April  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
633 
GAMBIE, 
( From  the  Agricultural  Bulletin  of  the  Malay  Peninsula.) 
( Continued  from  page  592.) 
Forms  op  Gambir. 
The  Malays  make  four  kinds  of  gambirs,  viz.:— 
Gambir  papan,  bidat , paku  and  dudur. 
The  first  two  of  these  are  chewing  gambirs,  the 
others  are  used  for  dyeing. 
Gambir  bidat  (round  gambir)  is  the  most  expensive 
of  the  chewing  gambirs.  The  Siak  gambir  is  usually 
of  this  form,  but  is  much  adulterated  with  rice 
dust  and  cloves.  It  consists  of  thin  circular  biscuits 
about  1^  inch  across  (and  about  a line  thick  and 
valued  at  9 or  10  dollars  per  pikul. 
Gambir  papan  (lit.  board  gambir)  is  in  the  form  of 
thin  squares  about  an  inch  and-a-half  each  way,  and 
about  one  line  thick.  It  is  light  brown,  paler  within, 
and  rather  crumbly  in  texture.  It  is  valued  at  $5.50 
to  ®6  per  pikul.  This  is  the  form  known  in  the 
Singapore  trade  as  Flake  Gambir. 
Gambir  paku  (nail  gambir)  called  in  trade  Finger 
Gambir  is  made  in  the  form  of  sticks,  about  three 
inches  long.  It  is  rather  a sticky,  viscid  material, 
and  very  dark  in  colour.  Its  highest  value  is  $6 
a pikul. 
Gambir  dudur  (dice  or  cube  gambir)  is  made  in 
small  cubes  an  inch  each  way.  There  are  two  forms 
— No.  1 is  of  a light  reddish  brown  outside,  and  a 
light  yellowish  brown  on  fracture,  very  homogeneous 
and  fine  grained,  dry  and  easily  powdered.  It  is 
valued  at  $9  a pikul;  No.  2 is  darker,  blackish  brown, 
less  homogeneous  and  shiny.  It  is  of  inferior  quality 
and  is  valued  at  $7  a pikul. 
Van  Romburgh  also  mentions  a form  manufactured 
for  the  inland  market  in  West  Java  in  round  pieces, 
24  mm.  by  9 mm.,  which  commands  a higher  price 
than  the  square  flat  cakes. 
Some  other  forms  are  mentioned  by  Couperus  as 
used  in  his  time.  The  best  quality,  he  says,  has  a 
triangular  shape,  each  side  having  a length  of  about 
one  and-a-half  (Amsterdam)  inches,  and  a quarter  of 
an  inch  thick.  Another  form  obtained  from  Patabahan 
was  bullet  shaped,  two  inches  through,  black  outside 
and  full  of  bits  of  leaves.  Kampar  in  Sumatra 
produced  three  kinds  of  gambir — one  flat  and  round, 
tour  inches  through,  one  the  size  and  shape  of  a flint 
gun  bullet,  and  one  resembling  the  Siak  form,  but 
heavily  adulterated.  These  forms  seem  to  have 
died  out,  the  fancy  of  the  natives  being  for  gambir 
bidat,  papan  and  dudur. 
The  Chinese  also  make  Gambir  papan,  bulat,  paku, 
and  dudur ; and  also  bale  gambir.  This  latter  is 
the  common  form  made  by  the  small  cultivators, 
and  is  usually  made  up  on  the  field  in  the  form  of 
oblong  blocks  about  eighteen  inches  long  and  eight 
thick.  Bach  block  is  enclosed  in  a rush  matting. 
The  merchant  makes  it  up  into  bales  for  export. 
It  is  the  wettest  of  all  the  gambirs,  containing  an 
excessive  amount  of  water,  and  is  a sticky  mass, 
dark  brown  outside,  yellowish  within, 
Planting. 
The  greater  number  of  cultivators  prefer  to  grow 
the  gambir  on  virgin  soil,  newly  cleared  of  jungle. 
Some  plant  on  old  tapioca  ground,  or  put  tapioca  in- 
to the  fresh  cleared  jungle  ground  first  and  plant 
gambir  on  it  after  a year  or  two.  I have  seen  good 
results  from  this,  but  I have  also  seen  a plantation 
quite  dead  after  about  five  years,  which  had  been 
grown  on  old  tapioca  soil  even  after  brushwood  had 
been  allowed  to  cover  it  between  the  cultivations. 
Neglect  and  excessive  cropping  may  have  been  the 
cause  of  this  destruction,  but  the  soil  had  been  a 
long  time  under  tapioca,  and  was  probably  very  poor. 
Virgin  soil  is,  however,  doubtless  the  best  for 
gambir,  but  in  any  case  when  the  land  has  been 
under  cultivation  previously,  whether  with  tapioca 
or  any  other  crop,  it  should  be  fallowed  and  let  to  I 
return  to  jungle  for  a time  before  re-planting.  Old 
gambir  ground  if  left  soon  reverts  to  secondary 
jungle  if  the  soil  is  good  and  after  a few  years  can 
be  re-planted. 
