THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. 1, 1900. 
cent, sulphate of quinine and I'iS per cent, febrifuge, 
while the plot treated with bone meal, white castor 
poonac, superphosphate and nitrate of potash gave 
6'18 per cent, sulphate of quinine and 1'25 per cent, 
febrifuge. At Nedivattam plots 10,14, 28 and 29 were 
manured with cattle manure and at Hooker the plots 
thus treated were Nos, 1, 2, 7, 8 and 14. 
' V. — NuRSBEiEB. — At Dodabetta the measures referred 
to in the last Administration Beport to eradicate the 
nematode worms which were damaging the plants in 
the nurseries have proved tolerably successful, but it 
cannot be said that the evil has been entirely remedied. 
At Nedivattam and Hooker the growth and condition 
of the plants in the nurseries have been quite satis- 
factory and there has been no sign of any disease. At 
Nedivattam succirnbra seed has been put down to en- 
■ure a good supply of strong seedlings on which offici- 
nalis and Ledger will ultimately be grafted. Fourteen 
pounds ot officinalis seed taken from trees, some of 
which analysed from 9 to 10 per cent, sulphate of 
quinine, were received from Mr. Van Leersam, the 
Director of the Government Cinchona Plantations in 
Java- This seed has been put down in the nurseries 
at Nedivattam and Hooker and has germinated well. 
Mr. Van Leersum also forwarded a Wardian case con- 
taining 60 grafts of Ledger, officinalis and hybiids on 
Boccirubra stocks, but owing to the delay caused by 
the landing of the case at Colombo instead of at 
Madras, only 15 of the plants were alive when they 
reached the estate, and of these 15, only four success- ' 
ful grafts are growing the growth in the remaining 
eleven being confined to the succirubra stock. Mr. 
VanLeersum's kindness and liberality merit the warm- 
est acknowledgement and it is greatly to be regretted 
that after all the care and trouble he bestowed upon 
the grafts, they should have been so neglected on the 
voyage and then detained at Colombo instead of being 
landed at Madras. 
Cbop, — The total quantity of bark harvested on the 
three estates during the year was 140,279 lb. or 38,972 
more than in 1898-99. The crop which consisted of 
19,458 lb. red bark and 120,821 lb. crown and hybrid 
barks was obtained by the coppicing of sickly trees and 
by thinnings and prunings. On the Dodabetta estate 
1,920 sickly trees were coppiced and yielded 8.608 lb. 
of dry bark and 113'35 acres were pruned and gave 
71,640 lb. of bark or 632 lb. per acre. The trees cop- 
piced at Nedivattam numbered 6,837 and yielded 38,488 
lb. of dry bark and the number coppiced at Hooker 
was 10,588, the yield being 26,543 lb. A magnifolia 
tree at Nedivattam which had to be coppiced, because 
of illhealth, yielded the large total of 120 lb. of dry 
bark. This tree was about .34 years old and was one of 
the best grown trees on the estate. The amount of 
bark purchased from private growers was 207,258 lb., 
and 16,553 lb. were harvested from a plot of land in the 
Bikkatti village on the Kundahs. This land having 
reverted to Government, the Collector of ?he Nilgiria 
offered the cinchona trees that were on it to this 
department. The trees were accordingly coppiced and 
the bark was sent to the factory. The cost of harvest- 
ing and transport from the Kundahs was 6'24 pies per 
lb. of dry bark and the expenditure incurred was 
charged to the Dodabetta estate. In estimating the 
coat of the year's crop, the sum expended on the har- 
vesting and transport of the Bikkati bark, viz., E538, 
has been deducted from the total spent on Head office 
and old plantations. The result, viz., 1148,941-2-9, re- 
presents the cost of the 140,279 lb. of estate bark or 
As. 5-6-98 per lb. From statement No. 7 it will be 
Been that at the commencement of the year the stock 
of bark amounted to 286,579 lb. and at the close of the 
year there was a balance of 305,822 lb. 
