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MANU A L
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
GEORGE KING, M.B., E.L.S.,
c
SUPERINTENDENT OF THE ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDEN, CALCUTTA,
AND OF CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN BENGAL.
CALCUTTA:
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING.
1876.
CALCUTTA
PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING,
8, HASTINGS STREET.
<2lM ^ b »
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. — Preliminary
II. — Collection of Cinchona seeds in 'South America
)f III. — Introduction into India
)( IV. — Cultivation of the Cinchona tree
„ Y. — Chemistry of the Bark crop ....
s) YI. — Mode of harvesting the Bark crop
VII. — On the local manufacture of a Cinchona febrifuge.
APPENDIX A. — List of the chief modern works relating to Cinchona
,, B. — Statement shewing the quantities of Sulphate of Quinine, Cin-
chonine, Cinchonidine, and Quinidine supplied to the Indian
Government from 1867 to 1873, with the cost of the same .
„ C. — Stock of trees in the Nilgiri Cinchona plantations
„ D. — Expenditure on ditto .........
„ E. — Stock of trees in the Sikkim Cinchona plantations
„ F.— Expenditure and revenue of ditto ... . . .
„ G. — Particulars of some of the sales of Cinchona bark held in
London during 1875 and part of 1876
„ H. — Meteorology of the Nilgiri plantations
„ I 4 J. — Meteorology of the Sikkim plantations . . . . .
„ K. — Meteorology of the Langdale Estate, Dimbula District, Ceylon.
„ L. — Table of planting distances
„ M. — Deports on the action of the mixed Cinchona Alkaloid issued
by the Sikkim Quinologist
tagr.
1
7
12
27
36
42
50
57
£8
61
64
65
66
66
71
74
76
77
77
.
' .
.
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY.
Of the date and manner of the first discovery of the curative effects of Cin- Discovery ot
chona Bark in malarious fevers we know nothing. And we are almost equally ^tuianotc
ignorant who the discoverers were, some writers claiming that merit for the bIUF1*11
aborigines of South America, while others assert, and with apparently greater
accuracy, that not only did the Indians know nothing of the virtues of the
bark until these were pointed out by their conquerors the Spaniards, but that
they still refuse to use bark as a febrifuge. The introduction of this medicine
to Europe is associated with the Countess of Chinchon, wife of a Spanish Vice-
roy of Peru, who, having been cured by its use of an attack of fever contracted
while in that country, brought a quantity of the bark to Europe on her return
from South America, about the year 1639. Jesuit missionaries appear also
to have taken an active part in its introduction. Hence the early names
given to the medicine were Peruvian or Jesuit’s Bark and Countess’s Powder.
Nothing, however, was known to science of the tree producing this bark until cinchona
1739, when La Condamine and Jussieu, members of a French exploring known to
expedition then in South America, obtained plants with the intention of send- facienct
ing them to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris : but the whole collection unfor-
tunately perished in a storm at sea near the mouth of the River Amazon. The
first living Cinchonas ever seen in Europe were some Calisaya plants raised
at the Jardin des Plantes from seeds collected by Dr. Weddell, during his first
journey to Bolivia in 1846. In 1742 Linngeus established the botanical genus
Cinchona, a term which continues to be employed by the majority of Botanists,
although some writers prefer the name Chinchona, as more accurately per-
petuating that of the noble lady who introduced this invaluable remedy to
Europe.1
The number of species belonging to tbe genus Cinchona is reduced by The various
Messrs. Hooker and Bentham in their Genera Plantarum to thirty-six. Many cinchona
of these species are much given to variation or sporting, and a good many
varieties, originating in this way, have been elevated to the rank of true species
and described as such, much to the confusion of all interested in them. It
would be entirely out of place to introduce here a botanical disqui-
sition on the perplexing nomenclature of the plants belonging to this genus,
and especially so as only about a dozen of the species yield bark of medicinal
value, and of these but six are cultivated in India.
The following table copied from the Pharmacographia of Messrs. Eluckiger
1 Mr. C. R. Markham, c.b., f.k.s., whose name is so intimately associated with the introduction of Cinchona
into India, is a warm supporter of the spelling Chinchona. Mr. Markham has just published a biography of the Countess
of Chinchon.
2
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA,
Their native
countries.
and Hanbury shews at a glance the names of the principal species, together
with their native countries and products : —
Conspectus of the Principal Species of Cinchona.
Species (excluding sub-species and varieties)
Where figured.
Native
Where
according to Weddell.
country.
cultivated.
I.— -Stirps Cinchonas officinalis —
1 Cinchona officinalis, Hook ...
Bot. Mag. 5364
Ecuador (Loxa)
India, Ceylon,
Java.
2
ft
macrocalyx, Pav. ...
Howard N.Q...
Peru
3
lucumcefolia, Pav. ...
Ditto.
Ecuador, Peru
4
lanceolata, E. et P. (?)
Ditto.
Peru
5
lancifolia, Mutis ...
Karst, tab. 11,
New Granada
India
12.
6
if
amygdalifolia, Wedd.
Wedd. tab. 6 ...
Peru, Bolivia...
II.— Stirps Cinchonas rugosae —
7 Cinchona Pitayensis, Wedd. ...
Karst, tab. 22,
New Granada
India
(C. TriancB.)
(Popuyan).
8
rugosa, Pav.
Howard N. Q....
Peru
9
if
Mutisii, Lamb.
Ditto.
Ecuador
10
hirsuta, B. et P. ...
Carabayensis, Wedd.
Wedd. tab. 21
Peru
11
Wedd. tab. 19
Peru, Bolivia
12
»
Pahudiana, How. ..
Howard N. Q....
Peru
India, Java ...
13
asperifolia, Wedd....
Wedd. tab. 20
Bolivia
14
umbellulifera, Pav...
Howard N. Q. . . .
Peru
15
glandulifera, R. et P.
Ditto. ...
Peru
16
ft
Humboldtiana, Lamb
Ditto.
Peru
III. — Stirps Cinchonae micranthae —
17 Cinchona australis, Wedd. ...
Wedd. tab. 8 ...
South Bolivia
18
ft
scrobiculata, H. et B.
Ditto.
Peru
19
ft
Peruviana, How. ...
Howard N.Q....
Peru
India ")
20
nitida, E. et P.
Peru
India )-
21
1)
mierantha, R. et P.
Ditto.
Peru
India J
IV. — Stirps Cinchonae Calisayae —
22 Cinchona CaUsaya, Wedd. ...
Wedd. tab. 9 ...
Peru, Bolivia
India, Ceylon,
Java, Jamai-
ca, Mexico.
23
tf
elliptica, Wedd. ...
Peru (Cara-
baya).
V.— Stirps Cinchonae ovatae—
24 Cinchona purpurea, B. etP. ...
Howard N.Q....
Peru (Huama-
lies).
25
rufinervis, Wedd. ...
Ditto.
Peru, Bolivia...
26
tt
succirubra, Pav. ...
Ditto.
Ecuador
India, Ceylon,
Java, Jamai-
ca
27
ovata, R. et P.
Ditto.
Peru, Bolivia ..
India(?),Java (?)
28
cordifolia, Mutis ...
Karst, tab. 8 ...
New Granada,
Peru.
29
Tucujensis, Karst. ...
Karst, tab. 9 ...
Venezuela
30
pubescens, Vahl. ...
Wedd. tab. 16
Ecuador, Peru,
Bolivia,
31
”
pupurascens, Wedd.
Wedd. tab. 18
Bolivia
Product.
Loxa or Crown Bark, Pale Bark.
Ashy Crown Bark. The sub-species
C. Palton affords an important
sort called Palton Park, much used
in the manufacture of quinine.
Carthagena Bark, confounded with
Palton Bark, but is not so good.
Columbian Bark. Imported in im-
mense quantities for manufacture
of quinine. The soft Columbian
Bark is produced by Howard’s
var. oblongu.
A poor bark, not now imported.
Pitayc bark. Very valuable; usedbv
makers of quinine ; it is the chief
source of quinidine.
Bark unknown, probably valueless.
Bark not in commerce, contains
only aricine.
Bark not collected.
A poor bark, yet of handsome ap-
pearance ; propagation of tree
discontinued.
Bark not collected.
Bark not known as a distinct sort
Ditto ditto
halse Loxa bark; Jaen bark. A
very bad bark.
An inferior bark, mixed with
CaUsaya.
Bark formerly known as Red Cusco
Bark or Santa Ana Bark.
3rey Bark, Huanuco or Lima Bark
Chiefly consumed on the Con-
tinent.
CaUsaya Bark, Bolivian Bark, Yellow
Bark. The tree exists under
many varieties; bark also very
variable.
Carabaya Bark. Bark scarcely now
imported. C. cuneura , Miq. (flower
and fruit unknown), may perhaps
be this specie3.
Huamalies Bark. Not now im-
ported.
Bark, a kind of light CaUsaya.
Bed Bark. Largely cultivated in
British India.
Inferior brown and grey barks.
Columbian Bark (in part). Tree
exists under many varieties ;
bark of some used in manufac-
ture of quinine.
Maracaibo Bark.
Arica Bark (Cusco Bark from var.
P dirtier iana). Some of the varie-
ties contain aricine. C. caloptera
Miq., is probably a variety of
this species.
Bark unknown in commerce.
