Nov.  2,  i8g6.J 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
321 
spirits^  teas,  tobacco,  and  wines  Some  of  the  leading 
wharfingers  have  arranged  to  put  lighters  alongside 
the  iiicomming  vessels  to  take  charge  of  goods  at  once 
on  their  arrival,  instead  of  storing  tlrem  on  the  quays. 
Awkward  for  the  Dock  Companies. — Referring  to 
the  subject  of  dock  charges,  Blossrs.  Cayzer,  Irvine 
and  Co,,  the  proprietors  of  the  Clan  line  of  steamers, 
have  quietly  inaugurated  a now  scheme  for  the  un- 
loading of  their  vessels,  which,  if  imitated  to  any’ 
considerable  extent,  may  seriously  affect  botli 
dockers  and  dock  owners.  The  matter  has  been 
brought  to  ahead  by  the  recent  action  of  the  Lon- 
don Docks  Committee  in  raising  their  charges  fur- 
landing  cargo  on  the  dock  quays.  Cue  exampio  will 
sufiice.  The  dock  charges  on  a Calcutta  cargo 
amount  to  5s  a ton  in  London,  as  compared  with  Is 
lOd.  a ton  at  Liverpool ; but  whereas  at  Liverpool  the 
consignee  pays  the  landing  chaiges,  the  London 
consignees  refuse  to  do  so,  as  they  wish  to  ware- 
house their  cargo  at  their  own  wharves.  Finding 
that  the  consignees  oanuot  be  coerced,  the  dock  com- 
panies are  seeking  to  impose  the  extra  charges 
on  the  shipowners.  But  the  latter  declare  that 
it  is  impossible  for  them  to  pay  a sum  which 
is  in  many  cases  equal  to  half  the  current  freights, 
and  Messrs,  Cayzer,  Irvine,  and  Co.  h.ve  de- 
cided to  avoid  the  docks  altogether,  pending  an  amica- 
ble adjustment  of  the  dispute.  Thus  the  “ Clan  Mac- 
neil”  discharged  at  Mill  Hole  Pier  and  the  “ Clan  Mac- 
leod”  at  Butler's  Wharf,  while  the ‘‘ Clan  Macintosh,” 
following  the  example  of  the  “Clan  Matheson”  and  the 
“ Clan  Ross”  is  now  unloading  “ overside.  ” These  ves- 
sels have  all  arrived  since  the  beginning  of  the  present 
month.  The  “Clan  Fraser,”  which  is  next  due,  will  dis- 
charge in  the  river,  and  arrangements  have  also  been 
made  for  handling  the  cargo  of  the  “ Clau  Forbes,”  the 
“ Clan  Cameron,”  and  the  ‘‘Clan  Grant”  without  the 
ships  entering  dock.  This  new  departure  has  caused 
some  delay  and  iuconvenieuce,  but  it  is  believed  that 
when  tt.e  staff  become  accustomed  to  the  new  system  as 
good  despatch  will  be  secured  as  at  the  docks,  and  when 
the  project  3d  deep-sea  wharves  a,re  erected  the  greater 
portion  of  the  London  traffic  should  be  dealt  with  much 
more  cheaply  than  under  exi-stiug  dock  arrangements. 
The  object  which  the  dock  companies  have  in  view' is 
said  to  be  to  force  consignees  to  warehouse  goods  at 
the  docks  instead  of  standing  to  private  wharves,  where 
the  charges  are  more  reasonable. — Jlomc  and  Colonial 
Mail,  Sept  18. 
GOVERNMENT  CINCHONA  PLANTATIONS, 
NILGIKIS. 
From  the  annual  Adiiihsistration  report  on  the 
Government  Cinchona  Plantation.s,  Nilgiii.s,  for 
the  year  ending  31st  March  18B6,  by  Mr.  D. 
Hooper,  Government  Quinoiogist,  Government 
Cinchona  Plantations,  Ac.,  Nilgiris,  we  make  the 
following  extracts  : — 
General  Condition— (a)  Dodahc.Ua. — This  plantation, 
in  the  opinion  of  Dr.  King,  is  the  most  valuable  of 
all  those  possessed  by  Government  ou  the.se  hills  in 
consequence  of  the  large  number  of  crown  bark  or 
quinine  yielding  trees  growing  there.  The  natural 
situation  of  the  plantation  after  a trial  of  thirty-five 
years  has  proved  itself  to  be  adapted  for  the  sucoes.s- 
ful  growth  of  this  kind  of  cinchona,  and  one  of  the 
elements  of  success  might  be  attributed  to  the  good 
management  of  the  estates  under  the  present  Super- 
intendent. Ninety-one  thousand  and  four  hundred 
pounds  of  bar-k  were  collected  during  the  year  from 
the  coppicing  of  12J  acres  and  various  thinnings. 
The  severe  frost  of  January,  which  killed  over  3,0'J0 
trees  in  No.  I plot,  rendered  compulsory  the  harvesting 
of  a large  quantity  of  bark  from  this  part  of  the  estate. 