80 
The  soil  most  commonly  found  in  Singapore  con- 
sists of  a yellow  clay.  Sandy  soil  is,  however,  better. 
In  Bangka  yellow  sand  mixed  with  clay  is  preferred'. 
In  the  Rhio-Lingga  Archipelago  the  soil  is  red  loam 
mixed  with  sand  and  covered  with  a slight  laver 
of  humus. 
From  sea  level  up  to  about  four  or  five  hundred 
feet  altitude  is  the  proper  range  of  cultivation ; above 
this  the  plant  does  not  seem  to  thrive. 
In  all  plantations  it  is  essential  to  retain  belts  of 
jungle  close  at  hand  to  supply  firewood  and  to  act 
as  screens  for  the  crops.  To  make  any  crop  requiring 
the  use  of  firewood  pay,  it  is  essential  to  have  the 
firing  accessible  and  plentiful.  The  difficulty  of 
getting  wood  close  to  the  gambir  and  pepper  fields 
in  Singapore  has  led  to  the  abandonment  of  much 
of  the  cultivation.  In  many  parts  of  Malacca,  aban- 
doned land  very  quickly  reverts  to  brush-wood  and 
eventually  jungle,  but  in  Singapore  a deserted  plan- 
tation is  immediately  overrun  with  lalang  ( Imperata 
arundinacea),  a useless  grass  which  entirely  prevents 
the  growth  of  brush-wood  for  many  years  and  which 
has  to  be  entirely  eradicated  with  the  hoe  before  any 
further  cultivation  can  take  place.  Lalang  is  easily 
kept  out  of  the  plantation  by  a belt  of  jungle,  and 
this  is  an  additional  reason  for  keeping  it  sur- 
rounded by  forest. 
But  indeed  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  now  the  day 
has  gone  by  when  the  planter,  whether  of  tea,  coffee 
or  gambir,  or  of  any  other  crop,  on  a large  scale 
destroys  all  the  forest  on  his  property  in  order  to 
get  a little  more  acreage  of  cultivation.  The  disas- 
trous results  of  such  a practice  are  now  well  known 
to  all  intelligent  European  planters,  and  we  may 
hope  that  the  experience  learnt  at  such  expense  in 
other  colonies  may  not  be  neglected  by  planters  in 
countries  not  yet  injured  by  excessive  denudation  of 
forests. 
Sowing. 
The  seeds  are  very  minute  and  light.  The  cap- 
sules are  gathered  when  they  begin  to  split,  and 
laid  on  a sheet  of  paper  or  cloth  till  the  seeds  fall 
out.  The  Natives  say  that  they  will  not  keep  above 
twenty-four  hours.  This  is  incorrect,  with  oare  they 
can  be  kept  as  long  as  six  months,  but  for  this 
they  must  be  kept  in  a dry,  tin  box  so  as  to  be 
free  from  the  attacks  of  caterpillars,  and  must  be 
dried  in  the  sun  at  least  once  a week,  or  they  will 
be  destroyed  by  mildew.  The  duration  of  the  seed 
much  depends,  I believe,  on  its  dryness  when  gathered. 
However,  it  is  better  to  sow  the  seed  as  soon  as 
possible  after  it  is  ripe.  In  Singapore  the  Chinese 
rarely  make  seed  beds  or  nurseries  for  the  young 
plants,  but  sprinkle  the  seed  loosely  on  any  bare 
patch  of  ground,  often  among  the  pepper-vines,  and 
do  not  even  cover  them  with  soil.  They  have  a 
superstition  that  the  seed  must  be  sown  by  a man 
who  never  drinks  spirituous  liquors,  or  it  will  never 
germinate. 
The  better  class  of  cultivators,  however,  form 
nursery  beds  for  the  young  plants.  The  beds  are 
made  by  preference  on  the  low-lying,  damp,  black 
soil,  by  the  streams  in  the  valleys,  and  each  bed  is 
surrounded  by  a trench  of  water.  The  seed  is  care- 
fully sprinkled  over  the  bed  and  a little  soil  is  in 
like  manner  sprinkled  over  it.  The  beds  are  shaded 
with  coconut  leaves  supported  on  sticks  about  three 
feet  from  the  ground.  It  appears  to  me,  however, 
that  the  plants  more  fully  exposed  to  the  san,  viz., 
those  at  the  edge  of  the  beds,  thrive  better  than 
the  inner  ones,  which  were  more  shaded.  It  is  certain 
that  gambir  is  a plant  which,  when  fairly  developed, 
wants  as  much  light  as  it  can  get. 
The  seed  takes  from  fourteen  days  to  two  months 
to  germinate,  or  even  longer.  About  half  of  what 
is  sown  comes  up. 
Cuttings. 
In  Bangka,  according  to  Dr.  Romburgh,  the  plant 
is  propagated  by  cuttings  only,  in  this  manner,  the 
bush  is  cut  down  and  burnt,  and  twigs,  not  too  young, 
of  the  old  plant  are  cut  into  lengths  and  stuck  in 
the  bare  ground.  If  necessary,  they  can  be  re- 
moved to  a different  part  of  the  plantation  when  they 
