5*0 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1894. 
CINCHONA IN CEYLON. 
We notice that our contemporary, the Obaervtr, has 
taken up the subject of Cinchona cultivation in 
Ceylou. From information derived from a dealer in 
Loudon, fro)n the command of the market that Java 
has obtained, and also from alleged unsuitability 
of Ceylon soils, the editor of that journal infers 
that, for the present at least. Cinchona in Oeylon 
would not pay. We do not dispute that the'preseut 
price of bark in the London market would be uare- 
munerative for Cinchona grown on lands in this 
Island, if expressly opened for its cultivation, and 
having no other resource. Nor do we question the 
command which Java presently possesses of the 
Cinchona markets. But we venture to give our 
opinion that the fault of the Ceylon Cinchona enter- 
prise was not in the soil, which we believe to be 
well suited to the cultivation of the bark, though 
probably less rich than that of the Java plantations. 
Since Tea began to engross the attention of 
Oeylon planters and has led to the neglect, in a 
greater or less degree, of Cinchona, we have several 
times addressed remonstrances against the discontinu- 
ance of that enterprise, on the fo'lowing grounds, 
1st) that the success of Java and the comparative 
ailure of Ceylon in that enterprise was not a matter 
of soil, but of aysUm. Secondly : that the evidence of 
the results obtained in Ceylon, in the few cases in 
which a sound system was adopted, was decidedly 
favourable. Thirdly: that in the present state of the 
Tea enterprise, other collateral advantages that might 
be secured by Cinchona cultivation on the Tea 
plantations and on adjoining lands would compensate 
for the comparatively low price of bark. 
Before adducing our reasons in support of the views 
implied in the foregoing conclusions, we cannot 
resist a feeling of humiliation in the confession that 
is practically involved in the giving up of Cinchona 
as a "bad job", after the success Ceylon planters 
have achieved in every other agricultural enterprise 
in which they have embarked in earnest. The energy, 
intelligence and skill which made Ceylon Cofef the 
consol of that great trade by virtue of its manifest 
superiority, — that caused Ceylon Ten to take a lead- 
ing place in a market that w'as already fully and 
satisfactorily supplied, by actually superseding and 
displacing the old established sapplies, — that has pro- 
duced Cacao that commands a f«r higher price in 
the open market than the boasted produce of the 
West, -and in short, that has succeeded in every 
other enterprise except Cinchona, ought to be able 
to give substantial reasons for so remarkable an 
exception. Seeing that Ceylon planters have proved, 
by tlieir latest success in Tea, that they have not 
lost their cunning — that, in short, neither their ca- 
pabilities nor those of their soils are at fault, there 
13 no reason why they should not equal or even 
surpass their rivals in Java, if they adopted the 
same system. 
'The system of Cinchona cultivation that was al- 
most universa ly adopted in Ceylon was radically 
wrong. The most valuable varieties of the tree were 
hybrids. The seed of hybrid plants, as all botanists 
and gardeners know, can never be relied upon. 
Plants so raised from the seed of the richest hybrids 
usually come up in great variety, and not one in 
twenty is at all true to type. Like the seed of 
apples which may produce crabs, or of oranges, 
which may produce limes, citrons, or lemons, valu- 
able hybrid cinchona seed may produce varieties 
which are very rarely true to type. The propaga- 
tion of valuable varieties of Cinchona should, there- 
fore, be affected as are apples, oranges and other 
special varieties, by grafts or cuttings. In Ceylon, 
the mode of propagation that was almost univer- 
sally adopted was by seed, a-.i.l therfore the two 
species of pure breed, the seed of which was true 
to type, were almost the only kinds that were culti- 
vated, namely : officinalis, for which the climate was 
not suitable, and succiruhra, which was poor in al- 
kaloids. Propagation by grafts or cuttings was fur 
too slow to suit the emergency of the time, when 
cinchona was introduced into the Island and was 
jhetefoje praotised ouly \n ra^re cases, ancJ th«u only 
from stocks that were not of high class. Such, how- 
ever, as they were they remained true to type. 
