June 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULTURIST. 
79^ 
ribiitioii amongst its fever-strioken subjects, the 
kaowledlge of the means of extracting this quinine 
was wanting. Philanthropic platitudes were freely 
bandied about as to the immensity of the boon 
which cheap quinine would be to a fever-stricken 
population numbering so man}' millions. But there 
was a singular absence of any practical help in the 
shape of proposals, or even hints;, as to how quinine 
was to be extracted from the rapidly increasing stock 
of crown and yellow bark. The officers in charge 
of the cinchona clantations in India had therefore 
to their best to solve the problem for themselves. 
And it was ultimately solved by Mr. C. H". Wood, 
at one time Government Quinologist in Sikkim, who 
suggested, and Mr. J. A. Gammie. Deputy-Superin- 
tendent of the plantation there, who carried into 
practice a method of extraction by the use, as solvents 
of the cinchona alkaloids, of a mixture of fusel-oil 
and petroleum. The details of this process were pub- 
lished in the ' Calcutta Official Gazette,' for the 
benefit of all whom it might concern. Very soon 
after the introduction of this method of manufacture 
the Government factories in Sikkim and the Nil- 
giris were able to supply the whole of the Govern- 
ment hospitals and dispensaries in India with all 
the quinine required in them (some 5,000 or 6,000 
pounds annually), besides providing an almost equal 
quantity for the supply of Government officers for 
charitable purposes. The latest development of the 
quinine enterprise in India has been the organisation 
of a scheme for the sale at all the post-offices, in 
the province of Bengal, and in some of those of 
Madras, of packets each containing five grains of 
pure quinine, that being a sufficient dose for an 
ordinary case of fever in a native of India. These 
packets (of which some are on the table for distri- 
bution) are sold at one pice each, the pice being a 
coin which is equal, at the ourient rate of exchange, 
to one farthing sterling ! 
In conclusion, I wish to make a few remarks on 
the third great economic enterprise connected 
with Botany in India, viz. the Forest Department. 
The necessity for taking some steps to preserve a 
continuity oif supply of timber, bamboos, and other 
products from the jungles which had for generations 
been exploited in the most reckless fashion, was first 
recognised by the Government of Bombay, who in 
1807 appointed commissioners to fix the boundaries 
of and to guird the forests in that Presidency. This 
scheme was abandoned in 1822, but was resumed in 
a modified form during 18.39-40. Seven years later 
a regular forest service was established in Bombay, 
and Dr. Gibson was its first head. Dr. Gibson in 
turn wa.s succeeded by Blr. Delzell — and both were 
Botanists. In the Madras Presidency the first man 
to recognise the necessity of perpetuating the supply 
of teak for ship-building was Mr. Connolly, collector 
of Malabar, who in 1843 established a teak planta- 
tion at Nelumbur, which has been carried on, and 
annually added to, down to the present time. In 1847 
Dr. Cleghoru (a Botanist) was appointed to report 
on the conservation of the forests of Mysore (which 
contain the well-knOwn sandal-woodj, and the follow- 
ing year Lieutenant Michael (still with us as General 
Michael, a hale and hearty vetero,n) was appointed 
to organise and conserve the public forests in Coim- 
batore and Cochin. The crowning merit of General 
Michael's administration was the establishment, for 
the first time in India, of a system of protection 
against the fires which annually used to work such 
deadly hatoc. In 18.50 the British Association, at 
their Edinburgh Meeting, appointed a Committee 
to consider and report upon the probable effects, 
from an economic and physical point of view, of the 
destruction of tropical forests. This committee's 
Report was submitted to the Association at the Meet- 
ing at Ipswich in 1851. The weighty evidence col- 
lected in this Eeport SD impressed the Court of 
Directors of the East India Company that, within 
a few years, regular forest establishnieuta were sanc- 
tioned for Madras and ' British Burma, the two main 
ggviroes of the supply of teak, 
In 1856 Mr. (now Sir Dietrich) Brandis was ap« 
pointed to the care of the forest of the latter pro- 
vince. These forests had been the object of spas- 
modic efi:orts in conservancy for many years previ- 
ously. In 1827 Dr. Wallich reported on the teak 
forests, and five years later a small conservancy 
establishment was organised, officered by natives. 
This, however, was kept up for only three or four 
years. In 1837 and 1838 Dr. Halfer reported on these 
forests, and an English conservator was appointed 
In 1842 and 1847 Codes of Forest Laws were drawn 
up, but do not appeal to have been enforced to any 
extent. In 1853 Dr. McClelland was appointed 
superintendent, but he continued to hold the office 
for only a short time. A few years after Sir Dietrich 
Brandis's assumption of the charge of the Burmese 
Forests, he was appointed Inspector-General of all 
the Government Forests in British India ; and it is 
to him that we owe for the most part the organi- 
sation of the Indian Forest Department as it now 
exists. That organisation includes two Schools of 
Forestry (in both of which Botany is taught), one 
in connection with Cooper's Hill and the other at 
Dehra Dun in Upper India. The latter has for many 
years been under the direction of a gentleman who is 
distinguished both as a Forester and as a Botanist. 
In the Cooper's Hill School, the higher grades of 
Forest officers received training ; at Dehra Dun 
those of the lower grades receive theirs. The officers 
of the Department on the Imperial list, according 
to the latest official returns, now number 208, di- 
vided into the grades of conservator, deputy-and 
assistant-conservator, with a single inspector-general as 
chief. In the addition to these, there are 566 pro- 
vincial officers, ranking from ranges upwards to ex- 
tra deputy -conservators. 
Botanists took a leading part in moulding the de- 
partment in its earlier years ; for, as already stated, 
its pioneers — Gibson, Balzell, Cleghoru, Anderson, 
Stewart, and Brandis — were all Botanists. And to 
most people, who give even casual attention to the 
matter, it appears fitting that the possession of a 
knowledge and liking for Botany should form a strong 
characteristic of officers, whose main duties are to 
be in the forest. And this belief did for some time 
exercise considerable influence in the selection of 
recruits for the department. But, except in the Dehra 
Dun School, it does not appear to guide the de- 
partment any longer. For example, at the Entrance 
Examination to the Forest School at Cooper's Hill 
only three subjects are obligatory for a candidate 
viz. mathematics, to which 8,000 marks are allowed ; 
German, to which, 2,000 are allowed; and English, 
for which 1,000 are given. Botany is one of the 
nine optional subjects of which a candidate may 
take up two, and in each oi which 2,000 marks may 
be made. 
Botany is taught at Cooper's Hill, and (according 
to the Calendar of the College) it forms one of the 
' special auxiliary subjects ' for the Forest student. 
1 do not wish to say a single word in depreciation 
of the Botanical teaching at this College, which is 
probably excellent of its sort. I do not know what 
value, as part of their professional equipment, students 
are accustomed or encouraged to attach to the pos- 
session of the means of acquiring a knowledge of 
the trees and shrubs in the midst of which they are 
to pass their lives in India. But this I do know, 
that the ordinary Forest officer educated in England 
now arrives in India without sufficient knowledge to 
enable him to recognise from their Botanical characters 
the most well-marked Indian trees. To tell duch an 
officer the name of the natural family to which a 
plant belongs conveys no informotion to him what- 
ever, for he knows nothing of Botanical affinities. 
Moreover, the Forest officer after he has arrived in 
India is not encouraged to familiarise himself with 
the contents of the forests under his charge. This 
will be better appreciated by giving an example than 
by any number of remarks. Some three years ago, 
Mr. J. S. Gamble (a Forest officer) published a mono> 
graph 9f the Bamjlj9ips of Biitish ladia. From ipaa}« 