The trees producing the medicinal barks are all natives of tropical South
America, where they are found in the dense forests of the mountainous regions
of the western part of that Continent at a height of from 2,500 to 9,000 feet
above the level of the sea, and in an equable, hut comparatively cool, climate.
The Cinchona-producing region forms a crescentic zone which follows the
contour of the coast-line, hut nowhere actually touches it, beginning at 10°
N. and extending to 20° S. latitude. This crescentic belt is nowhere much
above a hundred miles in width, but its length (following its curve) is more
than two thousand. During its course it passes through the territories of
Venezuela, 1 New Granada, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The Government of
each of these countries has for years derived more or less revenue from the
1 Bark from Venezuela has recently been introduced to the German market. Though poor in Quinine, it is
suitable for pharmaceutical purposes.
PRELIMINARY.
3
duty levied on bark collected within its limits and exported therefrom ; but none
of them, except the last mentioned, has ever shewn any interest in the bark
trade beyond taxing it. Moreover, the more active interference shewn in
Bolivia has been quite as disastrous as the lazy insouciance of the more northern
States. These Governments proved, however, one and all, exceedingly jealous
of any attempt to procure for more civilized countries seeds or seedlings of the
invaluable trees which they had done so little to conserve.
It must not be supposed that each of the medicinal species is to be found
growing throughout the whole length of the zone just described : on the con-
trary the distribution of the various species is very local, not only as regards
latitude, but as regards elevation above the sea. The species found in the
region between 10° N. and the equator (the barks of New Granada) were
described by Mutis in the last century and more recently by Karsten in his
Flora Colombia. 1 Mutis’s notes remained in manuscript until 1867, when
Mr. Clements Markham succeeded in unearthing and printing them, and both his
notes and drawings have still more recently been published at Paris by
M. Triana in his Nouvelles Etudes sur les Quinquinas. The Cinchonas of the
region between the line and 14° S. (the barks of Ecuador and Northern Peru)
were first examined by Ruiz and Pavon, and a magnificent work founded on
Pavon’s specimens was published by Mr. J. E. Howard in 1862 ; while those
indigenous in the region from the fourteenth parallel of south latitude to the
extremity of the zone in 20° south were described by M. Weddell in his splendid
monograph published at Paris in 1849.
The commercial Cinchona barks may be arranged as follows : —
I. — Barks used in Pharmacy. s
(1.) Pale Cinchona Bark, Loxa Bark or Crown Bark — chiefly the produce of Cinchona offi-
cinalis and imported from New Granada and Ecuador. This bark is found only in the form of
quills (i. e., curled pieces derived from small stems or branches). The pieces have a blackish
brown or dark greyish external surface, variously blotched with silver grey, and often beset
with large and beautiful lichens. The surface of some of the quills is longitudinally wrinkled
and moderately smooth, but in the majority it is distinctly marked with transverse cracks and is
rough and harsh to the touch. The inner side is closely striated and of a bright yellowish
brown. This bark breaks easily with a fracture which exhibits very short fibres in the inner
side. It has a well-marked odour sui generis and an astringent bitter taste.
(2.) Bed Cinchona Bark — the produce of Cinchona succirubra and imported from Ecuador.
This bark occurs either in large flat channelled pieces sometimes as much as half an inch
in thickness, coated with their suberous envelope, which is rugged and warty. Its outermost
layer in the young bark has a silvery appearance. The inner surface is close and fibrous and
of a brick-red hue. The bark breaks with a short fibrous fracture.
(3.) Yellow Cinchona Bark. — This is the produce of Cinchona calisaya and is imported from
Southern Peru and Bolivia. This bark is found in flat pieces and in quills.
Var. A : Flat Calisaya Bark is in irregular pieces a foot or more in length by 3 to 4 inches
wide, but usually smaller, and Ajths to y%ths of an inch in thickness : devoid of suberous layer
consisting almost solely of liber, of uniform texture, compact and ponderous. Its colour is a
rusty orange-brown, with darker stains on the outer suiface. * * * The inner side has a
wavy, close, fibrous texture. The bark breaks transversely with a fibrous fracture : the fibres
of the broken ends are very short, easily detached, and with a lens are seen to be, many of
them, faintly yellowish and translucent.
Var. B : Quill Calisaya is found in tubes fths to 1-|- inch thick, often rolled up at both edges,
thus forming double quills. They are always coated with a thick rugged, corky layer, marked
with deep longitudinal and transverse cracks, the edges of which are somewhat elevated. This
suberous coat is silvery white or greyish, is easily detached, leaving its impression on the
cinnamon-brown middle layer. The inner side is dark brown and finely fibrous The transverse
fracture is fibrous hut very short. The same bark also occurs in quills of very small size and
is then not distinguishable from Loxa bark.
II. — Barks not used in Pharmacy.
These barks are exclusively used for making quinine. They are not used by druggists
for the preparation of tinctures, decoctions, &c. In the market they are known as Columbian,
Carthagena or Coqueta Bark and are produced by Cinchona lancifolia and C. Pitayensis. They
are imported from New Granada. In appearance they vary much, hut are generally orange-
brown in colour. The Pitayo barks are usually imported in short flattish fragments or broken
quills of brownish, rather than orange, colour, mostly covered with a dullish grey or internally
reddish cork. The Pitayo barks are collected in the S. W. districts of Columbia.
1 For a list of modern works relating to Cincliona see Appendix A.
2 For more complete details see the Pharmacographia (London, Macmillans, 1874) of Professor Fluckiger and the
late lamented Mr. Daniel Hanbury, a learned and elaborate work just published, and from which the following informa-
tion concerning the commercial Cinchona barks has been condensed.
The Cincho-
na Barks of
Commerce.
4
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Chemical The most important and at the same time peculiar constituents of Cin-
°f cimchona chona barks are the alkaloids enumerated in the following table 1 : —
Barks. ~
Alkaloid. Chemical composition .
Cinchonine
C20 H2t N2 O
Cinehonidine (Quinidine of many writers)
Quinine
same formula.
C20 Hct N* O2
Quinidine (Conquinine of Hesse)
Quinamine
same formula.
C20 Hs6 N2 O2
There are other alkaloids, but they have no medicinal value so far as is yet
known. These alkaloids exist in the bark in combination with certain organic
acids called Kinic, Cincho-tannic and Quinovic. Of the alkaloids above mentioned
the most valued is undoubtedly Quinine. Although Cinchona barks have been
employed in Europe as febrifuges for the past two centuries, it was not until
the year 1820 that any of the several active principles to which they owe their
efficacy was obtained in a separate form. The first to he so separated were
loids irst ' Quinine and Cinchonine.2 Quinidine 3 4 was discovered in 1833 and Cinchoni-
separated. dine * not until 1847- Quinamine was discovered so recently as 1872 by Hesse
in bark of C. snccirnbra grown in Sikkim.
Soon after the discovery of Quinine, the sulphate of that alkaloid began to
be used by the faculty as a medicine in cases where some preparation of “ bark ”
was required, and gradually the new salt drove out of fashion to a very large
extent the powder, tinctures and decoctions of bark which formerly enjoyed
such reputation in medical practice. Until the discovery of Quinidine and
Cinehonidine, commercial Sulphate of Quinine consisted really of a mixture of
the sulphates of all the Cinchona alkaloids, the outward appearance of these
being alike. With the separation of the new alkaloids, chemical tests for
their recognition began to be inserted in the various Pharmacopoeias and pure
Quinine began to he insisted on in medical practice. The other alkaloids fell
therefore into unmerited neglect, and they are still excluded from the British
Pharmacopoeia. Their admission to the category of officinal remedies can,
however, only he a matter of time, as their excellence as febrifuges, as will
be subsequently related, has now been thoroughly established by the trials
given to them by officers of the medical services of the three Indian Presi-
dencies. Cinchona bark still continues to he rated by the European Quinine-
makers in proportion to the percentage of Quinine it contains : the other
alkaloids being counted for little or nothing as marketable products. These
unsaleable alkaloids have accordingly been accumulating in the hands of
makers in Europe, and are or were recently purchaseable at a comparatively
low price.5 6 Regarding the proportion of these alkaloids in Cinchona hark, the
learned authors of the Pharmacographia 6 write as follows : —
Proportion of “This is liable to very great variation. We know from the experiments of Hesse (1871)
Cinchonam that the bark of C. pubescens Yahl., is sometimes devoid of alkaloid.7 Similar observations
Bark. made near Bogota upon C. pitayensis Wedd., C. corymbosa Karst., and C. lancifolia Mutis,
are due to Karsten. He ascertained8 that barks of one district were sometimes devoid of
Quinine, while those of the same species from a neighbouring locality yielded 3^ to per
cent, of sulphate of quinine.
Another striking example is furnished by De Vry9 in his examination of quills of
C. officinalis grown at Ootacamund, which he found to vary in percentage of alkaloids from
11 ’96 (of which 94 per cent, was Quinine) down to less than 1 per cent.
Among the innumerable published analyses of Cinchona bark, there are a great number
shewing but a very small percentage of the useful principles, of which Quinine, the most
valuable of all, is not seldom altogether wanting. The highest yield, on the other hand, hitherto
1 . Pharmacographia , p. 320.