Nearly all the first nurseries at Hikgalla were of 
cuttings from the original stocks sent from home. 
These plants were sold or distributed, and found 
their homes chiefly in Haputale and Hewaheta. A 
few were planted elsewhere. The writer's experieace 
of the trees produced from the Hakg&Ua plants 
convinced him, but unfortunately too late, that thty 
were far superior to any of tho<*e produced from 
seed. They were not attacked by the fatiU pest, 
canker. After 2U years' growth, a small plantation 
of ten acres of these plants had to be abandoned 
in consequence of the failure of the coffee estate 
to which it belonged.* Au attempt was made to 
uproot the trees for the sake of the bark, but they 
defied the inamoty, and would have needed dynamite. 
The first experience of the .lava planters was, like 
ours, of plants raised from seed ; out foriuiialely, 
for them, the species they showed were utterly 
worthless namely : Josephiana. Palmdiana and the 
like. They had no inducement whatever to persevere 
with the cultivation of such species, and they were 
therefore taught a lesson, of which the partial suc- 
cesE of the Ceylou pliuiters with officinalis and 
succiruhra prevented tneir learning t'le force. Javf>. 
plantations were in consequence, ^radaa ly stocked 
with plants propagated on true principles from ap- 
proved varieties. Once on the right ir<i«k. they 
naturally chose select stocks from which to propa- 
gate, and hence their aaccesa. Ceylon planters, on 
the other hand, persevered in their reUauce on a 
faulty system whence came their comparative failure. 
In dealing with the erroneous system on which 
the enterprise was pursued in Ceylon, we ha e aUo 
shown, in the second p ace, that the plants that 
were produced from cuttings were more durable, 
more successful, and lesi liable to canker than trees 
raised from seed. Trees raised from seed nearly all 
suffered, and a large proportion of them died t orn 
that disease prematurely. 
With regard to the third point above mentioned, 
we maintain that it is iucNpRdieut for larse tracts 
of tea to be practically continuous, as such a con- 
dition would facilitate the rapid progress of any 
Eest, that it is advisable, for that reason, to plant 
elts of trees to intercept the cont unity of large 
areas of Tea and to segregate them. — tha'. rinchona 
trees, while serving that purpose effectually, would 
al<o yield bark of a value equal to that of Java, 
and whic*i, even in the present state of the market, 
would yield a considerable return. If peeled while 
standing, for the sake of procuring ■"renewed " 
bark, the trees would neverthless eventually be cop- 
piced, a d the stems would be useful for firewood. 
The Ceylon planter, if he raised his plants from 
prime stocks, would be on equal terms with his .Java 
rival as regards the qua ity of his bark, and would 
beside have collateral advantages such as we have 
specified, which would make him less dependent on the 
state of the market for bark than his rival.— Ceylon 
" Independent," 
THE COCONUT INDUSTRY AND THE PALM 
OIL TREE. 
A correspondent, in a private letter, asks us to 
state the nature, communicability and extent of the 
diseases to which the coconut tree is liable, and 
where information can be got on these points, and 
I'n the cultivation and yield of the palm oil tree. 
The most formidable disease — if disease it can be 
rightly called — of the coconut tree in Burma and 
the West Indies appears to be the red weevil, and 
information on that insect and the mischief done 
j by it in Honduras is to be found in the Kew 
! Bulletin for last February and March. Here this 
I weevil commonly destroys coconut trees when thfy 
; are just going t < f egin bearing, and cases of Clear- 
ing trees being destroyed by it, though not quife 
; unknown are very uncommon in this country ; but 
j in Burma and the West Indie s even trees inbeir- 
! ing appear to be not infrequently destroyed from 
i this Qause. Cooouut flauters iu "this country aie 
