July 
1881. 
THE TROPICAL AGRICUT/rURIST. 
whether that country can be relied upon for yielding 
enough of it. At present the supply from India 
may be taken as amounting to about one-tenth part 
of the entire production from all countries, although 
it was only in 1867 tbat the first India cinchona 
bark made its appearance in the Loudon market. 
Professor Fliickiger thinks, therefore, that it is only 
a question of time when South America shall be equalled 
in this respect by India aud other colonies and tbat 
the latter may even become the chief source of supply. 
Following up the question as to the kind of bark 
to be selected from among those grown in India, Pro- 
fessor Fliickiger does not approve of deciding alto- 
gether from the amount of alkaloid. He holds that 
if the physician desires to have recourse to the 
curative action of the alkaloids it is best to employ 
them in a pure state, aud to employ cinchona bark 
or some one of its pharmaceutical preparations, 
chieflv in cases where the accessory influence of 
other of its constituents is desired. From this point 
of view it is admissible to dispense altogether with 
bark, which like good flat calisaya, is of value chiefly on 
account of the quinine it contains. 
lu selecting from among the branch bark of various 
kinds of cinchona there is some difficulty, but taking all 
things into account Professor Fliickiger inclines to that 
of C. succivubra as being most suitable to adopt as 
official for pharmaceutical purposes ; but in order to 
provide against any possible future experience con- 
trary to that we now possess, he would not entirely 
exclude other kinds of bark provided they contain a 
sufficient amount of alkaloid. 
INDIA-RUBBER PLANTS. 
London, 6th May 1881. 
Dear Sir, — 1 have received another lot by post 
<of Tabernacmontana seed, and it was eagerly purchased 
here by Ceylon men, who see tbat it is a great ad- 
Tantage to get the seed of new trees rather than 
have to pay 10s for plants and wardiau case and the 
freight and expenses. 
As I found that after Brazil, the west coast of Africa 
sent the next largest quantity of rubber to, this market, 
you will admit I was warranted in searching out for 
these trees that yielded this supply. I have still about 
four unnamed. Professor Oliver of Kew worked out the 
details of this? Tabernaemontana crassa from the speci- 
mens 1 tent him.— Yours faithfully. THOS. CHRISTY. 
A LONDON AGENCY FOR CEYLON TEA. 
Sfcrathellie, Nawalapitiya, 25th May 1881. 
Dear Sir,— Mr. W. Turing Mackenzie's suggestion 
of a Loudon tea agency for Ceylon should not be 
allowed to fall to the ground. I should propose that a 
meeting of those interested in tea should be held 
iu Colombo to discuss the matter. If any gentlemen 
in the mercantile community could find out for us 
Hie hest way of proceeding, or the probable cost of 
establishing an agency, I will undertake to do what 
I can towards getting the promise of a lot of tea, and 
I think I am safe in saying that if there is a prospect 
of getting a good sale for it 1 could get contribu- 
tions of from 10,000 lb. to '^0,000 lb. of tea to help 
to start the thing. Money would be required too, and 
1 dare say many who have only a little tea at present 
and expect to have a good deal more would give a 
money subscription. Of course, no one supposes this 
tea will be given away, but those who contribute it 
must tike their chance of a good or indifferent sale, 
and I for one, from experieuee gained by sending tea 
home, am certain we shall have 'no difficulty in selling 
our tea, if it is only properly advertised. 
The pruning season is now at hand, and 1 Suppose 
much tea w ill not be made for somo little time, but 
in the meantime let those interested think the matter 
over, and let us have a meeting in Colombo, say iu Au- 
gust. Race week is generally a good time for get- 
ting men together there. If I can bo of any use in col- 
lecting promises of chests of tea or promises of money' 
I shall be glad to hear from those inclined to contrib- 
ute either.— Yours faithfully, P. R. SHAN IX 
" LEDGERIANA " CULTIVATION UNDER THE 
SHADOW OF ADAM'S PEAK 
Maskeliya Beatihg Java ! 
St. Andrews, Maskeliya, 23rd May 1881. 
Dear Sir,— In your preface to Mr. Moens' Report 
on the Java Government Cinchona Gardens, you add 
the weight of editorial opinion in corroboration of 
Mr. Moens' disapproval of the young districts as a 
field for C. Ledgeriana cultivation. Now, bad cnougo 
things are said of the young districts without this, 
and I must ask you to beg the young districts 
pardon and heal the wounded feelings of my Ledgeri- 
ana trees by retracting this statement. I did not 
think Mr. Moens had sufficient experience of our 
climate to form a fair opinion about it ; and even 
granted that our climate is too damp to induce pro- 
fuse blossoming, that is no reason why the quantity 
or quality of our bark should be condemned. How- 
ever, I do not think that our climate is too wet to 
produce a proper amount of blossom, but as the 
blossom is very slow in coming out, it does get 
too much rain on the top of it, and in Java such 
would also seem to be the case. Most of my old 
trees are covered with bud and blossom, and Mr. 
Agar tells me that the trees at Mahanilu, which he 
obtained from me in 1876, are also in blossom. 
My oldest Ledgerianas will be live years old next 
month, and are well-grown, robust-looking trees, and 
many of them would give almost as much bark as 
a succirubra tree of the same age ; for, though the 
stem may be smaller, the bark is far thicker. I 
measured four of the best to-«1ay, growing side by 
side. They averaged 16 feet in height, and stem 13# 
inches, in circumference a foot from the ground. 
Now to compare Ceylon with Java, Mr. Moens says 
that it takes four of his four year old Ledgerianas 
to give one kilogram of dry bark, i.e., each tree gives 
jmt nine ounces. This statement is not very clear, 
and I can hardly believe it to mean that if a tree 
were cut down all the bark would only weigh nine 
ounces. Perhaps it means that nine ounces can be 
taken from a living tree without killing it. I un- 
fortunately have no four year old trees, but I am 
perfectly certain that at four years my trees would 
have averaged more than twice nine ounces, aud one 
tree (one of the best) broken across by the wind last 
year when it was four years) gave almost three lb. 
of dry bark, exclusive of the stump and root. 
Mr. .Moens' interesting figures about his fifty Ledgeri- 
anas, two years old, led me to compare mine. 
To-day I most carefully measured 52 trees begin- 
ning at the first tree of the first liue, passing over 
only two, one with a double s:em. and one thathad 
been broken across; the other 50 were a fair average 
and included two small supplies. If my calculations 
of the Java metre* is correct the Java and Ceylon 
figures are : — 
Fifty Java 2 
years old 
Ledgerianas. 
Average height 57 
,, stem circumference 4 
inches from ground 
,, across branches 
Maximum height 
,, stem circumference 
,, cross branches 
Rift) St. An- 
drews 22.; 
months old 
hedgeiianat. 
65 inches. 
3'937 
38-37 
74 80 
5-51 
55 12 
Mr. Minus metre is, ot course, the 
I 093638 vard. -Ed. 
3 965 „ 