2 Discovered by Pelletier and Caventou.
3 Discovered by Henry and Delondre.
4 Discovered by Winckler, who named it Quinidine.
5 The following may be taken as approximates to the prices of the Cinchona alkaloids at the end of the year 1874 : —
s. d.
ulph. Quinine per ounce ... ... ... ... ... 9 0
„ Cinehonidine „ ... ... ... ... ••• 2 6
„ Cinchonine „ ... ... ... ... ... 1 6
„ Quinidine „ ... ... ... ... ... 0 4
6 Pharmacographia, page 324.
7 Berichte der Deutsclien chem. Gesellsch., Berlin, 1871, p. 818.
8 Die med. Chinarinden Neu-Granada,’ s, 17, 20, 39.
9 Pharm. Journ., September 6th, 1873, 181.
PRELIMINARY.
observed, was obtained by Broughton,1 from a bark grown at Ootacamund. This bark afforded
not less than 13| per cent, of alkaloids, among which Quinine was predominant.
The few facts just mentioned shew that it is impossible to state even approximately any
constant percentage of alkaloids in any given bark. We may, however, say that good Flat
Calisaya Bark, as offered in the drug trade for pharmaceutical preparations, contains at least
5 to 6 per cent, of Quinine.
As to Crown or Loxa Baric, the cortex cinchona pallida of pharmacy, its merits are, to say
the least, very uncertain. On its first introduction in the 17th century, when it was taken from
the trunks and large branches of full-grown trees, it was doubtless an excellent medicinal bark ;
but the same cannot be said of much of that now found in commerce, which is to a large
extent collected from very young wood.2 Some of the Crown Bark produced in India is,
however, of extraordinary excellency, as shewn by the recent experiments of De Vry.3
As to Red Baric, the thick fiat sort contains only 3 to 4 per cent, of alkaloids, but a large
amount of colouring matter. The Quill Red Bark of the Indian plantations is a much better
drug, some of it yielding 5 to 10 per cent, of alkaloids, more than a third of which is Quinine
and a fourth Cinchonidine, the remainder being Cinchonine and Quinidine.
The variation in the amount of alkaloids relates not merely to their total percentage, but
also to the proportion which one bears to another. Quinine and Cinchonine are of the most
frequent occurrence ; Cinchonidine is less usual, while Quinidine is still less frequently met with
and never in large amount. The experiments performed in India4 have already shewn that
external influences contribute in an important manner to the formation of this or that alkaloid ;
and it may even be hoped that the cultivators of Cinchona will discover methods of promoting
the formation of Quinine, and of reducing, if not of excluding, that of the less valuable
alkaloids.
The practice of the bark collectors in the wild regions in which Cinchonas Mode of
naturally grow involved the destruction of each tree felled for its bark, yet no cinchona of
measures were ever taken by the owners of either public or private forests to Barks'
secure supplies for the future by conservancy or replanting. Meanwhile the
consumption of bark in Europe steadily increased, and, as a natural result,
prices rose, and fears began to be entertained that the supply would ultimately Fears
fail. The British and Butch Governments being, by reason of their tropical §? FauSre of
possessions, the largest consumers of Cinchona barks and of the alkaloids pre- Slipp1^-
pared from them,5 their attention began to be seriously attracted to the increas-
ing price and scarcity of the drug. So long ago as 1835, Br. Forbes E-oyle, introduction
then Superintendent of the Botanical Garden at Seharunpore, suggested to the to India am
Indian Government that efforts should be made to introduce Cinchona on the suggebted
Khasia and Nilgiri Hills. In 1847, and again in 1853 and 1856, he repeated
his suggestion. In 1850 Br. Grant, the Honourable East India Company’s
Apothecary General in Calcutta, urged this measure, and in 1852 Br. Falconer,
then Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden, recommended that an
intelligent and qualified gardening collector should be deputed for a couple
of years to the mountains of South America for the purpose of exploring the
Cinchona forests and of procuring an ample stock of young plants and seeds of
all the finest species. His proposals were, however, not approved of, and instead,
an unsuccessful attempt was made to procure seeds through the agency of Her
Majesty’s Consuls on the west coast of South America. Three years after Br.
Falconer’s suggestion had been made and disapproved, Br. T. Thomson (his
successor at the Calcutta Garden) again pressed the matter, as also did the late
Br. T. Anderson. The Medical Board supported the proposals of these officers
in an elaborate Minute. It was not, however, until 1858 that the despatch of
a special agent to South America was sanctioned by the Secretary of State for
India. Mr. Clements Markham, a gentleman who, besides a knowledge of Mr. c. n.
Spanish aud of the Quichua tongue 6 possessed a knowledge of the country and appointed to
people, volunteered to direct this arduous undertaking. In the meantime a few collecting
seeds of Cinchona Calisaya were got by Br. Boyle from Br. Weddell, a surgeon Expeditlon
who had accompanied a French expedition to South America, and who is the
author of a valuable monograph of the medicinal Cinchonas. These seeds were
sent to Calcutta but failed to germinate. Plants were, however, raised from
some of Br. Weddell’s seeds in the Botanical Gardens of Kew and Edinburgh,
Blue Bool: — Hast Indian Cinchona Plant, 1870, 282 ; Year Book of Pharmacy, 1871, 85.
2 See Hoivard’s Analysis and Observations, Pharm. Journ., XIV, (1855), 61 — 63.
3 Pharm. Journ., September 6, 1873, 184.
< Blue Book, 1S70, 116, 188, 205.
5 For a stat-ment of the quantity of Quinine purchased By the Indian Government from the year 1867 to 1872, see
Appendix B.
* The language of the Indians of a district where some of the finest species of hark trees are indigenous.
B
6
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
and six seedlings were entrusted to the care of Mr. Fortune (then on his way to
China to obtain seeds and plants of the tea hush) by whom they were delivered to
Dr. Falconer at the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta, in 1853. These were ultimately
sent to Darjeeling ; but only three of them arrived there alive, and these three
also soon died.
COLLECTION OE CINCHONA SEEDS IN SOUTH AMERICA.
7
CHAPTER II.
COLLECTION OF CINCHONA SEEDS IN SOUTH AMERICA.
In 1852, the Minister for the Colonies of Holland proposed to the Govern- TheDutch
ment of the Hague that a properly qualified man should he sent to South Expedition.
America to collect Cinchona seeds and plants. Accordingly, M. Hasskarl of
the Botanical Garden of Buitenzorg in Java was despatched on this mission.
This gentleman arrived in Peru during the year 1853. After prolonged wan-
derings and exposure in the forests of Southern Peru, M. Hasskarl returned
to the coast with a quantity of plants. These were sufficient to fill twenty
Wardian cases, and, after a prosperous voyage, they were safely landed by him at
Batavia in December 1854. M. Hasskarl had not the advantage of any local
knowledge of the wild regions where he travelled, neither had he any acquaint-
ance with the language of the natives. His avowed intention was chiefly to
find seeds of Calisaya , but unfortunately he entered the Cinchona zone at a point
where neither that, nor indeed any valuable, species grows. He, however,
collected the seeds of the species he found, imagining one of them to he true
Calisaya. A portion of these seeds he sent by post to Holland, where some of
them germinated, and the rest he despatched direct to Java. During his wan-
derings, M. Hasskarl did ultimately penetrate into a Calisaya region where
he remained for a short time, hut while there he appears to have trusted too
implicitly to a native collector who led him to believe he was collecting the
real Calisaya, while he was in fact gathering a worthless species. The twenty
cases landed in Java by M. Hasskarl did not contain, it is believed, one plant
of any valuable variety of Calisaya. A single plant of true Calisaya raised from
some seeds brought to Paris by Dr. Weddell had, however, been sent to Java
from the Jarclin des Plantes, Paris, even prior to M. Hasskarl’s appointment as cinchona
collector. The Dutch experiment thus began with one plant of the best sort of into°javaed
Cinchona received from Paris, with a plentiful enough supply of doubtful
species brought by M. Hasskarl, and with a quantity of seeds of the New
Granada species ( lancifolia ,) which had been sent by Dr. Karsten. This rather
unfortunate beginning was followed by errors in cultivation, among which may
he specially mentioned the method of sowing single seeds in separate bamboo
pots, of planting out the seedlings, not in clear open ground, but under the
shade and drip of the gigantic trees of the virgin forests of the mountains of
Java, and finally of mistaking the worthless species brought by M. Hasskarl
from Peru (and subsequently named Pahudiana ) for a valuable Quinine .pro-
ducing sort. At the end of the year 1860, the stock in the Java plantations
consisted of nearly a million plants of Cinchona Pahudiana, with only about
7,000 of Calisaya. Having discovered the worthlessness of Pahudiana, the
Dutch, in 1862, abandoned its cultivation. They also gave up (in 1864) the
plan of planting out under forest shade. They have in recent years repeatedly
got supplies of seed and plants of the best medicinal sorts from India and
Ceylon, and their success of late has been great. According to the latest re-
turn (31st March 1875) there are in the Java plantations about two millions of
Cinchonas of various ages. At least half of these are of undoubtedly valuable
species, and amongst them are a hundred thousand of a variety of Calisaya,
samples of the bark of some trees of which are said to have yielded on
analysis the astonishing amount of from 10 to 13^ per cent of crystalline
Sulphate of Quinine.'
