THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July i, 1881. 
— 
To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 
THE CINCHONA BARK TRADE IN SOUTH 
AMERICA; VINES, COAL, GOLD, &c. 
Edinburgh, 30th May 1881. 
Dkar Sir, — Some time ago, you asked me to pro- 
cure some information from my brother in South 
America, on cinchona, but, in reply to my letter on 
the subject, it seems that he knows little about it. 
I annex quotations of what he writes on this, and 
some other matters. — Yours truly, P. D. MILLIE. 
Concepsion, Southern Chili, loth April 1881. 
Cinchona— alas ! I never saw a cinchona tree 
in my life ! and all I know about it, is the fact, that 
baric is brought down from the interior of Peru and 
Bolivia ; that the tree grows on the mountains there, 
at a considerable elevation ; that the climate where 
it grows is a wet one, during at leapt half the year, 
and is a rather cool although semi-tropical one ; that 
there is no cultivation of the tree, and no care taken, 
that it will not, ere long, be exterminated, as the 
natives simply cut down, and strip the bark off 
every tree which they can find ; that in view of this 
wholesale destruction, leading to a scarcity of bark, 
the British Government has done a good deal towards 
introducing the tree into India. The rest you know 
better than I do, as all which I have learned has 
been gathered from the Ceylon papers, which you 
send me. 
It has struck me, the tree might grow very well in 
Chili : perhaps the climate is rather too cold, too like 
the south of England, where I suppose it would not 
grow. This is just all I know about it. This is a 
land of corn and wine, beef, and cyder : all over the 
south apple trees grow wild, and the cyder orchards 
are the woods and meadows : nobody does more than 
shake the trees year after year. This year, they are 
lamenting a bad crop of apples. What wonder ? 
The vines are a little more attended to, and the 
wines are good or bad, just according to the care be- 
stowed upon its growth, and preparation. They are 
dirt cheap, and moderately used, being far more whole- 
some than any doctored European stuff — too often 
palmed off as port, sherry, and claret, on folks 
at home. 
I bavebeen wandering about the coal mines, south, 
in Lota and Lebu. There is coal all over the south — 
coal, for centuries, in sight, besides what is out 
of sight ; for the half dozen mines at present 
worked fully cover the demand, and those who own 
coal land don't touch it Posterity will, perhaps, 
export coal to Europe, as Europe is now doing to 
us, to our loss and detriment. 
England sends us out coal, as ballast for ships,' 
which come for guano, nitrate, wheat &c, and, as it 
has to be sold, the competition with our own mines 
sadly limits their output. 
There is also iron, [in abundance, here ; but it is 
useless to think of working it in competition with 
England, short of labour as Chili is, at^present. Gold 
is a queer subject at Lebu. I found everybody going 
about with nuggets, large and small, and everybody 
who had money buying gold from the explorers. 
Nugg'ts of all sizes, up to 40 ounces, had been 
bought, and one man brought in 12 lb. of gold, 
chopped up with a chisel and pronounced to be one 
nugget, which he did not wish to sell entire. It is 
found in the ravines, over an extent of six square 
leagues, and is believed to be in abundance every- 
where, throughout the district. 
The district is so densely wooded, that it is awful 
work to grope about the ravines, and grub up the 
jungle, at the bottom. Many of the nuggets have 
been so found, and the gold formation of slate and 
quartz is everywhere overgrown. The ravines are 
singularly steep and deep. No one has as yet troubled 
himself about dust : it is all rough gold, or nuggets, 
which they bring in for sale. 
The country near the diggings is the very finest 
of land, and, should a rush take place, many will 
remain to farm, as was I he case in California— a 
fine thing for Chili, which wants something to sti- 
mulate immigration. 
Gold has had its mission in this way, both in 
California and Australia &c. The lust after gold may 
also be said to have been the origin of the coloniza- 
tion of Mexico, and South America, by Spain. 
I have read all the Ceylon papers about "New- 
Products." There is probably some truth in the remark 
about "high cultivation"* having a good deal to do 
with leaf disease. You can't keep man, beast, or 
plant, long up to the mark by substituting stimulants 
for rest or for good substantial food, as in bulk 
manure,— P. D. M.) T. J. M. Millie. 
* Artificial manures ?— P. D. M. 
[Unfortunately for this argument the leaf fungus 
first began in a district where no artificial manure 
had been used. We have, however,_to thank Mr ; T. 
J. M. Millie for a very interesting letter.— Ed ] 
Cardamoms. — -Cardamoms are largely grown in some 
parts of the west coast and Mercara, and both the 
Governments of Cochin and Travancore enjoy a mono- 
poly of the produce in their respective provinces. In 
the Cochin state the forest department pays special 
attention to the growth of cardamoms and 1,915 parahs 
of land are set spart for its growth. The collection 
of produce in the official year 1879 80 was 1,400 1b., 
valued at R2.S00 against 1,070J lb. valued at Rl,551 
in the previous year. The Dewan says that the finan- 
cial results of cardamom cultivation are as yet far 
from commensurate with the outlay incurred by the 
Sirkar, but it is hoped that in time and with careful 
management a substantial improvement will accrue. — 
Madras Standard. 
A New Ceylon Industry. —Mr. C Powell Jones has been 
spiited enough to import from China a considerable 
quantity of silkworm eggs and he means to give the 
cultivation of mulberries and the production of silk 
a fair trial at Oliphant, Nuwara Eliya, and in Uda- 
pussellawa. The first importation of eggs was a failure ; 
but this second has been so successful that there are 
njore eg^s than can be utilized in one or two ex- 
periments, and so a surplus is offered to the public at 
what seems a very moderate rate. At least any one who 
wants to try silkworms and mulberry cultivation cannot 
be deterred by a five-rupee note. It is well-known that 
the growth of the mulberry in Nuwara Eliya is roost 
astonishingly rapid, so much so that Sir Samuel 
Baker recommended it to be used as a fodder for 
cattle. The shrub also grows freely in nearly all the 
coffee districts. One idea is that where cinchona 
dies out— and unfortunately such areas are onlj too 
common— the mulberry might be substituted in the 
form of hedges and the leaves made available for 
feeding the silkworms. We trust the experiment 
will be widely tried. In the dry climate o£ Uva 
especially, the silkworm ought to flourish ; but why 
not also , in Rakwana, Matale, around Kandy, and, 
if in Nuwara Eliya, possibly between Great Western 
and Adam's Peak ? Mr. Bury of Golconda, Haputale, 
some years ago eent us some samples of the silk 
produced under his care, which was much appreciated 
by Coventry manufacturers. Kept in houses even in the 
wet districts, silkworms may be found to flourish well. 
New Products and New Industries being the order of 
the day, we wish this youngest Industry all success. 
