October i, 1890.] 
tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
of the South-West monsoon, and therefore receives 
the South-West and North-East rains, but in 
moderate quantities only. The elevation is from 
5,200 to 5,500 feet, situated six miles South-East 
of Nuwera Eliya, and is well protected from the 
South west by mountains rising to upwards of 
6,900 feet. In this favourable position Dr. Thwaites 
succeeded early in 1861 in raising 350 plants of 
Red Bark (C. Sucoirubra) and li-O plants of Grey 
Bark (C. Micrantha and Peruviana), which to- 
gether with plants of other varieties made 800 in 
all. These were the first Cinchona plants raised 
in Ceylon. In the same year the Yellow Bark (C. 
Calisaya) was received from Kew. In 1862 there 
were in all 2,434 plants at Hakgalla. In October 
1865, these had been increased to 354,026. In 
1862, 194 Red Barks, and 110 Grey Barks were 
placed in permanent plantations. In 1863-’64 the 
plants in permanent plantations were increased, the 
Red Barks to 1,345, Crown Barks to 1,474, Grey 
Barks to 300, and Yellow Barks to 82- Atter this 
date there seems to have been but little extension 
of permanent planting, as tbe object of the Ceylon 
Government was not to produce bark, but to multi- 
ply the best varieties of Cinchona plants in order 
to meet the great demand of the enterprising and 
energetic Planters in the Island. 
3. At the date of my visit the plants in per- 
manent plantations at Hakgalla were from 12 to 
14 years of age. The Red Bark plants were healthy 
with a growth resembling that which obtains on 
the Neilgherry Hills at similar elevations. The 
Crown Barks were less healthy, a considerable 
number had died, perhaps one-tenth, and many 
were affected witlj canker. The Yellow Barks of the 
early planting were all in an unhealthy and un- 
promising condition. This was also the case with 
the Grey barks. In Ceylon as with us last winter 
was one of exceptional severity, and at the date 
of my visit some of the plants at Hakgalla had 
been injured by frost, and all of them had sufferea 
more or less from the cold and exceptionally severe 
drought. They were therefore not seen to advan- 
tage. The surface soil is rich and fertile, but, 
unfortunately it is shallow, and when the roots 
penetrate into the subsoil, the growth becomes less 
vigorous, and the plants less healthy. This I fear 
in many of the localities in Ceylon will prove an 
impediment to Cinchona plantations attaining a 
great age and will possibly necessitate the cutting 
down of the trees in the earlier stages of growth. 
Mossing has been tried to a small extent, bat the 
necessary precautions seem to have been omitted 
in its application. 
4. Seedling Cinohona plants spring up in my- 
riads all over ihe plantations and under the trees 
on the neighbouring forests. Advantage has been 
taken of these to form stock plants for propaga 
tion, and I was much impressed with the great 
success attained by Mr. E. J. Thwaites in the 
propagation of cuttings in beds, formed in the 
open, and simply covered with coir-matting, placed 
on a iiandal about 18 inches above the ground. The 
skill shewn, and the attention bestowed by Mr. 
Thwaites on the propagation of the plants has 
been rewarded by unequalled success. On looking 
over the unrsery beds it appeared to me that not 
one cutting in a hundred had failed. 
5. Collec Planters have entered into the culti- 
vation of Cinchona in Ceylon with much zeal, 
and foremost in their ranks stands Mr. Corbett. 
This gentleman in 18G2.63 formed a plantation of 
3 or 4 acres on the famous Rothschild Coffee 
Estate, and also planted avenue.s along the main 
roads, and here and there lines of Cinchona trees 
among the Coffee plants. 1 understand that Mr. 
Corbett afterwards opened a tract of land for culti- 
vation in Dickoya, and is now op ning a large 
tract near Nuwera Eliya. The Rothschild Estate 
is situated in Pusilawa at an elevation of 3,200 
feet. The plants are principally red bark, and the 
growth is fairly satisfactory, much resembling the 
growth of this species in the Wynaad. The plants 
I observed on other plantations in Pusilawa and 
in Rambody were much in the same condition. 
On the Nana-oya Coffee Estate, situated in Dimboola 
at an elevation of about 4,000 feet, is a very fine 
patch of about 4 acres of red bark. Here the 
plants were very healthy, and had made puhaps 
more vigorous growth than any I saw elsewhere. 
Some Crown barks also had been planted on the 
same patch; these however were unhealthy, the 
greater part having died, and the few remaining 
plants were all more or less affected with canker, 
and this I found to be the case with all the old 
Crown bark plants which I saw at low elevations 
in Dimboola. 
6. In September 1873 a number of the larger Suc- 
oirubra plants on Nana-oya were coppiced and the 
bark sent into the London market. Those plants 
have thrown fine vigorous shoots from the coppiced 
stools averaging about 7 feet in height, so healthy 
and vigorous that they give promise of a fair re- 
turn by this method of cultivation. The ordinary 
size of the coppiced stools is 12 inches in cir- 
cumference, and the largest I could find was 25 
inches in circumference at a foot from the fround. 
7. There are a number of very tine young 
plantations in Dimboola, especially on the higher 
portions, but, as the plants had only been in the 
ground 2 or 3 years, it was impossible to form 
any opinion as to their permnnenoy. 
8. Lool Condura is an extensive Cinchona 
Estate situated in Lower Hewahette and under the 
able and skilled management of Mr. Wi lism James 
Taylor. Here a large extent of land is now under 
Cinchona cultivation, and the young plants are 
healthy, and promising, although here and there 
the symptoms of Canker are evident in plants 3 
and 4 years of age. The older plants on this 
Estate seemed to me in an unpromising condition, 
especially the Crown and yellow barks. On this 
property the cultivation was maintained in an 
exemplary manner, and every care and attention 
bestowed on the pilants. 
9. On the New Forest Estate, at a high eleva- 
tion I observed some of the most healthy old 
crown bark trees which I saw in the Island ; 
so far as I noticed there was scarcely a trace 
of disease among these plants. 
10. On a consideration of sll I saw in Ceylon, 
I was impressed that the cultivation of red barks 
in well-selected localities may be made profitable 
and to a certain extent permanent. With Crown 
barks the difficulty will be greater. The position 
of the plantation must be selected with great 
judgment if permanency is required, but if the 
intention is simply to grow the plants for 5 or 6 
years, and then cut them down for the bark, the 
result would be different, and this system of cul- 
tivation may prove remunerative. The cultivation 
of the yellow and grey barks did not promise either 
permanency or profit. As a whole the plants 
in Ceylon are inferior to those grown on the 
Neilgherries, although the growth of the red bark 
is more rapid at low elevations in Ceylon than 
with us, hut the deficiency of a rich deep surface 
soil, and the nature of the subsoil will, I fear, 
(with only a few exceptions), render cinchona 
cultivation somewhat hazardous. 
11. On the 11th July 1866 Mr. J. Elict Howard 
in submitting an Analysis of Ceylon bark observes, 
'■ I mast remark in the first place that they con- 
traBt diBadvantageously in appearance with the 