The introduction of the medicinal Cinchonas into British India began British^Ex-
under more favourable circumstances. Mr. Markham, having volunteered to ta°ecc°sUect
direct the collection of seeds and seedlings in the Cinchona forests, organised
a three-fold expedition, the sections of which began their explorations simul-
taneously early in 1860. Mr. Markham himself undertook to collect seeds of M^Mark-
the Calisaya or Yellow Bark Tree (the most valuable of all the Cinchonas) in southern
the forests of Bolivia and Southern Peru, where alone it is to be found. He
arranged that Mr. Pritchett should explore the Grey Hark forests of Huanaco
and Humalies in Central Peru, and that Messrs. Spruce and Cross should
collect the seeds of the Red Bark tree on the eastern slopes of Chimborazo in
1 This wonderful variety of Calisaya having been originally raised from seeds collected by Mr. Ledger, has been
called by the Dutch C. Calisaya, variety Ledgeriana.
8
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
the territory of Ecuador. Mr. Markham has narrated his adventures in an
interesting volume1, in which he has besides collected much valuable informa-
tion concerning the inhabitants and flora of the regions he traversed. Landing
at Islay in March 1860, Mr. Markham, accompanied by Mr. ”W eir (a practical
gardener) proceeded inland in a north-easterly direction, crossed the two
chains into which the Andes are there divided, and, after considerable hardship,
arrived in one of the series of long valleys which stretch along the western
slopes of the Snowy Range of Caravaya and descend to the great plain of
Western Brazil. Mr. Markham penetrated this valley (called Tambopata)
to a point beyond that reached by the distinguished French traveller
M. Weddell, and by the Dutch Agent M. Hasskarl, and, notwithstanding that
his proceedings were prematurely cut short by a failure in his food supplies,
he was successful in collecting 497 plants of Cinchona Calisaya and 32 of the
binno!1 Ha" less valuable species, ovata and micrantha. The Calisayas were found chiefly
c. Caiisuya, jpH^bit a belt 0f forest extending from 5,000 to 5,400 feet above the sea,
while micrantha was found in a belt below, and the higher regions were occu-
pied by C. ovata. The vegetation and soil of the region are thus described by
Mr. Markham3 :
This region is covered, with few exceptions, from the banks of the river to the summits
of the mountain peaks, by a dense tropical forest. The formation is everywhere, as I have
before said, an unfossiliferous, micaceous, slightly ferruginous, metamorphic clay-slate, with
veins of quartz, and the streams all contain more or less gold-dust. "When exposed to the
weather, this clay-slate quickly turns to a sticky yellow mud, and lower down it is very brittle,
and easily breaks off in thin layers. The soil formed by the disintegration of the rock, mixed
with decayed vegetable matter, is a heavy yellowish brown loam, but there is very little of it
on the rocky sides of the ravine, and no depth of soil except on the few level spaces and gentle
slopes near the banks of the river.
The finest trees were found in clear open spaces where they eu joyed plenty
of light and air.
The half-caste collector who accompanied Mr. Markham, distinguished
three distinct varieties of true Calisaya which he named fina (= C. Calisaya
vera), morada (=(7. Boliviano), and verde. There is, besides these, the shrubby
form which has a wider distribution and which is known locally as ychu and
botanically as Cinchona Calisaya, variety Josephiana. The climate of this
its cumate. Tambopata valley (which lies in the very centre of the Calisaya region) is
wet and disagreeable. An intelligent settler gave Mr. Markham the following
account of the seasons as regards rainfall3 : —
January. — Incessant rain, with damp beat day and night. Sun never seen. Fruits ripen.
February. — Incessant rain and very hot. Sun never seen. A coca harvest.
March. — Less rain, hot days and nights, little sun. Bananas yield most during the rainy
season.
April. — Less rain, hot, humid nights, and little sun in the day-time.
May. — A showery month, but little heavy rain. This is the month for planting coca and
sugar-cane, and what is called the miclica, or small sowing of maize, as well as yucas, aracachas,
camotes, and other edible roots. Coffee harvest begins.
June. — A dry hot mouth. Much sun and little rain. Coca harvest early in the month.
Oranges and paccays ripen. Cool nights, but a fierce heat during the day.
July. — The hottest aud driest month, but t^ith cool nights. Very few showers. Time
for sowing gourds, pumpkins and water melons.
August. — Generally dry. Trees begin to bud. A month for planting.
September. — Rains begin. Time for blossoming of many trees. Coca harvest.
October. — Rains increasing. Maize harvest, and time for the “ sembra grande” or great
sowing of maize.
November. — Heavy rains. A coca harvest.
Lecember. — Heavy rains. Pumpkins ripen.
Mr. Markham’s observations * of the temperature of the Caravaya region
extended over only the first fourteen days of May. They show a mean tem-
perature of 69£° Fahr. and a mean dew point of 61|-°. The highest temperature
he observed was 75° and the lowest 56° Fahr. The mean minimum temperature
at night he found to be 62f° Fahr. and the mean variation in 24 hours 10^° Fahr.
^tpcaiTsayae The tree Calisayas run up to a height of from 30 to 60 feet, and their
trees- stems have a girth equal to the body of a man, sometimes to that of two men.
The shrubby variety runs from 6^ to 12 feet in height. Both varieties flower
in April and May ; their blossoms are white, fringed, and very fragrant.
1 Travels in Peru and India , by Clements R. Markham, C.B., F.K.8., &c., London, John Murray, 1862.
2 Markham’ s Travels in Peru and India, page 267.
3 Ditto Ditto pages 245 and 246.
4 Ditto Ditto page 268.
COLLECTION OF CINCHONA SEEDS IN SOUTH AMERICA.
9
On his return journey, Mr. Markham found the jealousy of the people ifeMark-
aroused by rumours which had got abroad as to the nature of his to the Coast,
mission. To return along the road he came by would have insured the destruc-
tion of his plants and possibly mischief to himself, so he had to resort to the
stratagem of sending Mr. Weir back hv the old route, and of himself proceeding
with the plants in a straight line towards the coast through an unknown coun-
try and without a guide. After much hardship, he arrived in ten days at the
town of Yilque with his plants in good order. A few more marches brought
him to the port of Islay. Here, however, further difficulties awaited. The
Custom House authorities, having discovered what the plant cases contained,
would not allow them to be shipped without an order from the Minister of
Finance, which Mr. Markham had himself to go to Lima to procure. This
caused a delay of three weeks. On the 24th June the cases were at last
embarked on board a steamer bound for Panama, but not before a scheme had
been set on foot by some patriotic Bolivian to kill the plants by pouring
hot water on them through holes to he bored in the cases. Her Majesty’s
steamer Vixen, was at this moment lying idle at Callao, and could have taken
the plants straight to Madras with every chance of saving them all alive.
Instead of this simple route being adopted, Mr. Markham was compelled by his
orders to take his plants to India via Panama, England, the Mediterranean and
the Bed Sea, and thus to expose them to transhipments and alterations of
temperature which ultimately killed them all.
About the timeMr. Markham was exploring the Yellow-Bark Forests of^^Prit-
Southern Peru, Mr. Pritchett was collecting seeds and plants of the species ^°ti°|ition
producing Grey Bark in the forests near Huanaco in the northern part of the pe™orthem
same territory, and was successful in bringing to Lima in the month of August
a collection of seeds and half a mule-load of young plants of the three species,
micrantlia , Veruviana and nitida. The two former are large trees with trunks
often 70 feet in height and 30 inches in diameter. They grow at a height
of from 4,000 to 7,000 feet above the sea, while nitida grows at a greater eleva-
tion and is a smaller tree.
The task of collecting seeds and plants of the Bed Bark had been undertaken Messrs,
by Mr. Spruce, a distinguished traveller and botanist who had been wandering c?ossC,eRend
in South America for some years prior to Mr. Markham’s mission. Six months dition. P
before Mr. Markham sailed from England, Mr. Spruce left his temporary home
at Ambato in the Quitenian Andes to make a preliminary exploration of the
forests where Bed Bark trees were still to be found and to ascertain at what
season the seeds ripen. Having fixed on Limon as the most suitable head-
quarters, he purchased from the owners of the forests (which in that region are
private property) the right to collect seeds and plants. He further made an
arrangement to accompany Hr. Taylor of Biobamba to Loxa, a town in the
south of the Ecuador territory, for the purpose of procuring seeds of the Pale
or Crown Bark. This latter arrangement was, however, frustrated by the pro-
longed and severe illness of Mr. Spruce. In July 1860, or nearly a year after
his first start, Mr. Spruce was joinew at Limon by Mr. Cross, who had been
sent out from England by Mr. Markham with Wardian cases to receive the
plants that he and Mr. Spruce might succeed in collecting. Mr. Spruce having
already thoroughly familiarised himself with the Bed Bark forests, the work of
collection was begun as soon as Mr. Cross arrived. Mr. Cross established a
nursery at Limon, and there put in a number of cuttings of the Bed Bark tree.
He attended to these while Mr. Spruce searched for seeds. After spending
about five months at Limon, Mr. Cross conveyed his rooted cuttings to the
port of Guayaquil, and — thanks to his skill and excellent management — ulti-
mately succeeded in taking them safely to India by the same route (but at a
more favourable season) as Messrs. Markham and Pritchett’s collections.
Mr. Spruce’s collections of seeds were sent to India by post.
