6l2 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [January 2, 1882. 
The seedlings being about 1J or 2 inches high may 
be carried in the boxes or raised from the seed beds 
in lots of 200 or 300 and brought into the nursery. 
The beds already prepared for them should receive a 
good watering and be pressed evenly by gentle tailing 
with a piece of board. The person about to prick out 
should be provided with a small wooden peg about 4 or 
5 inches long and f inch in diameter at one end, taper- 
ing to a dull rounded point at the other. Taking up 
a seedling carefully by the leaves, with the left hand, 
a small hole should be made with the peg in the right 
hand, just deep enough to take the tender roots of the 
seedling without bending or crushing them. When placed 
in the hole, the soil should be pressed closely to the 
rootlets by means of the peg and the seedling left firmly 
fixed with its leaves and stem well above ground. The 
seedlings should be placed in rows at regular distances 
apart so as to allow about two inches between each plant. 
As soon as an appreciable number of seedlings have been 
pricked out, the shading, as shewn above, should be imme- 
diately placed over them to prevent injury from sun or rain. 
The nursery beds will require regular watering for 
some time, but when the plants are about 4 or 5 inches 
high it would be well to remove the shading, little by 
little, in order that the plants may become gradually 
hardened and ultimately fit for transplanting to their per- 
manent places in the field. 
IV. — Establishing Cinchona Plantations. 
Climate. — It may be generally accepted for Jamaica 
(between 17° and 19°* latitude North, and 75° and 
79° longitude West) that, at all elevations from about 
2,500 feet to the Blue Mountain Peak, 7,335 feet, 
the climatic conditions are all favourable for the suc- 
cessful cultivation of one or other of the various 
species of Cinchona. For comparison, it may be men- 
tioned that Cinchona Succirubra nourishes in the Parish 
of Manchester, according to information supplied by Mr. 
Swaby, at an elevation of 2,700 feet, with a rainfall of 
about 120 inches, and a mean annual temperature of 
70° Fahrenheit. This elevation may be taken as nearly 
the lowest at which the more valuable Cinchonas may 
be remuneratively grown in Jamaica. 
At the Government Cinchona Plantations Cinchona 
Succirubra flourishes at 5,000 feet.f The records here 
show a mean annual rainfall of 136 inches and a mean 
annual temperature of 60° Fahrenheit. The trees at this 
elevation do not seed freely, and are apparently so slow 
in maturing, that this elevation may be taken as the 
highest, at which it would be advisable to cultivate Red 
Bark in Jamaica. 
For the valuable Crowii Bark, Cinchona Officinalis, 
as it floiu-ishes at 4,500 feet near Whitfield Hall, and 
at 4,800 feet at the Cinchona Plantation, possibly it . 
may grow as low as 4,000 feet. Its range of cultivation, 
so far, in Jamaica is between 4,500 and 6,300 feet ; a 
few plants of this species planted by Mr. Nock, on Blue 
Mountain Peak, in 1878, though they have suffered from 
their exposed position, would indicate that the conditions, . 
even at this elevation, are not unfavourable to the growth 
of small leaved and hardy Cinchonas. 
Soil. — All species of Cinchonas are most impatient of 
stagnant moisture at their roots, and therefore require 
an open subsoil, a sloping exposure, and other conditions 
of perfect drainage. They naturally prefer a rich soil, 
and do better in newly cleared forest than in grass lands, 
Cinchona Officinalis is, however, more tolerant than C. 
Succirubra of a soil poor in vegetable humus, and grows 
on grass land, as well as on exhausted coffee soils. 
The freer and more friable the surface soil the better, 
but the ultimate success of the Cinchona plant depeuds 
essentially on the character of the subsoil. An open 
well drained subsoil is above all things indispensable to 
Cinchona cultivation. 
' Willi 10 I'nrl her iioi-tli I should think succirubras ought 
to flourish at 1,000 ft. in Jamaica. — Ed. 
t 5,000 Jamaica equivalent to nearly 6,000 in Ceylon. — Ed. 
