832 
THE TROPICAL AGRfCULTURlST. 
QUlIsJ^XE. 
To Dr. Kinp; of the Calcutta Botanical Gardena, 
in his capacity of Chief Bupf rinlecdent of the 
Bengal Cinchona Plantations, I arn indebted for a 
Epeciiiien of 
THE SULPHATE 01' QUININE 
manufactured at Mungpoo by my good and able 
friend, Mr, J.amcs G^mmie. So long ago as March 
1876, I saw Mr. Gammie’s process of preparing 
mixed alkoloids. He has gone on adopting 
improved methods, until nov/ the Mungpoo Quinine 
is as valuable in medicine, if not quite so whi^e 
and flaky as Plow.- r.l’s celebrated preparation. 
With the presei t low market prices, the difficulty 
must bo to make the nianufac ure pay. Prices 
cannot well go lower, aad yet the increase in the 
consumption of this valuable febrifuge, tonic and 
remedy against the effects of opium eating and 
dram drinking, is by no means such as might have 
been reasonably expected. If only Bussia treated 
her soldiers as human beings, whose lives arc 
snored, ought to bo treated, the consumption of 
the drug would be doubled at once. 
Tea continues to flush iuxuriaully. Exqusitc-ly 
clear views great rock face of Kirigalpota, varying 
aspects of Adam’s Peat- and flanking ranges in- 
cluding Laxapsnagala cliffs. 
Mr. Hamlin states the great success of 104 acres 
Coorg coffee on Kondesala under the shade of Ficus 
/jlomerata, planted 1888-89 ; crop this year 
will pay all expenditure. 0- ffoe with cacao amongs 
it shows no trace of henileia. Experimenls will now be 
tried on Naranghena 2 000 feet ; Delmar over at 
4,000. 
On other hand old diseased coffee with all atten- 
ton yields only B'25 profit agaioEt tea 95 per 
acre. As Sir Wm. Gregory said ‘Can't make an 
old man young.’ 
^ 
DR. TEIMEN ON JAVA. 
(New Tiiees &c., fob Ceylon.) 
From a very interesting letter from Dr. Trimen 
in answer to quesliens of ours regarding irees 
suitable for Cfylon, wc venture to quote some 
passages : — 
“ All I saw of the hlll oountry of Java v,as thus — 
the sanatorium of Sindanglaia at ab ut 3,500 ft., 
and the Hill Garden atTijeodas about a thousand 
feet higher on the elope of the Gedeh volcano 
which is always puffing a little. 'This garden is 
very poor after Hakgaia, but they have a lew 
fine things, notably two magnificent specimens of 
Xanthorrlioea hastilis, and several good conifers of 
which I bespoke seed. They groxf acacia decurrens 
here (the form without suckers) but general y the 
Australian trees did not look so well as here in 
Celyon. I do not fancy there is much in the way 
of native hill trees in Java worth our attention 
here, the g/neral character of them as far as I 
saw being like our own : slow growing, comp,aratively 
small and no doubt very difficult to grow. As 
with us they preler foreigners. I saw a good deal 
of cedrcla scrrcita (‘Red Toon’) planted by road- 
sides and doing v/tll. The Malayan Oaks are very 
numerous, but by no means particularly bill trees. 
There arc several sp; cies at fcJu gapore, fromi: ent 
trees of Ibo jungles at sea level. I have brouglit 
back with me seeds of one called ifter poor Cant- 
hy (jucrcuH ('aidleijana by King, a very handsome 
.-fj'Cics. TJiere are l o less than 1(4 oaks in (he 
Jn'o Malayan region already luiown : it is curious 
that wo have not or o in Ceylon.* 
" hamviuTa alba (AgaTi s lonitithifolia) is the er- 
inary , p cioa ol Dan ma'atrf o in Ma'nyi. , n betnj(i(ul 
” 'J lie iiaoii,iun ljy V\ allacc fur tie pie.sin e of 
I'" mountain < iikn in .lava was its foiniei' connectin 
wiili tin; Hirnri nji s, I ut sit ibis al undiujc > of sea level 
oak-; takes un eutire y by surprise. — Eu. T<A. 
