January 2, 1882.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
609 
officinalis clearings have suffered extremely from tlie 
.drought. Many of the one year old have died for 
want of rain, and still more are in a very critical 
state. More than three moulhs without a drop of 
rain is, of course; quite out of th o . ordinary courso 
of weather vagaries, and may well account for a 
considerable mortality among the plants in young 
clearings. This makes it the more remarkable that 
the Ledgers (even those quite lately planted out) should 
havo borne tbis trying period most bravely, and that 
tbey should hardly have suffered at all, as is the case. 
" But, for the first development, I recommend you 
to take every possible care. I sow the seed of my 
fine Ledgers in pots, placed under a two-fold covering 
of gla*s ; that is, I put the pots in glass-covered frames, 
the frames themselves being in the conservatories. 
Under this double glass they remain till the seeds have 
germinated, and 1 now think that 1 have minimized 
the percentage of seeds which fail, and have given 
to each individual germ a fair chance of development." 
method 1 should recommend planters here to follow 
with their Ledger seed. Procuro a melon frame : three 
feet of wood at the back, eighteen inches in front. 
Let the width be five or six feet, and the length 
about nino feet. This will admit of three slides of 
glass planes, each of three feet wide, to draw up and 
down ; these slides, being almost entirely composed 
of glass with only a slight woodwork to hold 
the glass together, and for the necessary grooves 
As the sun here is so hot, the glass should be painted 
green and the woodwork white or vice versa. Green, 
however, I prefer, as green not only is best for the 
flooring of well burnt bricks closely fitted together; 
then put a covering, about two or three inches deep, of 
well-dried forest leaves, and then fill up, with a mixture 
of washed sand and surface soil from the jungle, to a, 
reasonable distance from the top of the lower side of 
your frame. Mix your seed well with a handful of eand 
and then sprinkle it pretty thickly on the surfaec. 
Have other frames ready to prick out into. This time, 
however, let the mixture, to be placed on the top of the 
layer of dead leaves, bo composed, half of surface 
virgin soil, and half of well-burnt bricks reduced to a 
fine powder. 
I have ordered some frames from Messrs. Bull of 
Chelsoa, but I should think they might be made to order 
in Colombo or by Messrs. Walker & Co. in Kandy. Till 
they can be procured, one might plant iu brandy casts, 
brin ; oar ful to d ill nine good holes in the bottom, to 
cover each hole with what gardeners call a croc, aucl 
before the layer of dead leaves to place a layer of 
pebbles or small stones. 
The shingled roof of the bath room might be taken 
off and a couple of the bungalow window- frames let 
iu instead, the glass, of courso, being painted. The 
seed boxti could then bo placed ^on shelves round 
the room, in company with a few traps, but not 
those cruel contrivances which close their iron teeth 
on the 1 r rat and keep him painfully straining at 
a broken leg for many hours, till his torture is ended 
iu the morning by the last cokjj <k grace. — I remain, 
dear sir, yours, tic, '•• C. 
ANALYSIS OF WYNAAD CINCHONA. 
Colombo, 24th Nov. 1881. 
Slit,— I send you analysis of a sample of hybrid 
oinchona bark, received on the .'(1st ultimo., from South 
East Wynaad, and grown at an elevation of 5,000 
feet. On ree. ipt oi tin- analy sis, the sender wbb good 
* For a correction ol this -e,- page ti'Jt). Kt> 
153 
enough to furnish the following particulars: — "The tree 
I sent you the bark from is amongst our condamiueas 
(not manured) and very much resembles the C. pub- 
esceus, or magnifolia in the Government Ne iivatam 
plantations. The analysis also corresponds with that 
of the bark from one of the Government trees of that 
variety. It is a very free-growing tree, eize of mc- 
cirubra : but the leaves are not quite so large and 
exactly the color of coudamiuea leaves." 
The analysis of the bark wus as follows . — 
per cent. 
Moisture... ... .. ... 1176 
Total alkaloids ... ... ... 8%32 
Crystallized quinine sulphate ... 4 - 69 
M. COCHRAN. 
Sale of Java Calisaya Ledgbriana Seed in Col- 
ombo. — The result of this day's (29th November) sale of 
C. Ledgeriana seed, by Mr. Symons, is as follow? > — 
2 boxes, each containing 2 grammes at K 18 R36 
2 2 „ „ 17 34 
14 „ „ 2 ,, „ 15 210 
14 ,, ,, 2 ,, ,, 12 168 
10 ,, ,, 2 ,, ,, 11 110 
13 „ „ 2 „ „ 10 130 
55 boxes. R6S8 
Cinchona Culture in Ceylon : the Robust Hy- 
brid vs. Magnifolia. — A correspondent, writes : — " I 
have been reading your cinchona news with much 
interest lately. 1 believe C. magnifolia to be quite 
distinct from the robust growing trees we are ac- 
customed to call hybrids, many of which approach to 
the former in appearance of foliage. I hope to ex- 
periment with seed this year from what I believe to 
be the only G. mngnifolia I possess. It would be in- 
teresting to know what the experience his been gen-rally 
with eo-called hybrid seed. Has it come up like its 
immediate parent or gone back to the original succi- 
rubra ?" 
Cinchona in Ceylon. — Anent Colonel Beddome's very 
interesting report, it would be well, if moi tgajees and 
others at home interested in our island, would take it to 
heart, equally with the editor of the Field, who has given 
the advantage of his world- wide circulation to dissemin- 
ate gloomy ideas of our industrial prosjie 
reference to this we have been favored with t 
of a letter addressed by Mr. Duncan Skrine 
editor of the above paper in which he states th 
facts connected with the " Frotofts" Ciuchon 
not precisely as given in Colonel Beddome's 
but so as cauuot fail to convince any impartii 
In 
port, 
mind 
new pro- 
this year 
i grubbed 
, brought 
proceeds of this 
of the excellent prospects in G 
ducts. Tbo letter iu question 
forty acres of Frotofts cinchona 
up and the bark, including that 
on the Loudon marker. Tne 
consignment were £6,500 or more than £162 per acre. 
The propri. tors have besides this harvested bark from 
dead and 'lying trees on this property to the nett 
value of £2,000, giving a total yield of £8,500. The 
estate was four and a half years old when the forty- 
acres were grubbed up, and this land will now be re- 
planted with cinchona. The writer of the letter in ques- 
tion goes on to say: -"Rash speculation on borrowed 
money, Icaf-dist-uso, and seasons out of joint havo 
crippled Ceylon for the moment, but we are working 
through our troubles, aud I am convinced that at this 
moment there aro moro good bargains t > be had in i feylon 
than iu any other of our. colonies. The gamblers have 
been crushed out, aud the faint-hearted havo gone or 
aro going, but those who have tho back-bone to stay 
on will be amply rewarded. Coffee is looking magnfi 
licont and our oinuhona enterprise is an assured success." 
— "C. Times." 
