Nov.  2,  1896. J 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
327 
mate  acciii-ately  the  number  of  trees  that  actually 
exist.  It  maj'  be  advisable  thei’eforo  to  cut 
down  these  figures  by  half  and  to  reckon  4:J:  mil- 
lion instead  of  8g  million  pounds  of  dry  bark  as  the 
quantity  that  would  be  ol)tained  were  the  whole 
plantation  coppiced  now.  On  the  other  hand  it  must 
be  recollected  that  the  trees,  if  worked  on  a rotation 
of  twenty  years,  would  yield  during  that  period 
repeated  crops  of  bark  by  the  stripping  and  mossing 
process  prior  to  their  finally  being  coppiced.  As  a 
check  on  these  calculations  based  on  the  nuniher  of 
the  trees  on  the  plantation,  I shall  now  give  a cal- 
culation based  on  the  yield  per  acre.  Captain  Camp- 
bell Walker’s  survey  showed  the  actual  area  to  be 
848’71  acres.  Since  the  date  of  his  report  the  Wood 
estate  has  been  reduced  from  72  acres  to  27,  being 
a diminution  of  45  acres.  The  acreage  of  the  other- 
estates  remains  exactly  the  same,  and  the  whole 
area  now  under  Cinchona  may  be  therefore  taken 
roughly  at  800  acres.  Statistics  show  that  the  average 
yield  on  Dodabetta  of  an  acre,  when  coppiced,  is 
about  4,000  lb.  (excluding  root  bark)  and  that  the 
amount  of  bark  yielded  by  the  same  acre  by  strip- 
ping and  grassing  subsequently  to  1880  and  prior  to 
coppicing  appears,  from  the  few  areas  of  which  an 
accurate  record  has  been  kept,  to  be  about  1,4501b. 
The  total  yield  of  the  whole  plantation,  if  coppiced 
at  once,  would  therefore  according  to  these 
figures  be  800  by  4,000  equal  to  3,200,000  lb.  of 
dry  bark.  And  the  amount  obtainable  by  stripping 
over  a period  of  twenty  years  would,  at  1,4501b.  per 
acre,  stand  thus  : — 800  x 1,450  -— 1,100,000  pounds  of 
dry  bark. 
The  actual  stock  of  birk  of  all  kinds  in  the 
plantation  thus  conies  out  as  4,300,000  lb. 
13.  Annuai,  Outturn  of  Bark  and  Quinine. — The 
calculation  per  acre  appears  to  me  to  afford  a safer 
' basis  for  estimating  Uie  amount  of  bark  which  can 
annually  be  taken  ns  the  normal  crop;  in  other 
words  of  estimating  the  amount  of  dividend  which 
may  be  drawn  from  the  estate  without  encroaching 
on  the  capital.  The  oldest  trees  on  the  plantation 
are  now  about  thirty-three  years  of  ngc,  and  ex- 
periments in  coppicing  show  that  good  returns  in 
the  way  of  crop  can  be  obtained  from  coppice  shoots 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  old.  The  Director  is 
of  opinion,  and  in  this  1 agree,  that  twenty  years 
may  safely  be  taken  as  the  rotation  on  which  the 
plantation  mty  be  worked.  On  this  basis,  the  an- 
nual crop  would,  therefore,  be  218,000  lb.  from  which 
there  could  be  extracted  (at  3.}  per  cent.)  7,030  lb. 
of  quinine.  But  the  bark  contains  a certain  per- 
centage of  Cinchonidine,  Oinchouine  and  Amorphous 
quinine;  there  would,  in  addition,  therefore  be  a 
considerable  quantity  of  Cinchona  febrifuge. 
SUGGF.STIONS  FOR  FUTUKE  MaNAGEAIENT. — 111 
view  of  the  early  retirement  of  Mr.  Lawson,  the 
question  of  future  management  is  a pressing  one. 
There  are,  it  appears  to  me,  two  arrangements  which 
might  be  made,  and  these  are  first  to  find  a successor 
for  Mr.  L iwson,  who  will  perform  exactly  the  same 
duties  as  he  does  ; second  to  dissociate  the  appoint- 
ment of  Government  Botanist  from  that  of  Superin- 
tendent of  the  cinchona  plantations  and  factory.  The 
second  is  the  ar-rangemeut  favoured  by  Mr.  Law.son, 
who  has  addressed  Government  on  the  subject.  Mr. 
Lawson’s  proposal  is  that  a skilled  Botanist  should  bo 
got  out  from  England  who  should  have  his  head- 
quarters in  Madras  (where  the  Government  Herbarium 
should  be  located)  and  who  should  fulfil  the  func- 
tions of  Government  Botanist  and  of  referee  and 
adviser  to  Government  on  all  matters  connected  with 
scientific  horticulture ; who  should  lecture  on  Botany 
in  the  xMadras  Colleges  and  act  as  Examiner  in  Botany 
in  the  University  ; and  part  of  whoso  recognised 
duty  it  should  be  to  carry  out  the  Iiotanical  explor- 
ation of  the  Presidency — many  parts  of  \vhich  towards 
the  west  and  south  are  still,  from  a scientific  point 
of  view,  very  imperfectly  known.  In  my  own  opinion, 
this  proposal  is  probably  the  better  of  the  two,  but  it 
is  the  more  costly.  Against  the  first  scheme  there 
is  this  to  be  said  ; that  it  will  not  bo  easy  to  get 
a man  of  Mr.  Lawson’s  calibre  and  previous  ex- 
perie^ice  to  accept  the  appointment  on  the  scale  of 
pay  at  present  sanctioned  for  him.  It  is  in  fact 
n 
extremely  improbable  that  a gentleman  who  had 
been  a professor  of  Botany  in  a great  English 
University,  and  who  has  bad  many  years  experience 
of  the  management  of  a Botanic  garden  (Mr.  Lawson 
held  charge  of  the  Oxford  gar-den  for  fourteen  years) 
would  be  secured  by  the  Secretary  of  State  as  Mr. 
