ON  CINCHONA  CULTURE  IN  INDIA, 
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ON  CINCHONA  CULTURE  IN  INDIA. 
By  Dr.  De  Vry. 
Dr.  De  Vry  communicated  a  piper  "  On  the  Cinchona  Cul- 
tivation in  British  India,"  which  was  read  by  Mr.  Hanbury. 
After  a  six  years'  residence  in  Java,  the  author  has  obtained 
leave  of  absence  for  two  years  to  recruit  his  health  ;  and  on  his 
way  home  he  made  a  visit  to  the  British  cinchona  plantations 
in  Ceylon  and  on  the  Neilgherry  Hills  in  the  Madras  Presi- 
dency. Two  systems  of  cultivation  appear  to  be  followed  in 
the  British  possessions,  one  in  dense  forest  shade,  and  the  other 
in  the  open  sunshine.  In  the  Dutch  settlement  at  Java  the 
plants  are  grown  in  dense  shade,  and  the  author  was  anxious  to 
investigate  for  himself  the  results  of  the  cultivation  in  sunshine. 
In  Ceylon  he  found  the  Cinchona  succirubra  grown  at  an  ele- 
vation#of  1600  feet  in  the  shade.  The  plants  were  healthy, 
and  from  8  to  9  feet  high.  They  were  found  to  grow  better  in 
loftier  situations,  and  the  leaves  in  plants  grown  in  high  situa- 
tions contained  twice  as  much  quinovic  acid  as  those  grown  in 
lower.  An  immense  number  of  the  Cinchona  succirubra  plants 
are  growing  in  Ceylon,  some  in  sunshine  and  some  in  shade  ; 
and  a  plant  thirty-one  months  old  has  attained  a  height  of  10 
feet  and  the  circumference  of  1  inches.  At  one  station  there 
were  fifty-seven  healthy  plants  of  Cinchona  Calisaya.  The  loss 
of  plants  by  death,  Dr.  De  Vry  was  surprised  to  learn,  was 
only  y^th  per  cent,  in  Ceylon  ;  in  Java  the  average  loss  was 
10  per  cent.  From  Ceylon  the  author  went  to  India,  and 
visited  Otacamund,  where  he  found  the  plants  under  Mr.  Mc- 
Ivor's  charge  in  an  excellent  state.  In  three  years  the  number 
has  increased  from  1000  to  243,166 ;  and  a  most  extraordinary 
instance  of  multiplication  was  seen  in  the  case  of  the  single 
specimen  of  C.  uritasinga,  received  eighteen  months  before  from 
Mr.  Howard,  from  which  plant  alone*  4730  others  had  been 
obtained  by  cuttings  and  buds.  It  was  noticed  that  plants  from 
large  cuttings  were  in  a  less  satisfactory  state  than  those  from 
small.  The  plants  were  all  healthy,  and  in  this  part  were  grown 
in  open  sunshine,  which  Mr.  Mclvor  considers  most  favorable 
to  their  growth.  Wherever  he  could,  Dr.  De  Vry  obtained 
specimens  of  leaves  and  the  bark  of  boih  root  and  stem,  and 
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