"As soon as the roots of a Cinchona tree get down 
into subsoil, in which there is any tendency for moisture 
to collect,the plant most certainly begins to 6icken and die." 
The best trees at the Government Cinchona Plantations 
grow in a good friable surface soil, overlying a porous 
stony subsoil produced by decomposed rock of the 
metamorphosed series of Jamaica Geology. This sub- 
soil is found generally distributed throughout the Parishes 
of St. Andrew, St. Thomas and Portland. In limestone 
districts of the island eastward the soil generally must be 
very favourable to Cinchona cultivation, the only qualifying 
conditions being the elevation and mean annual rainfall 
Sites for Plantations. — In selecting sites for Cinchona 
Plantations, it is important to bear in mind the points 
above mentioned, as regards climate and soil, and the 
species of Cinchona naturally adapted for them. 
Where Cinchona is cultivated concurrently with Coftee, 
it is recommended to attempt to grow the valuable Crown 
Bark, C. Officinalis, at all elevations above 4,000 feet. 
On rather bare patches, by road sides and indeed any- 
where where plants can be placed, this hardy and valu- 
able plant should be abundantly grown. 
On Coffee Plantations below 4,000 feet, the most suit- 
able kinds are the Red Bark, C. Succirubra, and a hybrid 
variety which has passed here as C. Calisaya. These 
may be planted on coffee estates as suggested above for 
C. Officinalis. 
In selecting sites for permanent Cinchona Plantations 
as distinct from Coffee Plantations, the nature of the 
soil, the direction of prevailing winds, the aspect, the 
mean annual temperature and annual rainfall, are all 
matters for serious consideration. Speaking generally, 
however, no sheltered situation, with good soil, can be 
said to be unsuitable for Cinchona anywhere on the Blue 
Mountain range. The northern aspect has a more equable 
temperature than the southern, but the latter appears to 
be generally preferred for coffee. As Cinchonas delight 
in a moist equable temperature, it is very probable that 
vast tracts of land lying hitherto uncultivated on the 
northern slopes of the Blue Mountain range will ultimately 
prove suitable for Cinchona. 
Clearing Land. — When it is intended to establish a 
Cinchona Plantation, on uncleared land, the first considera- 
tion after the site has been carefully selected, is to 
establish the seed beds and nurseries. Full particulars 
respecting these are given in the foregoing paragraphs. 
While the plants are being thus prepared, the land intended 
for the plantation should be properly cleared as for coffee 
cultivation. 
It may be well, however, to point out that it is very 
advisable in Jamaica to leave moderately wide belts of 
forest standing on the ridges, for the purpose of afford- 
ing shelter from strong winds. In addition to this, it is 
recommended on very steep places, rocky hollow's and 
any patches of land unsuitable for Cinchona, that the 
original forest be left standing in order to ensure ad- 
equate shelter for the Cinchonas as well as save need- 
less expense in cutting down, weeding, &c. 
In India, the methods pursued for clearing forest for 
Cinchona cultivation are described as follows : — " The 
best time for beginning to clear forest land for Cin- 
chonas is obviously when the dry season has sufficiently 
advanced to make a second growth of grass improbable. 
When the felled forest, whether grass or timber, is 
sufficiently dry it may be fired. Stumps and logs remain- 
ing unburnt after the fire may be rolled into spots 
unsuitable for planting, or heaped together and burnt. 
A better way is to lay them between the lines of plants, 
and allow them to rot and thus to profit by the humus 
formed by their decay. The large fibrous roots of tall 
grasses and other weeds likely to overpower the young 
trees about to be planted, should be dug out and killed 
either by exposure or burning. The land being thus 
cleared, any necessary roads may be lined off and made. 
The sites in which the plants are to be put must then 
be marked off. This may conveniently be done by means 