It  has  become  difficult  to  know  where  to  take  the  crop  ou 
Dodabetta,  as  some  of  the  oldest  tree  s still  respond  to 
high  cultivation  by  giving  richer  bark,  and  in  very 
few  plots  are  theie  any  trees  in  sneh  a sickly  condi- 
years,  and  the  bark  of  w'hich  contains  a maximum 
amount  of  quinine  owing  to  the  liberal  application  of 
manure  to  the  land  about  two  years  previously.  A 
row  of  these  trees  is  cut  out,  and  the  bark 
harvested,  and  the  stumps  of  tlie  trees  trimmed  as  in 
ordinary  coppicing.  The  next  row  of  trees  is  left 
Eta-nding,  but  the  alternate  rows  are  all  cut  down 
until  the  boundary  of  the  plot  is  reached.  The  trees 
that  are  left  coniiiuie  to  grow,  and  the  bark 
thickens,  and  at  the  same  time  they  afford 
.shade  for  the  young  coppice  shoots.  When  the 
shoots  are  sufficiently  advanced,  the  old  trees 
in  their  turn  will  be  ready  to  be  coppiced 
and  barked,  and  the  succeeding  coppice  shoots  will 
have  shade  and  protection  provided  for  them.  It 
has  been  found  that  the  entire  coppicing  of  a plot 
often  results  in  failure  due  to  the  absence  of  suit- 
able protection  for  the  young  sliools. 
ili)  Nedivattam. — A large  quantity  of  dry  bark, 
amounting  to  916001b.,  v/as  taken  during  the  year 
from  different  varieties  of  cinchona  trees  growing  on 
this  plantation.  There  is  a great  variation  in  the 
weight  of  bark  yielded  by  the  different  species ; for 
instance,  the  succirubra  trees  on  the  old  plots 
yielded  ou  an  average  3.3  lb.  of  green  bark  per  tree, 
some  large  magnifolias  lb.,  the  officinalis  9|  lb., 
and  some  young  hybrid  2,|  lb.  A number  of  the 
older  succirubra  and  magnifolia  trees  were  cut  down, 
not  so  much  for  their  bark,  which  does  not  per- 
ceptibly increase  in  value  after  a certain  age,  but 
for  their  wood,  of  which  a large  stock  is  needed  for 
fuel  in  the  factory.  Over  8,000  renewals  were  put 
out  during  the  year,  and  about  38,000  failures 
were  restored  in  the  younger  portions  of  the  estate. 
(c)  Pylcara — (1)  Hooher. — The  young  trees  on  this 
estate  are  doing  very  well ; but  some  of  the  larger  trees 
on  the  ridge  have  a sickly  appearance.  Some  of 
the  trees  that  were  coppiced  in  1894,  because  of  their 
dying  condition,  have  thrown  out  shoots;  but  these 
appear  to  be  unhealthy,  and  some  have  died  out.  The 
part  of  the  estate,  where  these  trees  have  been  grow- 
ing, is  in  an  exposed  position,  and  the  soil  is  not  of 
the  best  description.  A belt  of  blue  gums  will  be 
allowed  to  grow  up  and  form  a shelter  for  this  plot, 
and  the  land  will  he  well  manured  before  any  seri- 
ous work  is  again  undertaken  here.  Seven  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  officinalis  plants  were  put 
out  during  the  year. 
(2)  IFood. — III  aooordance  with  the  suggestion  of 
Dr.  King,  who  inspected  this  estate  in  July,  and  an 
order  from  Government  (G.  O.,  No.  5141,  Revenue, 
dated  19th  December  1895),  instructions  were  issued 
to  abandon  this  estate.  All  the  trees  were  cut  down 
uprooted,  and  the  bark  was  harvested  before  the  end 
of  the  year.  A fire  broke  out  in  the  estate  iiiFeb- 
luary  and  cleared  the  ground  of  the  leaves  and  twigs 
o£  cinchona,  and  thus  made  the  work  of  abaudon- 
111  eut  complete.  The  number  of  trees  uprooted  were 
20,484  hybrids  and  110  succirubras,  and  the  amount 
of  bark  taken  from  them  was  130,025  lb.  of  g-'  a 
hybrid  bark  and  1,320  lb.  of  red  bark. 
Manure. — All  the  estates  are  well  provided  wi;h 
manure.  The  Dodabetta  estate  received  1,187  <■  rf- 
loads  from  Ootacanuind  in  addition  to  300  1 aJa  irom 
the  cattle  sheds.  T ii-ee  hundred  loads  of  manure 
wore  put  out  .at  i’j.Kara  and  100  loads  at  Nedivat- 
tam. A ton  of  Trichinopoly  phosphate  in  powder 
was  last  year  applied  to  the  land  where  some  of 
the  young  plants  needed  a tonic.  The  poverty  of 
Nilgiri  soil  in  phosphoric  acid  has  often  been  made 
the  subject  of  remark,  and  the  addition  of  phos- 
phatic  manure  to  land  planted  up  with  cinchona  is 
now  regarded  as  necessary. 
A few  interesting  experiments  were  made  on  some 
grown  bark  trees  at  Nedivattam,  which  showed  to 
what  extent  the  bark  is  enrichel  by  good  cultivation. 
In  Iho  year  1890  some  five  years  old  trees  in  plot 
14  were  manured  aud  treuched,  and  a sample  of  the 
bark  taken  at  the  time  gave  3-73  per  cent,  of  sulphate 
