814 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, i88z. 
three to four per cent of quinine, whereas the cultivated 
trees yield nine to ten per cent. 
I have ordered some seed to be collected from the 
wild trees in the woods, and it shall be sent you with 
next shipment. 
The present mail has brought the following fui-tber 
communication : — 
Dear Sir, — I enclose you a slip, which I have had 
printed this evening, and it carries the matter of cinchona 
seed as far as Mr. Holmes could get it done in time 
for today's mail. No doubt, with your experience in Oeylon, 
you will be able to follow it further. I shall send you 
any information that I can gather— Yours truly, 
Thomas Christy. 
The barks will be sent to Howards and others who may 
be able to throw any lights on the matter. — T. 0. 
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Bribain, 17, Blooms- 
bury Square, London, W. O., January 27th, 1882. 
Messrs. Thos. Christy & Go. — Gentlemen, — In reply to 
your enquiry respecting the leaves, barks, and seeds of 
cinchona forwarded to me, I may say that I have carefully 
compared them with specimens in the Museum of this 
Society, and the barks correspond well with the finest speci- 
mens of cultivated Bolivian Oalisaya here. 
"With respect to the leaves and fruit, so far as I can 
judge, the " Calisaya morada velv.ta" is the Cinchona Calisaya 
Bolivina sub. var. pubesCens of Weddell's Notes (Transl. p. 
44), and the Calisaya verde is, so far as I can ascertain, 
Weddell's Cinchona CaHsaya oblongifolia, and the tree con- 
cerning which Markham (" Travels in India and Peru," p. 
270) gives the following account : — " I have been assured 
by Gironda and Martinez that there are three sorts of 
Oalisaya ; the Calisaya Jina (C. Calisaya a vera, Wedd.), 
the Calisaya morada (C. Koliviana, Wedd.) and the 
Calisaya verde. They also told me that the last-named 
tree was a very large one, with leaves wholly devoid of any 
red colour on the nerves, and habitually growing very far 
down the valleys and even in the plains. A tree of tins 
variety supplies 600 or 700 lb. weight of bark, whereas the 
Calisaya jina yields only 300 or 400. Gironda declares that, 
in the province of Munecas, Bolivia, he saw one that furn- 
ished 1,000 ft), of tabla, that is to say, of the bark, of the 
trunk, and lower branches." 
These remarks confirm the statement made in the copy of 
the letter forwarded with the barks, viz., that it pays better 
to cultivate the Calisaya verde than the Calisaya Jina, or in 
other words, that, although the Calisaya verde yields only 
6£ to 9 per cent of pure Sulphate of Quinine (while the very 
best Ledgeriana yields 13 per cent, and other specimens not 
more than 6 per cent, yet, as the Cal isaya verde yields twice the 
amount of bark that the,// n nor Ledgenana does, this is equival- 
ent to from 13 to 18 percent of Quinine in the Calisaya verde 
moreover, from the fact that the Calisaya verde is a more 
vigorous tree than the delicate Ledgeriana, and will grow at 
a lower elevation, it is obvious that it can be cultivated to 
a much greater extent and may be extremely valuable for 
grafting the Ledgeriana upon. 
I am not aware that the Calisaya verde (Cinchona Calisaya 
oblongifolia) has as yet been introduced into India, and I 
think you are to be congratulated on having succeeded in ob- 
taining seeds of so valuable a Oalisaya. — I am, gentlemen, 
yours very truly, E. M. Holmes. 
THE WAX-PALM OP BRAZIL. 
Doubts have been freely expressed as to whether 
the seeds of this plant (Copernicia ccrifera) sent out to 
Ceylon by Mr. Scott- Blacklaw would germinate; but 
this doubt should now be eet at rest by Messrs. 
Auwardt & Co., who write:— 
"We beg to enclose for your inspection a couple 
of the wax-yielding palm seeds which we put in a 
flowerpot just to test them about a fortnight ago, 
and you will see that they have sprouted." 