Factory. — The total quantity of bark worked up 
during the year was 344,312 lb. consisting of 318,881 lb. 
crown and hybrid barks and 26,431 lb. red bark, and 
the alkaloids extracted amount to )4 803 lb. consisting 
of 10,188 lb. siilpbate of quinine and 4 615 lb. febrifuge. 
The output W88 thus lees than in l898-99i but it was 
consideied Bufficient to make about 10,000 lb. of quinine 
jviir.g the jear vudtx itvjtW) wherefis Oiuirig the 
preceding year an effort was made to show how much 
quinine could be made in the factory in one yf ar with 
the present machinery. Unless the demand for 
quinine incren&e largely an output of 10,000 lb. of 
quinine annually will be quite sufficient to meet all re- 
quirements. The boilers which had worked well for 
years, broke down in June and their condition was 
reported on by tlie Inspector of Steam Boilers in Ju[y. 
The smaller boiler was reported to be worn out and not 
worth repairing and the laiger boiler was repaired 
in accordance with the Inspector's directions. Sanc- 
tion was given in G. O., No. 2885, Revenue, dated 
11th Auguut 1899, for the purchase of a new boiler 
which will be put up during the current year, and 
in G. O., No. G26, Revenue, dated 18th September 
1899, a new disintegrator, a centrifugal machine and 
new boiling and crystallizing pans were sanctioned. 
The disintegrator which arrived at the end of the past 
financial year will be put up at once and the other 
machinery will be installed during the current year. 
The quantity of bark purchased from private growers 
during the year was 207,258 lb. and the price paid was 
R67,0G9-9-8, or As. 5-2-13 per pound against Ae, 3-2-9 
per pound paid in 1899-99. The quality of the pur- 
chased bark was about the same in the two years and 
the higher price per pound paid during the year under 
review was due to the rise in the price of bark in the 
London market. 
The statement given above which includes all factory 
and manufacturing charges as well as the actual cost 
of all the bark used does not include the item of 
R4, 211- 14-5 for new machinery and plant, as this is 
not a Ityitimate charge against the factory for the 
year- This item appears in the stock statement as 
an addition to the value of stock, and it is intended in 
future to wrote off 10 per cent, of the value of plant 
and machinery and debit it to the factory. This has 
not been done in the present instance as the new 
machinery has not been erected and the cost of the 
existing stock of old machinery has been debited in 
full in former years, so that there is no necessity to 
write off any sum for its depreciation. The following 
table shows the cost of the 14,803 lb. of alkaloids 
manufactured during the year, compared with the 
cost of the 19,841 lb. of alkaloids made in the 
proceeding year : — 
1899-1900. 
J Crown, 
Crown and v,„v,,iri 
hybrid Red bark. '^^^^'^ 
barks. 
red barks. 
Rs. A. p. E9. A. p. 
7 11 
ES. A. P 
Cost of each pound of 6 14 6 9 3 2 
alkaloid in the bark. 
Cost of manufacture 
etc., per pound 283 190 272 
Total cost per pound.... 9 6 9 10 12 2 9 8 3 
1898-99. 
ES A. P. E8. A. P. BS. A. P. 
Cost of each pound of 442 815 571 
alkaloid in the bark. 
Cost of manufacture 
etc., per pound 
27 11 140 246 
Total cost per pound... 7 6 1 9 5 5 7 11 7 
It will be seen from the above that the increase^ 
cost of the alkaloids made during the year unde' 
review was chiefly due to the higher cost of the 
bark that was used. The cost of manufacture and 
distribution per pound of alkaloid extracted from all 
the bark used was R2-7-2 against E2-4-6 in the 
preceding year. The increase of As. 2-8 per lb. ia 
due to the fact that a larger proportion cf quinine- 
yielding barks was woiked up during the year. The 
proportions of quinine barks and red barks used 
were 92 7 per cent, and 7*3 per cent., respectively, 
against 81 per cent, and 19 per cent, in the preceding 
year. The cost of the manufacture of the alkaloids 
