May 2, 1892.3 TMf TROPICAL AORICULTURIST. 817 
oing this opinion we are guided in a great measure by 
what is called the labour difliculty. Only a short time 
ago the .Magistrate in one of- the recruiting Distriots 
drew a sketch which wa.s doubtless slightly the outcome 
of imagination. At the same time it ocureyed much 
truth, namely, ten sirdars or ri oruitiog agents stalking 
one coolie as a recruit, and these ten sirdars represen- 
ted ton different gardons within a ring fence of about 
20 miles. If, on no other grounds, this alone to ns 
seems couolnsire proof that tbe labour dithcnlty is 
much in the planters and agents' own hands, Gombi- 
nation of plauteis and agents has been tried time after 
time, but either their iutcroste are so eunllictiug, or 
their jealousies BO great, that it has hitherto proved a 
failure. Shareholders are impassive ; msny of them 
have so long been accustomed to no return on their 
investments, that all efforts in that direction seem to be 
hopeless. 
The only chsnco of eflooting the further economy 
we have suggested is by a few resolnte men who 
sre deeply interested in the tea industry acting as a 
committee and formulating a series of schemes that 
by amalgamation will siiow a scusibls decrease in 
tile cost of production, and thus aim a great blow 
at one of the presont curses of tea gardens, the cost 
of either imported or what is called free labour. 
Then it may bo hoped tliat the diiferenoe between 
the cost of production oud tho value roeeived for 
tho maunraotured article will show a margin com- 
mensnrate with Ilia outlay iuvolved. It is with pro- 
found regret that wo read in many of tlio reports 
that so much of tho present misfortune that has 
fallen on the tea iiidnstry is laid at tbe doors of the 
unfortunate mansgera. duly those who have actually 
undergone the hardships, anxiety, and solitude of a 
plauter’s lifu can form an idea of what such an 
existence is, and, considering tho emoll pay that they 
receive, and in meet cases how much their emoluments 
depend on their exeruous, it is not in that direction 
and by olTuring them up as the principal soapugoats 
that sharoholders and proprietors must depend in 
future for some refiirn on their money invested. 
Our advice, therefore, is to unite, and thus force 
down the cost of pi oduotiou by tho saving in lUnropeau 
supervision and Ibe present reckless and erpeuaive 
process of scrambling for labour.- (.’oiTespomleiit of the 
“ litujliakman.'’ 
CIN'CIIOAA IX MADRAS. 
No industry in India has presented so many features 
of doubt aud uuoortainly as the cultivation of cinchona 
Thirty years have elapsed aiuco Mr. Markham advised 
aud directed tho iutrodaotion of this .South American 
tree into tho Ndgiris, aud Mr. Mclvor gave practical 
effect to his advice and iuatructiouB, and yet the ques- 
tions anxiously discussed at the present arc of an ini- 
tiatory oliaractor— what are tho host variotiee to grow, 
how to grow them, and in what manner is the harvest 
tu be gathered and placed upon the market t This uu- 
oertaiuty is all the more singular because oiuohoua 
planting is carried on by a fairly iutelligcnt body of 
Kngliahiueu aud by tho Uoverunient, which makes a 
speciality of the subject, employing highly trained ex- 
perts to watcli its progress and record the results of 
investigations in the field, the factory, and tbe labora- 
tory. Thirty years may not seom a very long time 
for the conduct of a State undertaking ; but for an 
ex^aTjiasiilit isa fairly reasonable period, that ought 
to produce decisive results of one kind or another, 
encouraging or discouraging. With such advan- 
tages as have been enumerated, wo have not advanced 
beyond the threshhold of enquiry, and notwithstaod- 
ing the great uncertainty on_ important matters, the 
cultivation, most unusual as it is, has advanced with 
rapid strides, oud a vast area has become covered with 
a tree of which the growers know really very little. 