Mr. Spruce describes the Bed Bark forests as nearly exhausted. He met Natural
with only a few trees which had not been touched by bark-collectors ; all the cinchona0
others which he saw consisted of shoots from the stumps of trees that had been
felled. The Bed Bark tree is naturally very handsome and attains a height of
50 feet. The climate of the country it inhabits is not so humid as that of
the Caravaya and Huanaco forests where the Yellow and Grey Barks are found,
and there is a distinct dry season extending from June to December. The follow-
10
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
ing table, 1 2 compiled by Mr. Spruce, and founded on nearly a year’s observation,
gives some idea of the temperature : —
Mean minimum
Mean maximum
Mean temperature at 6* p.m.,
H ig-hest temperature observed
Lowest
Entire range
Mean daily variation
... 611° Fht.
- W »
... 67f „
80i ,, on July 27th.
... 57 „ 11th.
... 23£ „
... 10* „
Connection of After depositing liis Red Bark plants in the Nilgiris early in 1861, Mr. Cross
crown returned to South America and was commissioned to procure seeds of the Pale
Barks in the forests near Loxa. These barks have a peculiar interest as being
the first known in Europe. It was by the use of one of them that the
Countess of Chinchon was cured, and it was on the flowers of one of the trees
producing them that Linnaeus founded his genus Cinchona. Mr. Cross started
from Guayaquil in September 1861, and, after much hardship and exposure in
the mountains near Loxa, he succeeded in returning to tbat port, after little
more than two months’ absence, with one hundred thousand seeds of Cinchona
Chahuarguera and a smaller parcel of Cinchona crispa, both varieties of the
Linnaean species officinalis. These seeds he forwarded to India by way of
Southampton.
Habitats of On arriving in South America, Mr. Cross found that, owing to the long
Barkrown continued export of the Pale Barks of the Loxa country, but few trees remained
in accessible places. In steep ravines and rocky gorges he succeeded, however,
in finding a, few mature trees. The soil of the region he describes as funda-
mentally composed of decomposed micaceous schist and gneiss, but wherever
Cinchona trees occurred, he found this to be covered by a layer of vegetable
mould. Cinchona officinalis is a slender tree from 20 to 30 feet high, with a trunk
from 8 to 10 inches in diameter at the base. Most of the plants he met with
had been cut, but numerous shoots had grown from their stools. According to
Mr. Cross’s account, the climate is disagreeably moist. The rainy season begins
in January and continues until May. June, July and August are windy, with
occasional heavy rain : the remainder of the year is fine, but showery. The
temperature ranges from 31° to 70° Eht., seldom falls below 40° and but
rarely rises above 65°.
Collection ot Through a misunderstanding, a fine collection of Pitayo bark seeds made
pitayo° by Mr. Cross in 1863, was detained in South America until the vitality of most
of the seeds had been impaired. These seeds, when ultimately sent to India,
entirely failed to germinate. The valuable species yielding the Carthagena
barks ( Cinchona lancifolia and Cinchona Pitayensis) were therefore the last to
be introduced into India. It was not indeed until 1868, that the same intrepid
and skilful collector who had brought the Crown Bark seeds, was commissioned
to undertake his third Cinchona expedition and to proceed to New Granada to
collect seeds of these two sorts. Landing at the port of Buenaventura in the
end of May of that year, Mr. Cross proceeded up the river Dagua as far as the
village of Las Juntas, crossed the Western Cordillera and made his way up to
Cauca village and thence to Pitayo, a hamlet standing nearly 9,000 feet above
the sea level in latitude 2° 30' N. Here he collected a quantity of good seed.
He found the trees growing, at elevations of from 7,300 to 9,800 feet, on slopes
more or less steep, the surface soil of which was nearly pure vegetable mould
but very mealy and dry. The subsoil he found to be a yellow porous clay, in
general loose and friable. Only a few Cinchona trees remained, and these were
mostly small and mutilated. Mr. Cross’s collections of seeds, numbering in all
fifty-five packets, were despatched by post and reached the Nilgiris during the
end of the year 1868. Mr. Cross’s account of the climate of the Pitayo region
shews it to be very damp, rain and mist being common during the greater part
of the year. He says, “ As* for New Granada, particularly the States of Cauca,
(in which Pitayo is situated) and Panama, no dry or summer weather need
be relied on or looked for at any time during the whole year. The cold climate
of Ecuador is in general healthy, even where there is much rain with damp
1 Markham’s Travels in Peru, and India, page 321.
2 Report on the Collections of Seeds and Plants of the Cinchonas of Pitayo, by Robert Cross, Lon Ion, 1S71,
page 31.
COLLECTION OF CINCHONA SEEDS IN SOUTH AMERICA.
11
and fogs, whereas on the mountain slopes bordering on the Cauca Valley, the
inhabitants are often trpmbling with ague at an elevation of 7,500 feet above
the level of the sea.” Mr. Cross gives no detailed meteorological observations
in bis report. His general account of the temperature of the Pitayo Quinine
region is that “ it ranges from 45° to 75° Pahr., but the general variable
temperature of the Pinon is from 45° to 60° Falir.” He adds, “ The climate
indicated for Pitayo Bark is exactly the same as that required for the Crown
Barks.” During October Mr. Cross collected 270 plants. These were, after
considerable trouble and hardship, landed at tiie coast in February 1869. There
they were shipped, and a month later they were safely deposited at the Royal
Gardens, Kew. In October following they were sent by overland route to India,
and ultimately found a home — half on Nilgiris and half in the Sikkim Himalaya.
Mr. Cross states that the Quinine trees of Pitayo are being rapidly extirpated.
Writing in 1871, he says, “At present it is not possible to examine a developed
healthy tree, as those from which I collected seeds were mere bushes, the
natural habit of the plants having been much injured from barking or ill-
treatment.”
12
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
CHAPTER III.
INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA.
Introduction
on the
Nilgiris.
It had been previously settled that the Cinchona experiment in India
should be begun in the Nilgiri Hills, and on the recommendation of Dr.
Cleghorn, then Conservator of Forests for Madras, and of Mr. Mclvor, Superin-
tendent of the Government Garden at Ootacamund, a patch of forest-land
fifty acres in extent, situated behind the Government garden, was accordingly
taken up and prepared for the first Cinchona experiment. Mr. Markham’s
consignment of Calisaya plants having reached England in a promising state,
continued in that condition until they reached Alexandria. The passage
through the Red Sea in the month of September and a week’s unavoidable
detention at Bombay, however, proved too great a trial for them, and on their
arrival in the Nilgiris in October they were all in a dying state. Some cuttings
were nevertheless madefrom them, hut not one of these struck root. Mr. Pritchett’s
plants of Grey Bark were quite as unfortunate, for they reached India either
dead or dying. Mr. Cross’s plants of succirubra raised from cuttings at Limon,
together with six calisyas which had been raised at Kew in 1862, were the
only living Cinchona plants collected by Mr. Markham’s triple expedition that
reached India in good condition. Mr. Cross deposited his plants in Mr.
Mclvor’s hands at Ootacamund on 9th April 1861 in excellent order. The
supplies of seeds procured hv the three expeditions were more fortunate than
the plants. These were sent in the first instance to the Royal Garden at Kew
where some were retained and sown. A few of the plants brought from South
America were also retained at Kew, so that a sort of reserve depot was formed
there in case of failure in India. For the successful introduction of Cinchona
into India and other British possessions, Government are largely indebted for
advice, as well as for more active assistance, to Sir William and Dr. Joseph
Hooker, the illustrious botanists, father and son, with whose names the fame of
the great national institution at Kew has for half a century been identified.
The seeds not retained at Kew were sent to India : those of the Grey Barks
arrived in the Nilgiris in January 1861 and those of the Red Barks two months
later. In the month of December 1861 Dr. Anderson delivered over to Mr.
Mclvor at Ootacamund the plants he had brought from Java,1^., fifty Calisaya ,
four lancifolia and two hundred and eighty-four Pahudiana. On the 4th March
1862, Mr. Cross’s collection of Pale or Crown Bark seeds from Loxa arrived and
the introduction of Cinchona to India became thus an accomplished fact.
Mr. Mark- It had been determined to take advantage of Mr. Markham’s experience
to India to of the localities which form the natural home of the Cinchona by deputing him to
tor cinchona, choose suitable sites for its cultivation in India. Mr. Markham accordingly
arrived at Calicut in October 1860 (bringing his Calisaya plants with him) and
for the next few months he was engaged in exploring the various hill ranges of
Southern India with this object in view. The site selected by Dr. Cleghorn
and Mr. Mclvor at Ootacamund was approved of by Mr. Markham as resem-
bling in its physical features and vegetation the natural habitats of Calisaya
in the Caravaya Forests. Planting in this site was greatly extended in subse-
quent years, and this tract of Cinchona is now known as the Dodabetta planta-
tion. Mr. Markham examined the Nilgiri, Coorg and Pulney hills, as also the
Wynaad districts in the Madras Presidency and the Maliableshwar Hills in
Bombay. He did not visit any part either of the Himalayas or of the Khasias,
although both ranges had been suggested for Cinchona by Royle, Falconer
and others. Mr. Markham’s opinion was that the Nilgiris offered decidedly the
most suitable home for Cinchona, and on that range three sites were accordingly
selected. The Dodabetta site was retained for the species affecting higher ele-
vations and a cooler temperature, while for the more tropical species a lower
site was chosen at a place called Neddiwattum, situated on the northern slope
of the Nilgiris and on the cart-road from Ootacamund to the Malabar Coast.
Next to the Nilgiris Mr. Markham considered Coorg the most favourable
1 A reference to Dr. Anderson’s -visit to Java will be found at page 18 of this Report.
INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA.
