324 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  2,  1896. 
covers  printed  in  Burmese  and  English,  the  three 
hundred-weight  of  quinine  in  live-grain  powders  or 
470,906  powders  were  sent  in  August,  Septenibtr  and 
October  last,  to  the  Superintendent  of  the  Oentral 
Jail,  Rangoon,  and  the  value,  viz.,  115.070-10-0  was 
adjusted  through  the  Accountant-General  in  the 
accounts  for  the  year. 
(i)  Visit  of  Dk.  G.  King  to  tiiu  Ninoiuis.— In  Juno 
last  Bi'igade-Surgeon-Ijieutenant-Colonel  G.  King  of 
the  Botanic  Gardens,  Calcutta,  was  invited,  through 
the  Gove'  iiraent  of  Bengal,  to  conduct  a thorough 
examination  of  the  several  Government  Cinchona 
Plantations  on  the  Nilgiris  and  the  quinine  factory  at 
Nedivattam,  and  to  report  on  their  general  condition 
their  value,  and  the  best  way  in  which  they  should  be 
worked  in  the  future.  D'-.  King  arrived  in  Ootaca- 
mund  on  the  20th  July  1895,  and  inspected  all  the 
plantations  in  company  with  IMr.  Lawson,  and  con- 
ferred with  Government  about  the  future  organisation 
of  the  Botanical  and  Cinchona  Departments.  Dr. 
King  was  able,  during  his  visit,  to  complete  his  re- 
port on  the  resultsof  the  inspection,  and  he  left  the 
Hills  on  the  8th  August. 
(/)  Death  of  Mk.  Lawson. — It  is  with  great  regret 
that  the  death  of  Mr.  M.  A.  Lawson,  Government 
Botanist  and  Dii’ector  of  the  Cinchona  Plantations, 
has  to  be  recorded.  Mr.  Lawson  assumed  charge  of 
the  Cinchona  Plantations  and  Government  Gardens 
and  Parks  on  the  18th  June  1883,  and  the  designation 
of  Government  Botanist  and  Director  was  given  to 
him  on  the  1st  April  1886.  Mr.  Lawson  had  unusual 
ability  which  he  exhibited  in  every  department  of  his 
office.  lu  January  1895  ho  intimated  his  intention  to 
retire  from  service,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  his 
health,  which  had  been  most  robust  during  the  whole 
of  his  Indian  career,  .began  to  fail.  In  February  last 
he  reluctantly  placed  himself  under  medical  care,  and 
was  removed  to  Madras,  where  he  died  after  an 
operation  on  the  14th  February  1896. 
APPENDIX. 
Report  on  the  Cinchona  Plantations  and  Factory  of 
the  Madra,s  Government. 
1.  I have,  during  my  present  visit  to  the  Nilgiri 
Hills,  gone  over  and  carefully  examined  the  planta- 
tions at  Dodabetta  and  Nedivattam  and  the  one  near 
the  Pykara  river  named  the  Hooker  estate.  I visited 
these  estates  orgimilly  in  1871  and,  in  company  with 
the  late  Mr.  Mclvor  and  Mr.  Broughton,  made  a 
prolonged  and  minute  inspection  of  them.  And  again 
in  1878  I made  an  equally  through  inspection  of 
them  in  connection  with  Commission  appointed  by 
Government  to  enquire  into  their  condition  and 
jn'ospects.  During  my  present  inspection  I have 
therefore  had  the  advantage  of  tlie  knowledge  and 
experience  acquired  during  these  earlier  visits. 
2.  Government  are  familiar,  from  the  nqiorts  of 
the  Director,  with  the  composition  (as  regards  the 
Ivinds  of  cinchona  grown)  of  these  j)lantations.  It 
is  therefore  unnecessary  for  me  to  do  more  than 
remind  yon  generally  that  on  the  four  plantations 
m-acticaily  only  three  kinds  of  cinchona  are  cultivated. 
Tlie  Dodabetta  plantation  is  essentially  one  of  crown 
(or  ojlicinalin)  bark,  there  being  more  than  half  a 
million  trees  of  that  sort  on  it  and  only  about  sixt}’' 
thousand  of  the  sort  known  as  “ hybrid” ; _ while 
there  are  no  trees  whatever  of  the  red  bark  {cinchona 
.Huccinihra).  The  Nedivattam  plantation,  on  the  other 
hand,  consists  of  about  a quart  of  a million  hybrid 
trees  of  89j000  crowm  barks,  and  of  25,000  red  barks. 
The  Hooker  plantations  is  composed  of  373,000 
crown  barks,  293,000  hybrids  and  2,300  red  barks; 
while  the  Wood  plantation  consists  of  about  42,000 
hybrids.  Distributed  over  all  four  estates  there  are 
1,188  trees  of  various  kinds  of  cinchona  which  have 
been  raised  from  seeds  from  time  to  time  sent  out 
bv  the  India  Office  for  experimental  cultivation. 
