CULTIVATION  OF  CINCHONA  PLANTS  UNDER  GLASS.  257 
ON  THE  CULTIYATION  OF  CINCHONA  PLANTS  UNDER 
GLASS  IN  ENGLAND. 
By  John  Eliot  Howard,  F.L.S. 
Since  first  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  raising  the  C,  officinalis 
from  seed  sent  me  from  the  mountains  of  Uritusinga,  I  have  de- 
voted some  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  different  species  of  cin- 
chona under  glass.  This  has  extended  over  a  period  of  about 
ten  years,  during  the  larger  portion  of  which  my  experiments 
have  been  carried  on  in  a  conservatory  which  I  had  constructed 
for  the  purpose,  and  which,  though  on  quite  a  limited  scale,  en- 
ables me  to  estimate  what  might  be  done  by  means  of  the  appli- 
ances at  the  disposal  of  the  directors  of  our  botanic  gardens.  I 
have  worked  through  a  fair  amount  of  mistakes  and  misfortunes, 
and  have  now  about  twenty  different  forms  (species  or  varieties) 
of  Cinchona  in  various  stages  of  development ;  and  of  these,  re- 
cently flowering,  one  plant  of  the  0.  officinalis one  of  the  var. 
Colorada  del  Ray ^  and  one  very  forward  in  bud  of  the  (as  yet. 
undescribed)  C.  Forhesiana.  I  have  also  still  in  blossom  a  plant 
of  the  Howardia  Caracasensis  about  ten  feet  in  height,  and 
covered  with  flowers  for  the  last  two  or  three  months.  Such  a 
result,  if  exhibited  to  the  whole  pharmaceutical  world,  as  it  might 
be  at  Kew,  could  not  fail  to  excite  interest,  and,  moreover,  the 
possession  of  living  plants  gives  the  opportunity  of  observing 
many  things  not  apparent  in  dried  specimens. 
The  facilities  thus  afforded  for  physiological  investigation  are 
also  very  important  to  those  who  delight  to  trace  the  beauti- 
ful contrivances  and  manifest  design  everywhere  apparent  in 
nature,  and  to  whom  well-observed  facts  are  more  interesting 
than  mere  mechanical  theories  of  vegetation.  As  an  instance, 
I  was  recently  examining,  together  with  a  botanist  well  acquain- 
*Tliis  plant  was  cut  down,  ar^^  the  produce  of  sulph.  quinine  which  I 
derived  from  it  is  recorded  in  my' ■*  Quinology  of  the  East  Indian  Planta- 
tion," p.  3.  It  is  now  again  grown  up  to  a  height  of  8  feet  6  inches.  Mr. 
Broughton  has  recently  found,  in  five  exceptionally  fine  trees,  descendants 
of  the  sister  of  the  above,  6*20  of  purified  alkaloids  per  cent. 
Or  sulphate  of  quinine  (obtained  crystallized)  3*46  per  cent. 
Sulphate  of  cinchonidin  "  1-94  " 
Also  cinchonine. 
17 
