September i, 1881.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
CINCHONA CULTIVATION. 
Nineteenth Annual Report of the Government Cinchona 
Plantations in British Sikkim by Surgeon-Major 
George King, m.b., f.l.s., Superintendent of 
the Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta, and 
of Cinchona Cultivation in Bengal. 
The avowed object of Government in maintaining its 
Cinchona Plantation in Sikkim is not to grow bark 
for sale in England or elsewhere, but to produce raw 
material fur the manufacture of cinchona febrifuge 
for the use of the people of this country, and in strict 
accordance with this principle it has been conducted 
from the first. We have now had about four years' 
experience of the manufacture of febrifuge on a large 
scale, and for about the same period the medicine 
has been in general use in this country. We have 
therefore some information to guide us, both as to 
the amount of febrifuge which the plantation can pro- 
duce, and as to to the amount which is likely to be 
consumed annually. The issues of febrifuge for the 
year 1879-80 amounted to 8, IG4 pounds, while the 
plantation is capable of producing a considerably 
largor quantity than that. Febrifuge being prepared 
from red bark, I do not consider it necessary or 
advisable to increase the stock of red bark trees for 
the present, and accordingly during the year which 
has just ended none were planted out. The number 
of red barks on the two plantations of Mungpoo and 
Sittong stands at more than four millions, and many 
of tho trees aro quite young. These are sufficient to 
provide raw material for a considerably extended 
Consumption of febrifuge. Notwithstanding the good 
estimation in which febrifuge is now held by tho 
modical profession in India, there still exists, and 
probably always will exist, the necessity of supplying 
Government hospitals and dispensaries with a certain 
amount of sulphate of quinine. It is therefore of 
importance to stock the plantation with a sufficient 
number of quinine-producing bark trees to meet the 
Government demand for quinine. Of such trees we 
have two sorts on the plantation— namely Calisaya, 
and a supposed hybrid variety which appeared on tho 
plantation some years ago. Mr. Wood's analysis 
showed that this new variety yields a bark rich in 
quinine, and steady efforts have therefore for years 
been made to increase it. During the year 85,000 
plants of this hybrid were put out at Mungpoo and 
5,000 at Sittoug, bringing up the full number now 
on tho plantation to close ou two hundred thousand. 
As has been frequently explained in previous reports, 
Calisaya is a specific name which covers a large 
number of varieties, many of which produce barks 
which aro essentially druggists' barks, being well 
suited for preparations such as decoctions nnd tinct- 
ures, but being unsuited for tho manufacture of 
febrifuge, and containing too little quinine to be 
worked profitably as sources of tho pure sulphate of 
that alkaloid. One of tho varieties of Calisaya is 
surpassingly rich in quinine, and this, in compliment 
to the Collector who brought tho seed of it from 
South America, has boon named Ledgeriana. Mr. 
Wood's analysis of the various forms of Calisaya 
ouablod us to distinguish tho had onus by thoir leaves, 
an I my recent visit to the Dutch Plantations in Java 
67 
confirmed the belief that our best tree< of Calisaya 
are veritable Ledgerianas. Every effort has therefore 
been mado to increase our stock of Ledgeriana, and 
during the year 99,415 plauts of that variety of Cali- 
saya were addod to tho permanent plantation. The 
difficulties of propagating this sort make progress 
rather slow, and the total number of Calisaya trees 
on the plantation still reaches only 412,000. There 
was, however, at the end of the year, a considerable 
nursery stock of young plants (namely 380,000), and 
during the year wo have now entered upon, the 
Ledgeriana plantation (saving blight and bad weather) 
should be considerably increased. The total number 
of trees planted out on the two plantations is given 
in the following table : — 
Total Trees in permanent Plantation. 
Eed. Yellow. New un- 
(C. Succi- (C. Cali- named Other 
rubra) saya. ) variety, kinds. 
Mungpoo Division 2,902,335 393,915 146,020 30,592 
Sittong ditto 1,132,200 1S.780 53,878 
Total. ..4,034,535 412.C95 199,898 30,592 
Grand total of all kinds \ Mungpoo ... 3,472,802 
on both plantations... ) Sittong ... 1,204,858 
4,677,720 
2. Details of the year's cro]}. — The crop for the year 
consisted of 377,525 pounds of dry bark, of which 
348,560 pounds were taken from the old and 2S.965 
pounds were got by thinning the new plantation. Of 
the yield of the old plantation 267,335 pounds were 
red bark, and SI, 225 were Calisaya ; the new planta- 
tion bark (28,965 pounds) was all red. This crop 
exceeds that of the previous year by about 16,000 
pounds, and is tho largest which has yet been gath- 
ered. Tho increase is due to the large quantity of 
Calisaya — a bark which has formed but a small pro- 
portion of any former crop, while this year it forms 
nearly a fifth of the whole. And the largeness of 
the amount of Calisaya bark is due to the fact that 
during the year a great number of trees of inferior 
and doubtful sorts were uprooted. This was done as 
part of the p >licy of reducing the yellow bark planta- 
tion as quickly as possible to one of pure Ledgeriana. 
When this object has been completely effected, good 
trustworthy seed of a pure quinine-yielding bark treo 
may be h iped for, and propagation of the best species 
should thenceforward be made easier. The Cali- 
saya bark got from these uprooted trees being, as 
already stated, unsuited for the manufacture cither of 
febrifuge or of quinine, there was no way of disposing 
of it but by sen :ing it to London for sale, aud, with 
the sanction of Government, a small consignment of 
it was shipped to England in tho oarly part of tho 
year. Ye'low bark of any kind from India has never 
before been offered in the London market, and in- 
deed, except at Mungpoo, it is not grown anywhere 
in British India. Opportunity was therefore taken 
to add to tho consignment : of inferior barks a small 
quantity of our really good Ledgeriana bark, so as to 
get somo idea of its commercial value. The result 
was most satisfactory. The 62G pounds of Ledgeriana 
bark which were btOUgUI to auction in London sold 
for 10s lOd per pound. The inferior barks also brought 