13
The
Dodabetta
Site on the
Nilgiris.
district for Cinchona, and a spot near Mercara on the road to Mangalore was
accordingly chosen for a plantation should it be found advisable to extend
Government operations beyond the Nilgiris. The Pulneys were considered to
afford a less suitable soil and climate, while the Mahableshwar climate, with its
six months of incessant rain alternating with six of parching drought, was con-
sidered too extreme to offer much chance of success ; the Mahableshwar soil
was moreover found to be poor. The Anamallavs, Shervaroys and the hills near
Courtallum were all considered too low. Of localities beyond Madras, Mr.
Markham regarded Ceylon as the most promising, and after that island he
believed Penang, the higher parts of Tenasserim and the Khasia hills likely to
offer the most suitable sites for plantations.
The Dodabetta site is thus described by Mr. Markham1 2 : —
It is a shola, or wooded ravine, at the back of the range of hills which rises behind the
Government gardens, and which entirely protects it from the west winds; whilst another high
ridge completely screens it from the east. It is 7,450 feet above the level of the sea, and from
its sheltered position warmer by several degrees than Ootacamund. Like the thickets where
the Cinchona grow on the pajonales of Caravaya in Peru, it is surrounded by steep grassy slopes, vegetation
with a vegetation analogous to that of the Caravayan pajonales. Thus, the tree Rhododendron and ciimate.
takes the place of the purple Melastoma, a large white lily that of the liliaceous sayri-sayri,
while the Gaultheria , Lycopodia, and Gallia appear to be almost identical in the two regions.
The vegetation of the interior of the ravine also resembles that of the pajonales of Sandia to
some extent. It contains Osbeckias, Holly, Cinnamon, Michelias, Faccininm, 8fc., with an
undergrowth of Lobelia, Acanthus, and ferns, and species of Cinchonaceous shrubs. The
temperature appears to be almost identical with that of the pajonales above the valley of Sandia
in Peru, and the spot receives a moderate supply of rain and mist during both monsoons. It
is true that this wooded ravine is more elevated, by nearly 1,500 feet, than any point in
Caravaya where I found the Cinchona growing; but Ootacamund is more than two degrees
nearer the Equator, and the temperature of the two places appears to be nearly the same. It
is no small advantage, too, that the ravine is so near the Government gardens, and that the
Cinchona plantation will thus have the benefit of Mr. MclvoPs constant supervision.
With regard to Neddiwattum Mr. Markham writes* The
Neddiwat-
The conditions most favourable for the production of Quinine in the bark of Cinchona turn Site. ^
plants are those of continuous vegetation, with a mean temperature of from 60° to 70°
of Fahr., varying according to the species, an almost constant supply of moisture, and an
elevation of from 5,000 to 8,000 feet. In every part of the Western Ghats the vegetation is
subjected, during the last three months in the year, to an amount of dryness which is never
known in the forests in South America, but I have seen no locality in India which more nearly
meets the requirements of a Cinchona plantation than that which we selected on this occasion.
It is, or was, within the Wynaad district, * * * *
but it is in fact a portion of the northern slope of the Nilgiri Hills. The site is close to
the travellers* bungalow at Neddiwattum, near the crest of the Ghat, on the road leading
from Ootacamund to Manantoddy. The forest covers a declivitous slope, at an elevation of
about 5,000 feet, and extends to the verge of the steep descent into the table-land of Wynaad.
There is a good supply of water in the forest, and the soil is rich, its base being a mixture of
syenite and laterite, curiously combined in strata. In this forest, amongst other plants, I and
found the Hymenodictyon excelsum (called by Roxburgh Cinchona excelsa , but excluded from the veeetation-
list of Cinchona by Weddell), an Andromeda, wild yam, cinnamon, pepper, coffee, wild ginger,
an Osbeckia with purple flowers, and numerous ferns and orchids. Moss in great quantities
was hanging from the branches and trunks of the trees, a sure sign of great moisture. The
jungle is within the narrow limits of the region which receives both the monsoons. Though
protected, to some extent, from the south-west, it receives a full share of the monsoon, during
the summer, and is also refreshed by the north-east monsoon coming across Mysore from October
to December. During the remaining months it is not without mists and heavy dews at
night,
In the end of tlie year 1862 a third plantation was opened out near The pykara
Pycara waterfall on the northern side of the Nilgiris, and about a year later (in Slte‘
1863) a fourth plantation was begun at a place called Mailkoondah on the Maiikoondah
Koondah Range, adjoining the Nilgiris. The sanction of the Secretary of State Site>
was also about this time given to the proposal to plant out one hundred
and fifty acres of Cinchona annually for ten years. This was, however,
subsequently modified and twelve hundred acres were set down as the
limit to which Government planting should be extended. The Koondalis are
1 Parliamentary Return. — East India (Cincliona Plant J, ordered by tlie House of Commons to be printed, 20th
March 1863, page 132.
2 Parliamentary Return. — East India (Cincliona Plant), ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 20th
March 1863, page 142.
D
14
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Vegetation
of the
Koondahs.
Mr. Melvor’
Mode of
Treatment
of Cinchona
Plants.
The J ava
Mode of
treatment.
described by Mr. Markham as the finest hills he had visited in India. He
says :l —
The forests cover their sides and crests, which bear more resemblance to the superb
montanas alias of some parts of the Eastern Andes than to the scrubby sholas of the Nilgiris.
The soil is of extraordinary depth and fertility, both in the forest and grass land, and there are
abundant supplies of water. * * * rphe ]an(j reserved by Government is, I am fully
convinced, the best site for a Cinchona plantation that has yet been selected, superior either to
Dodabetta or Neddiwattum. The land is well protected from severe gales.
These advantages were, however, found to be counterbalanced by the
distance of Mailkoondah from the station of Ootacamund and by its inacces-
sibility— no sufficient road having ever been made to it. The difficulties of
getting and retaining labour sufficient to cultivate the plantation and of effec-
tive supervision, were consequently found to be considerable. During 1872 it was,
therefore, determined to abandon this plantation (an attempttosellithavingfailed)
and to leave the seventy-five acres of Cinchona trees which had been put out there
to hold their own, as far as they can, against the indigenous vegetation, without
help, and thus to form “a wild Cinchona wood.1’ The expenditure onMailkoonhah
up to the date of its abandonment had been Rs. 43,776.
Under Mr. Mclvor’s skilful management, the three plantations of Dodabetta,
Neddiwattum and Pykara continued steadily to prosper, and Mr. Markham, who
re-visited the Nilgiris in 1865-66, considered the success that had been “attained
in the short space of five years as quite astonishing.”
s Mr. Mclvor’s treatment2 of the plants he had received was precisely that
to which any experienced and skilful gardener would have submitted them.
Little was known accurately of the exact conditions as to temperature and
humidity which were likely to suit them best. Instead, therefore, of treating
the living cinchona plants entrusted to him in the open air, Mr. Me Ivor at
once put them under the protection of glass, thus affording them an artificial
climate which he could modify as to moisture and temperature in whatever
way might appear desirable for their welfare.
The seeds were, with equal judgment, sown in boxes filled with
carefully prepared, free, light, soil. As soon as the living Cinchonas
which had been brought from South America had sufficiently recovered from
the effects of their long journey, and the plants raised by him from the South
American seeds had become large enough, Mr. Melvor began to propagate
from them, at first by layers and afterwards by cuttings. The operation of
layering so commonly employed in horticulture need not be described at length
here. A peculiarity in Mr. Mclvor’s treatment was that, in order to absorb
the moisture flowing from the wound, he put a small piece of dry brick under
the cut when pegging the branch down into the soil. Propagation by cuttings
and by leaf- buds was also pushed forward as rapidly as possible. All these
operations were conducted with bottom heat, that is to say, in soil brought to a
comparatively high temperature by artificial means. When sufficiently large
plants had been obtained, Mr. Melvor, after accustoming them to the tempera-
ture of the open air, planted out a number under different conditions, especially
as to shade, with the view of discovering the best system of cultivation. It
was found at the end of six months that plants which had been put out in the
open without any shade, either artificial or natural, much surpassed in size and
health others which had been planted out at the same time under the shade of
forest trees. Mr. Melvor, therefore, decided to adopt the plan of planting in
open cleared ground, instead of scattering his plants here and there, each in its
own small clearing, in a virgin forest.
Several well-meant endeavours were at this time made by gentle-
men who had visited the Dutch plantations in Java, to induce Government
to sanction the adoption of the Dutch mode of cultivation in the Nilgiris
in preference to that practised and advocated by Mr. Melvor. The Java
plan of sowing seeds was as follows. Each seed was sown separately in a
bamboo pot filled with rich soil. These pots consisted of joints of bamboo,
the transverse partition of the joint serving as a bottom. These were arranged
1 Parliamentary Return. — East India (Cinchona Plant), ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 18th
June 1866, page 221.
2 Mr. Melvor has himself described it in his notes on Cinchona cultivation, a little book published originally
in 1863, and of which a second and enlarged edition aj>penred in 1S65.
IXTRODTJ CTION INTO INDIA.