These  are  now  cultivated  merely  as  curiosities,  as  they 
haie  all  been  proved  to  be  without  value  as  sources 
of  quinine  on  the  Nilgiri  Hills.  I therefore  omit 
them  from  further  consideration.  As  Government 
are  aware  it  has  from  a very  early  period  in  the 
history  of  the  cultivation  of  tho  medicinal  cinchonaa 
in  these  hills  been  known  and  recognised  that  the 
best  bark  to  grow  for  the  manufac  ure  of  quinine  is 
the  crosvn  or  officinalis  sort.  It  has  been  equally 
well-known  that  the  red  or  succirubra  bark  is  one 
which  contains  a larger  proi  ortion  of  the  inferior 
alkaloids,  cinchonidine  and  cinchonine;  and  which, 
while  affording  an  excellent  rav/  material  for  tho 
manufacture  of  cinchona  febrifuge,  is  an  inferior  raw 
material  for  quinine.  The  soits  known  as  hybrids 
are  trees  which,  while  inferior  as  quinine  yii.lders, 
to  the  crown  barks,  are  superior  to  red  barks.  For 
various  ro.asons  the  cultivation  of  those  hybrids  was 
much  favoured  by  the  late  Mr.  Mclvor,  and  it  is 
this  fact  which  accounts  for  the  large  proportion 
of  them  which  still  exists  on  tho  Government  estates. 
Experience  since  Mr.  IMcIvor’s  time  has  proved  that 
these  hybrids  are,  in  the  Nilgiris,  shortlived  trees; 
and  that  their  baik,  by  reason  of  t^o  presence  in  it 
of  so  much  cinchonidine  and  cinchonine,  is  as  a raw 
material  for  quinine  manufacture  much  inferior  to 
crown  bark.  The  latter  is,  moreover,  also  much  more 
hardy  than  hybrid.  The  policy  of  Mr.  Lawson  has 
therefore  been  steadily  to  reduce  the  numbers  of  both 
hybrids  and  red  barks  in  the  estates,  and  to  replant 
the  areas  cleared  of  these  with  crown  ba.rlcs.  This  policy 
has  been  carried  out  to  such  an  extent  that  at  present 
there  are  on  the  four  Government  estates  only  about 
27,952  red  barks  and  663.323  hybrids,  as  against 
1,031,005  crowii  barks.  Of  this  policy  I entirely 
approve,  and  I would  recommeud  its  continuance 
until  the  estates  contain  nothing  but  crown  barks. 
AVith  the  object,  however,  of  keeping  up  the  strain 
of  the  latter  which  appears  to  have  slightly 
deteriorated  of  recent  years  I would  support  tlie 
recommendation  made  to  Government  by  the  Director 
to  tho  effect  that  arrangements  sb.ould  be  made  for 
the  importation  from  the  natural  home  of  the  crown 
bark  in  the  forests  of  Loxa  in  the  province  of 
Ecuador  of  a few  pounds  of  good  fresh  seed  of  that 
species. 
3.  From  the  preceding  remarks  it  will  appear 
that  the  Dodabetta  plantation  is  tho  most 
valuable  of  the  four  and  that  the  Hooker  plan- 
tation ranks  next  in  value.  The  Nedivattam 
plantation  has,  from  the  preponderance  upon  it  of 
hybrid  and  red  barks,  a considerably  less  \alue  at 
present  ; but,  if  the  policy  be  carried  out  of  re- 
placing these  by  crown  barks,  it  may  soon  become 
equally  valuable  with  the  two  prcvioirsly  mentioned. 
And  at  present  it  is  of  great  importance  from  tho 
presence  on  it  of  the  Quinine  and  Febrifuge  Fac- 
tory. The  Wood  plantation  is,  both  as  regards  ex- 
tent and  composition,  the  least  valuable  of  all  four. 
It  consists  at  present  of  a small  patch  (27  acres)  of 
hybrid  bark  trees;  it  i-3  inconveniently  separated 
from  the  other  three  by  the  Pykara  stream  ; and  in 
fact  the  chief  argument  for  its  retention  ajipears  to 
be  that  there  i.s  on  it  a bungalow  lit  for  a European 
Superinten-d(  nt  to  live  in,  whereas  on  the  Hooker  es- 
tate there  is  no  such  accommodation.  Tho  patch 
of  cinchona  on  the  Wood  estate  is  so  small,  and  so 
exposed  to  the  ravages  of  game  that  I would  root  it 
up  and  abandcti  it.  I shall,  however,  refer  to  this 
matter  more  fully  in  a subsequent  para.graph. 
Management  ani>  Mode  of  Woeking  the  Plan- 
tations.— Up  to  the  dates  of  my  previous  visits  (1871 
and  1878)  tiio  only  method  of  taking  tho  bark  crop 
wliich  had  I’eceived  anything  like  a fair  trial  was 
that  of  stripping  and  renewal  under  either  moss 
or  grass.  Coppicing  had  hardly  been  tried.  In 
my  memorandum  submitted  to  tho  Cinchona 
Committee  in  1878  (pages  33  and  35)  I re- 
commended that  coppicing  should  he  resorted  to 
in  conj Line! ion  with  stripping  and  mossing.  Since 
Mr.  Lawson  became  I)irector  of  the  Estates, 
the  system  of  coppice  after  stripping  anti 
mossing  has  been  regularly  follow'd!,  and  the 
result  has  been  successful.  It  has  been  proved  tliat 
trees  which  had  been  reduced  to  a weak  and  un- 
healthy condition  from  repeated  decortication  send 
np  from  their  stools,  when  coppiced,  licalthy  and 
vigorou.s  shouts  which  in  turn  yield  hark  of  (]uito 
as  good  quality  as  tho  original  stems.  The  scheme 
of  working  followed  by  the  present  Diroctor  lias 