The seeds in question have sprouted splendidly. Dr. 
Trimen is trying some of the seed at the Peradeniya 
Gardens, and recalling all we are told about the tree 
and its uses : — its delicious fruit, its leaves used for 
hats and clothing, the wood for building, the roots 
medicinal, besides the all-important wax which is 
eo easily collected and utilized: — we certainly trust 
this ' ' new product" will receive a fair trial in Ceylon. 
Our native friends with land to plant up ought more 
particularly to give it a trial. 
A Planter's Organ : "TheTropical Agriculturist.' 
— We have read with much pleasure a new monthly 
publication, which made its appearance at Colombo on 
June 1st last, in connection with the Ceylon Observer. 
It contains a great deal of useful information for 
planters. It contains capital articles on various details 
of coffee planting, also numerous paragraphs dealing 
with cocoa, cinchona, sugar, and other tropical products. 
The magazine supplies a distinct want and eught to 
succeed. It can be ordered through Mr. Gall's book 
store, Harbour Street.— Gall's Jamaica News Letter. 
Indian Tobacco. — The export of tobacco from India 
is steadily increasing. Five years ago the exports 
were valued at less than 9 lakhs; in 1880 their value 
had risen to over 14 lakhs. Mr. J. E. O'Conor, in 
commenting on the tobacco trade, in his latest review, 
expresses great satisfaction with the tobacco and cigars 
of Poosa, and the Madras cigars also he finds to be 
improving. It is known that in the estimation of the 
London agents and merchants the Indian leaf only 
requires the labour of skilled curers to compete suc- 
cessfully with the produce of America and the Manilas. 
— British Trade Journal. 
Haputale, 13th Feb. — The weather up here is now 
everything that could be desired and estates hereabouts 
never looked in better heart or more capable of giv- 
ing a heavy crop than they do at present. Down the 
Pass, on the Haldummulla side, they have had a little 
wind, but the trees will quickly respond to the present 
favourable change in the weather and autumn blos- 
soms promise to be good. Old Kahagala is a perfect 
picture and the surrounding estates are equally good 
— so good in fact does coffee look in this particular 
quarter that it puts cinchona quite into the shade, 
and that is saying a good deal for Haputale cinchona, 
like its coffee, is not to be surpassed anywhere in 
Ceylon. Leaf-disease is conspicuous by its absence. 
Cinchona Bark Sale. — Messrs. Robinson & Dun- 
lop disposed of the following lots of bark by auction 
today (Feb. 10th). Considering that quinine is reported 
to be lowering in price again, the result is very 
successful. 
R. c. 
TO A 
1,500 lb. 
offi. branch bark @ 
0 
30 
Fib 
WBL 
118 „ 
pub. twigs and chips 
0 
2U 
50 „ 
condaminea „ 
0 
35 
36 „ 
calisaya „ 
0 
21 
R P 
113 „ 
sue. chips and twigs 
0 
50 
232 „ 
,, ,, and stem root 1 
05 
Waverley 
500 „ 
offi. stem shavings 
1 
97J 
New Forest 
1,940 „ 
s. twigs mixed with tgs. 0 
21 
Mousakande 
230 „ 
„ twigs 
0 
15 
Aldourie 
1,550 „ 
„ bold twigs 
0 
32* 
186 „ 
„ twigs 
0 
17 
Goatfell 
1,570 „ 
off. stem chips 
0 
52| 
Agrawatte 
815 „ 
mixed stem root and 
chips 
1 
0 
286 „ 
succ. twigs 
0 
15 
Avisawelle 
408 „ 
off. stem chips 
1 
15 
Rangbodde 
460 „ 
mixed off. and succ. stem 
chips and twigs 
0 
27| 
Wighton 
1,100 .. 
off. chips and twigs 
0 
35 
433 ., 
do 
0 
87J 
1,560 „ 
succ. chips and twigs 
0 
40 
149 „ 
stem and branch quill 
0 
50 
