02 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July i, 1881 
yield of cinchona sometimes remains the same ; though 
it usually somewhat increases. In the other barks 
theiv is an evident disposition to form more quinine 
and less cinchonidine, but the increase is not re- 
markable and is not complete enough to justify the 
application of Mclvor's method on a large scale to 
these sorts. The barks which were rich in quinidine — 
Ha c skarliana 1 and dlisaya Sohuhkraft — produced 
this alkaloid also in the renewing of the bark. The 
analyses of C. officinalis, C. lancifolia and Calisaya 
Schuhkraft will be concluded in 1880. The analyses 
97 and :8 were carried out with a view to ascertain 
if such young officinalis trees had already an appreci- 
able value. The result is assuring. The experiment 
was made by choosing ten trees of different exterior 
and origin in a plantation, cutting from each two 
strips, mixing them, and analyzing. The wounds were 
covered with moss, and in two months they were 
all covered with new bark. It was found by pre- 
vious experiments that bark cut in quills was not 
injured by being dried in the sun. But the question 
was whether bark cut in shavings (scraped) could 
also bear the drying in sunlight without a decrease 
taking place in the yield of alkaloid and especially 
of quinine. The analyses 23—28 and 90 — 91 were carried 
out to gain data for the answering of this question. 
The bark, cut from one stem, was divided inlo two 
equal parts and the one half dried in the sun, the other 
over an oven. This experiment was tried three times 
with bark of different Ledgeriana trees and once with 
succirubra. The differences are on the whole so in- 
significant that there need be no fear of drying in 
the sun, even for these barks cut in shavings. The 
Cinchona cordifolia — No. 116- was analyzed in order 
to better determine the value of this kind. It belongs 
to the cinchonine producers, approaches in that respect 
to C. micrantha, from which, however, the variety 
differs greatly, and is of little value. This tree 
grows best in the lowest lying gardens at Lembang. 
9. Preparation or Febrifuge Alkaloid. 
In the analytical laboratory of the medical depart- 
ment, Weltevreden, by de Vrij's method so-called, 
out of 3,000 kilograms of dry bark 56 kilograms 
of quinetum were prepareded — less than 50 per 
cent of the alkaloid that was present in the bark. 
With this quinetum, trials will be made in the 
different military hospitals. Analyses were made of 
different kinds of quinetum, the result of which is 
given below. Of these analyses the second was per- 
formed by Mr. J. Hekmeijer, principal of the ana- 
lytical laboratory at Weltevreden. 
Composition. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
0 52 
1-92 
9 00 
6 22 
4 30 
0-80 
6-00 
3 80 
3 00 
0 80 
2-20 
2 10 
6 50 
4 60 
6-94 
13 42 
25-13 
60-20 
24-63 
40 56 
52 35 
30-18 
35 95 
27-50 
7-12 
0-42 
9-92 
4-80 
T08 
108 
5-36 
1-60 
Insoluble in dilute hydrochloric 
acid 
Water 
Ash' 71 1 * j. c . ,J; ] 1 
Quinine 
Cinchonidine 
Cinehonine and quinomine 
Amorphous alkaloid 
Coloring matter and residuum 
Quinetum No. 1 is that prepared in British India 
and sold by the Government there at 20 rupees per 
Eugfish pound. It is of a fine white colour, and has 
a peculiar sweet smell. It is packed in tin boxes 
hol ing § an English pound, which are provided with 
directions for use in English and Hindus'ani. No. 2 
was prepaied at Weltevreden. It has the same ap- 
p. arance and smell as the Bengal, but is a little 
darker colored. No. 3 is a sample of the first quine- 
tum prepared by Broughton in Madras and called by 
him amorphous quinine. It is a yellow stuff, sticky 
like rutin, and looking like rhubarb powder, — on the 
whole a very impure preparation. Equally with the 
samples 1 and 4 I owe this also to the kindne s of 
Dr. King, superintendent of the Bengal cinchona 
gardens. No. 4 is quinetum of the manufacturer 
Whiffen in London. This had a gray-brown tint, smell 
of methyl-alcohol, and left a sandy residuum on solu- 
tion in dilute hydrochloric acid. Besides these samples 
of quinetum another preparation was analyzed, pro- 
duced by the same maker, under the name of quine- 
tum sulphate. It has been tried in British India, and 
consists of 
23 "26 per cent sulphate of quinine, 
51-40 ,, ,, cinchonidine, 
24-30 ,, ,, cinchonine. 
This has a very good appearance and greatly re 
seinbles the quinine sulphate of commerce, but with 
the microscope the larger crystals of cinchona sulphate 
can be detected. This preparation is appareutly com- 
bined mechanically by the mixture of J cinchonidine 
sulphate with \ quinine sulphate and an equal quantity 
of cinchonine sulphate. The quinetum of different 
preparations was also of very different composition . 
As the loss is so excessively great in the preparation 
by extraction with dilute hydrochloric or sulphuric 
acid (de Vrij's method), that about half of the alkal- 
oids are as good as lost in the process, another 
method of preparation is to be adopted in Bengal, 
and at the same time a large proportion of the quine- 
tum will be made into sulphate compounds, with a 
view to remove the amorphous alkaloids, which some- 
times form i of the whole, and to which disagreeable 
results are ascribed. 
The Government cinchona gardens were visited dur- 
ing the course of this year by many cinchona planters 
from British India and Ceylon. Dr. King also, the 
director of the botanic gardens in Calcutta and super- 
intendent of the cinchona gardens in British Sikkim, 
visited Java, chiefly with the object of inspecting the 
Ledgeriana gardens. By Government order of 5th Dec. 
1879, No. 23, it was determined that the director of 
the Government cinchona enterprize in the Preanger 
Regencies should visit the principal cinchona gardens in 
British India in 1880. 
[Since writing our preliminary remarks we find that 
Mr. Moens' Report is really dated January 1880 : it 
was probably kept back by the Netherlands authorities 
from the public for some reason, while the Quarterly 
Statements are at once given. — Ed. J 
REPORT ON THE GOVERNMENT CINCHONA 
ENTERPRIZE FOR THE FIRST QUARTER 1881. 
The weather continued very rainy during the past 
quarter. At the end of January the Nagrak estab- 
lishment was again visited by a severe storm, by 
which about 2,000 trees were destroyed. On the 
other establishments, at the same time, heavy gusts of 
wind were indeed experienced, but the plants suffered 
no damage worth mentioning from this cause. The 
plants are on the whole flourishing. In some parts 
of the gardens they suffered somewhat from excess 
of moisture. This was the case especially on the 
Lembang establishment. But now that the showers 
of rain are less heavy the trees are beginning to 
recover. The harvesting by partial stripping ana 
by cutting in chips (scraping) of the bark was 
carried out during the rainy weather, and re- 
newed three year old bark was also gathered. For 
the covering of the stripped trees use is now gener- 
ally made of alang-alang and other local varieties its 
grasses, which so far do very well. The last batch 
of the crop of 1 880 was sent to Batavia in February. 
The quantity intended for sale in the Netherlands 
amounts altogether to 109,080 Amsterdam lb., packed in 
26 chests and 825 bales. This amount will probably 