The Madras Mail and the Madras Times had a 
risume of the annual report on tho Nilgiri plantation 
for 1890-91 with some commonplace observatious 
thereon. It is true that, in maintaining its cinchona 
plantations, Uovernmeut is doing for the plaulei what 
individual clfort, or, for tho matter of that, corporate 
cRutt, could nut acsouplitli— tho investiga- 
tion of the numerous problems and ditlioulties that 
have to bo solved and overoome by tho successful 
cinchona planter. Our preaent object is rather to 
dwell upon a few points of interest to the cinchona 
planter, which tho labours of the Director and the 
Quiuologist in tho past have made prominent. From a 
number of experiments conducted on the Nilgiri plauta- 
tiooB there is little room to donbt that the beat variety 
of cinchona for the llilla is the Maynifvlia. It is the 
hardiest and quickest -gi owing of all tuo varieties, altaio- 
iug to a oouhidcrablo sixo comparatively, aud forming 
thick bark rich in ulkaloidal value. A recent analysis 
of the bark of tho Santa h'i — to which Mr. Gross 
duvutod attention when ho Was in India — shows it tu 
bo hardly interior to C. Ojlicinalis m quinine, and 
much superior to C. succirnbra. Like the MicranOia, 
there was an utter abseuoo ot quinidiue in tbe bark, 
a constituent present in all cinchonas, 'f'he carlhayina, 
it siems, is worthless on the Nilgris, It was imported 
originally os an analysis of tho Maydaltna, but it is 
possible tbe latter never reoebed this country. Ana- 
lyses both in Madras and in Bengal prove it tu ho 
entirely deficiont in quinine. Mr. Iloopur’s enquiries 
iulu the couslilucnta of the bark of tbe i'orde aud 
tbe Morada, two valuablo vaiieties of tho calisays, 
lead him to predict a grand fntiiro for these 
kinds. Some seeds were ublained many years 
ago for Uovernmont from Bolivia, and plants raised 
from thorn on the Nilgiria and at Darjeeling. 
The elevation ot the Nilgiria appears to ho inimi- 
cal, but they have thriven well in Wyiiaad at S,00U feet 
above sea level. A spooimen of tbe Verde aix yeara old, 
grown iu the Wyiiaad, yielded seven per cent of sul- 
phate of quinine, and inoru recent analyses confirm this 
excellent result. With such a high percentagu the 
I'trdr IS almost bettor than the Ledgtriana, and deser- 
ving of extensive propagation. Thu experiments oou- 
ductet on the Madras plantations with manure are 
particularly iutercsting and tcud to abow that suit- 
able materials produce decidedly profitable results. It 
has been found that manures act more energetically on 
young trees than on old ones, aud tliat the l-irger 
outturn of bark is from the taster-growing varieties, 
like the succirubras, tbo ledgers, and hybrids 
nod not from tbo slow ones us the offrinalis. 
Cattle msimro proved to be tho moat powerful fertilizer, 
raisiug the yield of quinine by about 50 per cent over 
that of uumanured trees. Lime, and lime aud oattie 
manuru mixed, were the next best, increasing tbe 
qniniue by 2U per cunt. Woodasbes the least stimu* 
latiug, — only increasing the sulphate by ten per cent. 
Poonao was tested as a manure, firstly, six mouths 
after applioatiou, aud next .t't'elvH inuuths alter. 
In both oases there was benefit — in tbe latter to 
tho extent of 22 per cent, lu this experiment a 
singular effeot was noted — tho poonao reduced the 
quantity of cinchonine, the least valuable constituent 
of tho bark. I’ish manure applied for a oouaidor 
able time proved to be as valuable as catti- 
manure, causing an increase of quite 60 per oonet 
of quinine. Bone used with cattle manure produced on. 
increase of 30 per cent, and bone aloue 23 per cent 
— Indian Aijricullurisl, Feb. 20tb. 
HoniB Hea ABBOwnooijis the product ot Tacca 
pinitalijida, Forst. This is a perennial herbaoeoua 
plant, with a tuberous root. As a source of 
arrowroot the plant is of great value. The tubers 
when fresh resemble new potatoes, and contain a 
groat deal of starob. Taooa arrowroot is prefeiablo 
to any other in oases of dysentery and diarrhioa. 
— Chemist and Druggist, 
Bananas seem to havo been imported in groat 
quantities into England this year. Of all the vege- 
tables which furnish food to man this fruit is the 
/ single cluster often contains from 
IbO to 180 pods, and weighs from OOlb. to 801b 
Humboldt says that a piece of land of 120 square 
yyds will produce I.tlOOlb. weight of fruit, while 
the same area will rarely ptoduoo mote than 30lb 
weight ol wheat or 801b. of potatoeB.-i’riwwsj 
