26 
Cinchona  Trees  Grown  in  India. 
J  Am.  Jour.  P^a*w.. 
t     Jan.  1,1872. 
Last  summer  he  was  furnished  with  two  trees  complete,  roots,  trunk, 
branches  and  leaves,  not  living,  but  packed  in  cases,  from  the  Gov- 
ernment Gardens,  Ootacamund.  They  were  nearly  five  years  old 
when  cut  down.  One  was  Cinchona  succirubra  and  the  other  Cin- 
chona officinalis.  The  gross  weight  of  the  first  was  28  pounds  12 
ounces,  of  the  second  10  pounds  1  ounce;  showing  that  the  C.  suc- 
cirubra will  develop  almost  three  times  as  fast  as  the  C.  officinalis, 
a  circumstance  accounted  for  by  the  abundance  of  its  leafy  branches, 
whilst  the  general  aspect  of  the  Loja-tree,  a  stem  bearing  a  tuft  of 
vegetation  on  the  summit,  has  caused  it  to  be  compared  to  the  aloe. 
But  this  rapid  development  of  the  succirubra  by  no  means  neces- 
sarily implies  a  corresponding  success  in  the  cultivation  of  this  spe- 
cies. If  the  quinine  found  in  the  bark  of  the  C.  officinalis  prove  to 
be  three  times  the  amount  in  the  same  time,  and  of  purer  quality  than 
in  the  C.  succirubra,  and  supposing  the  relative  weight  of  the  bark  to 
be  the  same,  the  preferential  price  would  be  given  for  the  one-third 
weight  of  C.  officinalis.  The  average  of  a  parcel  of  C.  succirubra  re- 
cently cut,  and  now  coming  home  is,  he  was  informed,  under  1  per 
cent.,  but  the  average  of  the  C.  officinalis  coming  in  the  same  parcel 
is  over  3  per  cent,  of  sulphate  of  quinine.  Mr.  Howard  had  not  ascer- 
tained the  relative  weight  of  the  barks  of  these  specimens,  but  he 
stated  that  that  on  C.  officinalis  was  the  thickest.  The  trees  very 
closely  resembled  in  external  aspect  those  of  the  same  sorts  grown  in 
their  native  climates.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  the  C. 
officinalis,  which  seems  in  all  respects  to  be  the  exact  reproduction 
of  the  plant  named  by  Pavon  C.  Uritusinga,  but  which  has  now  been 
restored  by  Dr.  Hooker  to  the  old  Linnean  designation.  Another 
general  observation  which  presented  itself  on  closer  inspection,  was 
the  occurrence  on  the  lower  part  of  the  trunk  of  each  tree  of  a  pe- 
culiar white  fungus  occupying  the  crevices  of  the  bark,  penetrating; 
into  the  very  wood  itself,  and  occupying  cracks  and  fissures  in  the 
same.  This  Mr.  Howard  considered  a  very  bad  indication  ;  and, 
judging  from  the  analogy  of  beech-trees  similarly  affected  in  planta-- 
tions  here,  would  regard  it  as  an  almost  fatal  sign.  It  may  not  gen- 
erally occur  in  the  Indian  plantations,  but  its  accidental  existence  in 
these  trees  may,  in  part,  have  led  to  their  selection  for  the  purpose 
of  eradication.  A  portion  of  bark  of  the  under  part  of  the  stem  of  a 
Calisaya  tree  grown  in  Java,  and  "  infected  by  mycelium,"  was- 
shown.    This  arose  from  the  decaying  portions  of  old  roots  and 
