttings, the other half with grafts. On the 
old establishments progress was made with the rooting 
out of the fields of inferior kinds, chiefly to make 
room for Ledgeriana seedlings. It has been found 
that cinchonas grow much less readily on ground which 
has already been planted with cinchona than upon fresh 
jungle land. The same is the experience with the 
coffee estates, and in the case of the Government 
coffee culture the result has been a system ol 
cultivation whereby the old gardens are being con- 
stantly writteu off and allowed to revert into fields or 
alang-alang, glagah*, and lantana, and new forest is 
felled for the purpose of opening new gardens. Not- 
withstanding the great expense attendant on a first 
opening, the advantage to the enterprise apparently 
is greater— on account of better and quicker growth 
of the cinchona trees — if the old fields, as soon 
as the first planting is cropped, are regularly 
abandoned, new land being opened. However, it 
is not for a Government enterprise to set such an 
example, and it will therefore be endeavoured 
by an increased and rational culture of the soil, 
and by bestowing more pains upon the plants, to 
bring those lands which from time to time become 
of a less satisfactory condition into a flourishing 
state. Since it is thought more advantageous t<- 
coyer these lands, planted for the second time, as 
quickly as possible with a close, grove of trees. 
11 thest 
celv 
closer planting is ad 
four feet apait in fact. After three to four years 
the gardens will need thinning out probably," and 
will even then yield, in the case of Ledgeriaria, bark 
there was not enough land at Rendeng Patoeba pre- 
pared for the officinalis plants, which were loo big 
to plant at only three feet apart*' With tlu's'variety. 
which has a very slender stem and scarcely any -idc 
branches, there is every hope of a good result foL 
lowing on this plan. Here also iu time thinning 
out will have to be considered. The chemical analyses 
of young Ledgeriana seedling? and officinalis plants 
of 3 to -I years old also served for the collection 
of more data for the regulating. Recording to know 
ledge of ascertained facts, of the distance at which 
it is necessary to plant. A lour year old Ledgeriana 
tree yielded on an average 0-20 kilogram of bark, so 
that four trees of this age are needed to give one 
kilogram of dry bark. The three year old officinalis 
* Succharuni spontamum : t 
Ceylon Grasses, Nb 139. — Tr. 
Mr. W. Ferguson's 