[June i, 1891. 
pyramidal tree of which I have some fine young 
plants here received some years back from Sir H. 
Lo’Wfa from Perak, but the Queensland L). rohusta 
is a good deal grown in Java as here. I have 
not seen D. australis which needs a cooler climate 
1 thick.* 
“ Cubebs is a puzzling business. I saw their 
pianlation at Buitenzorg and have specimens from 
it. Possibly more than one species is grown there. 
I believe I have already here or.e of them, but 
they have not yet fruited and till they do so, it is 
but guess work. One difficulty is the great difference 
in the leaves of the young plants and the adult 
fruit bearing ones. I hope soon to have abundant 
material for coming to a conclusion ; at present 
not even at head- quarters could 1 get much definite 
information. 
“Buitenzorg is an astonishing p'ace, and Dr. Trenb 
a man much to bo envied. Tiie Dutch Govern- 
ment deserves great credit for maintaining at such 
a high level and in such a liberal manner an 
establis'nment worked on an almost purely scien- 
tifie basis. There are no less than four fully 
equipped laboratories in thorough working order, 
eacli under a scientific head — Botanical, Bacterio- 
logical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural, all fully 
equipped with all the latest improvements. 
■■ T’heEconcniio or Experimental Gardens (Cultuur- 
tuin) is quite separata from the Botanic Garden 
(about 2 miles off) and also has a scientific head 
under Dr. Trenb. It is about 200 acres in extent and 
laid out in large square plots each devoted to one 
product, everything well kept and in beautiful order 
with plenty of labour and appliances. Very largn 
distributions of plants and seeds are made from 
here co planters and others and nothing i; ever 
charged for them ; all is given free. 
“ The Botanic Garden itself is a wonderful and 
unique place, but wiihout much beauty cave in one 
or two spots. It is very wonderful to see such 
an enormous number of trees all growing in a 
classified airangement. It could of course only 
be done in a soil and with a climate which will 
grow anything. But even here many are distorted 
and Btuntea and convey very little idea of what 
the tree is really like. More room is urgently 
iioeded, and is to be afforded al once by the 
aiinexiticn of adjacent land. 
“ I prefer Peradeniya as a garden, combining the 
utile With the dulce as it does, but what I envy 
Dr. Trenb is his large staff of capable trained Euro- 
pean aasisianls, and abundant and liberal funds! 
also his freedom from nursery-garden work and the 
absence of any charges for supplying things.” 
All this is very interesting to us as we had Dr. 
Trenb’s guidance over the various gardens in 1881. 
He also shewed us the fine Museum and Library 
attached to the gardens. Al) this liberal support 
of botanical, horticultural and agricultural science 
is very creditable to the Dutch Government. 
NOTES FROM TmTsOTTHERN COLONIES. 
(fit/ an ex-Ceylon Colonist.) 
My visits to Adelaide, Melbourne and S 3 dney were 
very ploasaiit, but I doubt that I should like to live 
in iiuy one if them. Unless it ha a lucky ven- 
tuco lu uiiniijg scrip, there is nothing there or here 
wiiicb will give the same return on capital as a 
g. oil tea esiiit-o in Ceylon. Tbe labour q-iestion 
IS {a. big trouble in all the Oolonies and ha-s some 
curious developments which, unless capital is to_ be- 
come tlio servant of labour, will have to lie resisted 
to the ileatl). The prercut s' rilre amongst thesheanrs 
111 Qneentl-ind very clearly il lustrates one of these 
'~* jJ^n>nara australis is the New Zealand piue or 
kari (not kauri, wi ich is the native name of Eucalyptus 
diuer.sicJor) and it might do well in our higher moun- 
tain regiom.— Ed. T. A. 