Lawson’s  successor.  Against  the  second  scheme  the 
chief  objection  is  its  cost.  A Government  Botanist, 
v.uth  functions  as  above  described,  could  not,  I fear, 
he  obt-ained  even  on  the  salary  now  naid  to  Mr. 
Lawson  ; far  less  on  the  salary  (R400  rising  to 
11600  per  mensem)  suggested  by  Mr.  Lawson.  The 
superintendence  of  the  Cinchona  plantations  has, 
moreover,  to  be  provided  for.  This  would  have  to  be 
considered  by  Government  in  connection  with  the 
arrangement  by  which  a whole-time  officer  is  enter- 
tained asQuinologist;  and  that  is  not  oneof  the  matters 
referred  to  in  the  Government  Order  under  which  I 
submit  the  present  report.  The  qualifications  of  the 
officer  who  may  be  selected  to  succeed  Sir.  Lawson  in 
charge  of  the  plantations  and  factory  should,  in  my 
opinion,  be  as  follows  ; he  should  be  an  educated 
man  with  a sufficient  knowledge  of  agriculture  and 
horticulture,  both  theorotical  and  practical,  so  as  to 
put  him  on  a higher  level,  in  this  respect,  than  any 
of  his  subordinates.  It  might,  and  I dare  say,  would 
be  impossible  to  get  a man  with  a special  know- 
ledge of  cinchona  cultivation  ; but  a man  who  has 
general  horticultural  knowledge  and  experience 
would,  if  he  had  the  advantage  of  a little  tuition 
under  Mr.  Lawson,  soon  pick  up  the  peculiarities  of 
the  culture  in  cinchona.  I consider  a knowledge  of 
this  sort  as  more  necessary  for  the  new  Superintendent 
than  a knowledge  of  Chemistry.  For  the  plantation 
has  now  passed  beyond  the  stage  when  the  continued 
guidance  of  a quinological  expert  is  necessary  Most 
of  the  chemical  problems  which  are  likely  hencefor- 
ward to  present  themselves  ought,  if  not  at  once  cer- 
tninly  after  a few  months  experience,  to  be  capable 
of  solution  by  an  ordinary  chemical  expert  in  Madras 
or  elsewhere.  I do  not  mean  in  the  least  to  decry 
chemical  knowledge,  which  no  doubt  will  be  of  great 
use  in  working  tlie  factory.  All  I mean  to  say  is  that 
for  the  management  of  the  plantation  (in  its  present 
condition  and  of  the  factory,  as  a /oint  c//arc/e,  a knowledge 
of  horticulture  is  of  mere  importance  than  a know- 
ledge of  Chemistry.  One  qualification  which  the  Super- 
intendent of  these  plantations  should  most  certainly 
possess  is  a capacity  for  estate  management  and  for 
the  organization  and  control  of  labour.  A most  im- 
porlant  point  for  the  future  management  of  these 
plantations  will  be  to  secure  a continuity  of  policy 
ibis  can  never  be  done  if  the  management  be 
sometimes  vested  in  hands  of  an  officer  of  one 
department  and  sometimes  in  the  hands  of  another 
deiiartment-neither  being  experts.  The  best  thing 
to  do  would  be  to  secure  a man  of  capacity,  energy 
and  tact,  and  to  make  it  worth  his  while  to  remain 
on  m the  appointment  long  enough  to  accumulate 
special  experience  and  knowledge,  and  to  utilize  that 
knowledge  and  experience  in  the  interests  of  Gov- 
ernment. These  estatas  are,  in  my  opinion  a vlu- 
able  property.  The  present  Director  has ’made  it 
his  policy  to  con=c)  ve  and  to  nurse  them,  and  to 
bring  them  into  condition  under  which  they  can 
be  worked  on  a definite  system.  He  has  succeeded 
It  appears  to  me,  in  putting, the  Dodabetta  planta- 
tion into  such  a condition.  Much  progress  towards 
this  end  has  been  made  on.  the  Hooker  estate. 
But  the  Nedivattam  plantation,  from  haying  been 
originally  planted  out  without  proper  regard  to  the 
separation  of  varieties  is  still  in  a backward 
condition,  ine  new  biiperintendent  should  in 
Lawson’s  policy. 
Anything  like  the  reversal  of  policy  and 
geneial  houloersmenf  of  current  arrangenieuta  which 
so  often  characterises  a change  of  management  is 
imicli  to  be  deprecated  for  these  estates.  W their 
tuliue  value  and  their  continuity  as  a source  of  bark 
will  depend  greatly  on  the  way  in  which  they  are 
worked  during  the  next  few  years.  If  judiciously 
treated  they  may  at  once  be  counted  upon  for  the 
annual  supply  of  7,(;i0lb.  of  sulphate  of  quinine 
besides  a large  quantity  of  cinchona  febrifuge  as  a 
by-product.  lu  making  the  estimates  of  the  resources 