15
in the open air on long raised mounds of earth without any protection from
rain. Prior to being sown, the seeds were steeped in water for twenty-four
hours and, until they germinated, the soil in each pot was kept sufficiently moist
by an occasional squeeze of a wet sponge. Such seeds as germinated yielded
in about a year or eighteen months plants about a foot in height, and these
were planted out in the forest in the sites they were intended permanently to
occupy. These sites were well-dug circles of about six feet in diameter “ from
the neighbourhood of which brushwood and overhanging trees had been cleared
away, so as to admit the light perpendicularly while the side lights were some-
what excluded.” The distance of these well-dug circles from each other was
considerable, so that scattered over each acre of virgin forest there were only a
few Cinchona plants. This wras the system which it w7as proposed to substitute
for the workmanlike plan adopted by Mr. Mclvor. Fortunately, however,
Mr. Mclvor was allowed to follow the method of his own choosing — a method
which was approved by the gentlemen who had seen Cinchona in its native
forests, viz. Messrs. Weddell, Markham, Cross and Weir. Forty acres were,
however, planted out in the Dutch mode ; but of these, thirty were soon after
cleared of their shade trees and converted into open plantations, leaving ten
acres as a sufficient illustration of the disadvantages of the "Java method. A
few years later, the Dutch authorities themselves adopted the English practice
and abandoned their own. Mr. Mclvor was put in entire charge of the cul-
tivation in the Nilgiris, and such was his success in propagation that on the
30th April 1862 (a little more than eighteen months after the beginning
of the experiment) he was able to report the following stock of plants at
Ootacamund, exclusive of two hundred and four that had been sent to
Bengal : —
Red Barks ( C . succirubra ) ... ... ... 14,450
Yellow Barks ( C . Calisaya ) ... ... ... 237
Crown or Pale (C. officinalis) and its three varieties ) g
Condaminea, Bonjolandia , crista, f J
Pale Bark ( C. . lancifolia ) ... ... ... 1
Grey Barks ( C . nitida, micrantha, Peruviana ) ... 8,276
The worthless species from Java ( C . Pakudiana) ... 425
Total ... 31,495
Four months later, these numbers had been more than doubled. As has
been stated, seeds or plants of all the valuable species of Cinchonas found in
South America had been supplied to Mr. Mclvor chiefly through the India
office and by the excellent arrangements of Mr. Markham. At the first start
of the experiment on the Nilgiris the supply of Calisaya wras very small. This oi
was, however, amply compensated in 1865 by the oSer of Mr. Money to ex- the Nilgiris.
change no less than thirteen pounds of seeds of the finest Bolivian varieties of
this species which had been collected by Mr. Ledger, for a quantity of the
Bed Bark seed, which had by that time begun to be freely produced on the
Nilgiri plantation. These thirteen pounds, on Mr. Mclvor’s lowest calculation of
twenty thousand seeds to the ounce, should have yielded four millions of
plants. Only sixty thousand plants were however raised, but these proved
to be of three most excellent sorts, A plant of a very fine variety of Yellow
Bark was also presented by Mr. J. E. Howard in 1867, and some supplies of
seeds were likewise contributed by Mr. Markham. The cultivation of Calisaya
has never, however, been very successful on the Nilgiris. In Mr. Mclvor’s
words, “The habit of this species on the Nilgiris is less vigorous than the Bed
or Crown Barks, the stems scarcely increasing more than half as much as these
species in thickness during the same period of growth, and consequently as a
bark-producing tree it is less valuable.” Mr. Mclvor also complains of the
thinness of the bark. Mr. Broughton’s report on the Nilgiri-grown Calisaya
bark is, however, favourable. He found in 1870 that bark from comparatively
young plants yielded about 4| per cent of medicinal alkaloids, of which nearly
half was Quinine Sulphate. He accordingly recommended the extended culti-
vation of this species. This recommendation has, however, not hitherto been
acted on. The cultivation of C. succirubra on the Nilgiris since Mr. Cross
landed his collection of living plants there has been a steady success. The
species is one very little liable to variation and it is the hardiest and most easily
16
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
propagated of all the medical Cinchonas. Mr. Cross’ original collections of seed
of the Pale Barks had germinated so well at Ootacamund that little was left
to he done subsequently in the way of adding new varieties of this sort. Mr.
Howard, however, sent a plant of uritusinga to Mr. Mclvor, from which a
stock of that variety was ultimately obtained. Of the fifty-five packets
of seed of Pitayo Barks sent from New Granada hv Mr. Cross, forty-seven
packets arrived at Ootacamund during the years 1868 and 1869, but they
yielded in all only eiglity-six plants. This result is attributable to their
mouldy condition on arrival. Mr. Cross’s consignment of living plants of
Cinchona Fitayensis , after having been nurtured at Kew for more than six
months, was taken to India under the charge of Dr. B. Simpson, of the Bengal
medical service, and deposited by him, half on the Nilgiris and half in Sikkim.
The Nilgiri consignment reached Ootacamund in the end of 1869. The plants
have since been slightly increased in number.
giscoveiT °f During the year 1868, the attention of Mr. Broughton was first attracted
mirabms or by a few plants in the Pale Bark plantation at Dodahetta which differed from
their neighbours by having narrower leaves. On analysis, the bark of this
variety was found to yield the unprecedented amount of from 7 to
10 per cent, of 'crystalline quinine , the total alkaloid in the bark being
more than 11 per cent. Provisionally christened Cinchona mirabilis from
this circumstance, the specific name of this variety has been changed into
angustifolia.
ofira w11 The limit of twelve hundred acres fixed for the Nilgiri plantations
discontinued having been reached during the official year 1869-70, propagation and planting
in 1869-70. on the scale hitherto followed became no longer necessary, and the establish-
ments on all three plantations were considerably reduced. Any extension
which has since taken place, has been entirely of the new and valuable sorts
more recently received, viz., Calisaya, Fitayensis and the wonderfully rich
angustifolia discovered by Mr. Broughton at Dodahetta. Prom an early period
in their history and until 1869, the Nilgiri plantations were largely worked by
convict labour, and jails were erected at Neddiwattum and Dodahetta for the ac-
comodation of the prisoners. This arrangement appears to have worked satis-
factorily. Since the end of the official year 1868-69, the labour has been of the
ordinary sort. The distribution of Cinchona seeds and plants to private persons
has all along been a prominent feature in the operations of these plantations.
At first, so high a price as1 four annas was charged for each plant ; this was sub-
sequently reduced to one anna, and more recently to two pies. Por public pur-
poses plants have of late been given gratuitously. The total number of plants
distributed up to 31st January 1875 is 235, 717. The Red Bark trees began to
yield seed in 1866, and the other species followed soon after. Up to the date
just quoted, thirty pounds of Cinchona seed of sorts had been distributed gratui-
tously. With the view of recouping Government for the past expenditure on
Cinchona and of reducing the annual outlay for the future, it was decided early
in 1871 to sell the Pykara and Mailkoonda plantations. As already mentioned,
no one would buy the latter, and it was consequently abandoned. An offer to
lease Pykara was however made, but being considered unsatisfactory, was
declined, and the plantation is still worked by Government,
ftockon the At the end of the official year 1873-71, the total number of trees in
hiigiris. permanent plantations in the Nilgiris stood as follows2 : —
•
Acreage.
Surface.
Base.
Total of plants of all sorts on Neddiwattum
... 471, 710
455
371-24
„ „ „ Dodahetta
... 345,980
378
28725
„ „ „ Pykara
... 304,484
336
243 00
Mailkoonda (abandoned) ...
1,125,204
65,254
1,169
75
901-49
40-28
Total
... 1,190,458
1,244
(941-77
1 The equivalents of these sums in English money are respectively sixpence, three half-pence and a farthing.
2 For minuter details see Appendix C.
INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA.
17
I
This gives an average of about 1,042 trees per acre for Neddiwattum, 915
per acre for Dodabetta, and 906 per acre for Pykara. The trees are not, however,
equidistant in all parts of these plantations, for some of the older trees stand
12 x 12 feet apart and a small number so close as 3 x 3 feet.
The cost of these plantations to the same date has been as follows1 2 : —
General charges — Us.
For Direction, Offices, and Propagation ... ... ... 1,61,172
Special charges —
Expenditure at Neddiwattum ... ... ... ... 2,36,239
Dodabetta ... ... ... ... ••• 1,52,318
Pykara ... ... ... ••• ••• 81,501
6,03,059
At Mailkoonda (abandoned) ... ... ... 43,776
Total to 31st March 1873 ... 6,75,026
This gives an average, excluding Mailkoonda entirely, of about Rs. 542 per
surface acre, and 8 annas 9 pies (or one shilling and a penny) a tree. It is
important to note that for years convict labour was largely used on the planta-
tion. On the other hand, the revenue received from the plantation since its
commencement to the end of the official year 1868-69 has been as follows0 : —
Its.
Sale of plants in 1863-64 ... ... ... ... t.. ... 5,100
„ „ 1864-65 4,809
„ „ 1866-67 2,450
,, „ 1868-69 1,680
Cinchona cultivation in the Bengal presidency began under less favour- introduction
able circumstances than in Madras. No plants were sent hither from South
America, nor was the experience of Mr. Markham available in the selection of
the most hopeful localities in the Himalayas or Khasias. Prom its commence-
ment, and until his departure from India in 1869, the superintendence of the Cin-
chona experiment in Bengal was under the direction of I)r. Thomas Anderson,
Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta. Exposure in the
feverish regions of the outer Himalaya, together with almost daily subjection,
for weeks on end, to the sudden changes of temperature incident on passing from
the cold climate of Darjeeling, where he lived, to the hot steamy valleys
of the Cinchona reserve, then a houseless waste, laid the seeds of disease of the
liver which caused the premature death during 1870 of this able and zealous
servant of Government. Subsequently to 1869 it has been under the direction
of Dr. Anderson’s successors. Since 1866, the Sikkim plantations have been
under tbe executive charge of Mr. J. Gammie, the resident manager, and to
him their success has been largely due. The first Cinchona seeds received
by Dr. Anderson were some sent by Sir W. J. Hooker to the Botanical Gardens,
Calcutta, in 1861. In December of that year these had produced thirty-
one plants. During the same year the Government of Bengal and the
Supreme Government of India had taken up the matter in earnest, and ac-
cordingly, in the month of September, Dr. Anderson was sent to Java with Dr. Ander.
the double object of familiarising himself with the Dutch mode of cultivation t2YaVaent
and of conveying to India the plants which the Governor of that colony had
generously offered to the Government of India. Dr. Anderson returned from
Java in November, bringing with him 412 living Cinchona plants and a
quantity of seeds of C. Pahudiana. Shortly after his return from Java, Dr.
Anderson proceeded to Ootacamund, and there made over to Mr. Mclvor
fifty of the Calisaya, two hundred and eight-four of the Pahudiana and
four of the lancifolia plants which he had brought from Java. In return
he took to Calcutta from Ootacamund one hundred and ninety-three
plants of succirubra and of the species yielding Grey Bark. Some of the Java
plants died in Calcutta, and on the 19th January 1862 the total stock of plants
1 See Appendix D for fuller details. This is exclusive of all charges connected with Mr. Broughton. His pay as
Quinologist and the expenditure on his analytical laboratory and factory have been quite distinct from the plantation
accounts. The Sikkim charges given in Appendix F include, on the other hand, not only the cost of plantation hut also
that of the Quinologist’s laboratory and factory as well.
2 Accountant-General’s letter dated 19th January 1870.
E
18
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA..
nursery.
in the Botanical Gardens there from all sources consisted of two hundred
and eighty-nine plants. Dr. Anderson recommended that these should be
sent to Sikkim, that being the part of the Himalaya which offered, in
his opinion, the greatest hope of success. Government sanctioned this pro-
posal, and in March of the same year Dr. Anderson proceeded to Darjeeling,
accompanied by a gardener in charge of the plants (two hundred and
forty-nine in number). The conduct of the Sikkim experiment in its earlier
stages was influenced by the error of over-estimating the amount of coolness
and moisture required for Cinchonas. The accounts of the explorers of Cin-
chona forests (founded of course on imperfect experience) on the whole rather
countenanced the notion that all the species except Calisaya thrive best in
regions where, in the scanty intervals between the showers, there is more
mist than sunshine. A wearied collector who had spent the day in climb-
ing rugged hill-sides under a hot sun in search of Cinchona trees, shivering
at night in an open shanty high on the Andes, was naturally inclined to consider
as extremely cold a night temperature which a thermometer shewed to have
been only about 40° Eht., and such impressions formed a large part of the infor-
mation which the introducers of Cinchona into India had to guide them in choos-
ing sites for plantations. With the view of finding for them as wet, chilly and dis-
The sinchui agreeable a climate as possible, Dr. Anderson chose a spot near the summit of
Sinchul, a mountain of the outer range of the Sikkim Himalaya which rises to an
elevation above the sea of nearly 9,000 feet and thus intercepts a large share of
the clouds passing northwards from the plains. A conservatory was quickly ex-
temporised there by adapting an empty house to the purpose, and a propagating
pit was soon built, in which the plants, now reduced in number to 211, were
placed on the first day of June 1862. Under the care of Mr. Jafirey, these
Avere rapidly increased during the succeeding five months. The winter climate
of Sinchul proved, however, by far too severe for Cinchonas. Most of the land
in the Darjeeling district having been previously taken up by private specu-
lators for Tea cultivation, it was difficult for Dr. Anderson to find any suitable
locality for a Cinchona plantation. After much search, however, he succeeded in
The Lebong hiring for a nursery, a house and garden at Lebong, a warm, well-sheltered spur
below Darjeeling, and 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. The Sinchul stock,
amounting to 2,484 plants (chiefly JPahudiana, but including 30 Pale Barks
derived from Ceylon seeds and also some succirubra and Calisaya) , was accordingly
removed there on 1st April 1863. These were supplemented by 97 succirubras,
21 Calisayas, 94 officinalis and 115 Grey Barks received from Madras about the
same time. Por the formation of a permanent plantation, Dr. Anderson
had to be content with land in the then densely forest-clad and little-known valley
of the Rungbee, twelve miles distant from Darjeeling and at that time uncon-
nected with that station by any road. Dr. Anderson’s early difficulties are well
described in his own words : —
“ I laboured,” he writes iu 1863, “ under the disadvantage last year 1 of being quite ignorant
of the nature of the country of British Sikkim beyond what I could learn from the accounts of
Dr. Hooker, as well as from the collections of dry plants from Sikkim which exist in the Calcutta
herbarium. I had formed very inadequate ideas of the difficulty of reaching Darjeeling, of the
condition of the roads leading to it, and of the resources of the station as regards labour, especi-
ally such skilled labour as I required, such as native gardeners, carpenters, and masons. I
also supposed that no difficulty would be experienced in obtaining abundance of land, the property
of Government, in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling, that glass for the conservatory, and flower-
pots, &c., could be procured in Darjeeling. Some idea, however, will be obtained of the diffi-
culties with which the experiment had to contend when I state that no suitable Government
land could be got nearer than twelve miles from the station, and that, to reach this spot, an
almost impenetrable forest had to be passed through, requiring every step to be cleared by Lepchas
with their long knives. On leaving Calcutta, I had hoped that the permanent propagating
houses, the gardener's house, and huts for the coolies, would have been finished iu three months";
instead of which, it soon appeared that until a bridle path, eight miles long, could be
finished, the buildings could not even be commenced, and that, instead of three mouths being
required to complete them, two years was the shortest time in which they could be ready.
No temporary buildings could be obtained either, except barracks on the windy and cold crest
of Sinchul, 8,600 feet above the sea. Before these could be converted into a conservatory,
glass had to be procured from Calcutta, 400 miles distant. The manufactory of flowerpots
was also unknown at Darjeeling, and so even they had to be obtained from Calcutta. Then,
no labour of any kind could be got to supply the place of the two Bengalee gardeners, who
1 Parliamentary Return, — East India ( Cinchona Plant), — ordered by the House of Commons to be printed
8th June 1866, page 298.
Eungbee
plantation
begun.
Early
difficulties.
INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA.
19
insisted on returning to Calcutta within three months of their arrival at Darjeeling ; and the
European gardener had therefore to perform all the operations of the simplest kind with his
own hand, and this is still the case. Such an apparently easily procurable substance as white
river sand could not be got in Sikkim, not that none existed there, but that, during the rains,
che courses of the rivers were so full of water that the beds of sand were all concealed. Ac-
cordingly, a maund of sand was sent for from the Botanic Gardens in Calcutta. No pack-
ages of any kind ever reached Darjeeling from Calcutta in less than six weeks, the usual
time occupied in the transit being two months. It will thus be seen that the commencement
of Cinchona cultivation in Sikkim entailed a great many preliminary operations before the
propagation of plants could be attempted; and it is only now \Vith tools, flowerpots, bell
glasses, and hand-frames received from Calcutta, and a determination to be contented with such
means as are procurable in Darjeeling, that the success I have been able to report has been
obtained.”
It was found necessary to continue the nursery at Lebong until
April 1S65 and to open another at Rungyroon, a spot half-way between Dar-
jeeling and the future plantation at Rungbee, the Rungyroon location being
especially adapted for a distribution nursery. Ground was broken in the
Rungbee Valley, in June 1864, at a spot 4,410 feet above the sea level, on the
south-eastern slope of a long spur running out from the main ridge of Sinchul.
The elevation of the lower part of this spur is about 1,300 feet. Below 4,000
feet, the land in the valley had been previously cleared for native cultivation of
Indian corn and millet. Higher up, the spur was (and still remains) covered
with a virgin forest of tall trees, the stems of which are clothed with moss,
ferns, epiphytal orchids, aroids and Begonias. The undergrowth consists of
ferns, Acanthacece and other shrubs, especially prominent among the latter
being several species of shade-loving Cinchonacece. In the wetter places are
patches of wild plantain, and here and there occur impenetrable cane-brakes.
The first and only piece of planting done during the year 1864 was a patch
containing the following : —
Cinchona
succirubra ...
• • • Ml ...
100 plants.
>>
officinalis ...
• . • ... •••
...
100 ,,
;;
micrantha ...
• • •
50 .„
})
Calisaya . . .
... ...
...
2 „
))
Pahudiana...
...
271 „
Total Plants
523
At this time the out-door plantations on the Nilgiris contained 165,351
plants. Two hundred seeds of C. Calisaya of Weddell’s stock were received
from Java during this year, but of these only nine germinated. Some seed of
C. Bitayensis, received from South America through Mr. Markham, entirely
failed. On the abandonment of the nursery at Lehong all the stock of plants
was removed to Rungbee, which henceforth became the headquarters of the
cultivation, and four fresh spots were opened there at various elevations with the
view of discovering a suitable home for each species. One plantation was formed
at 5,321 feet above the sea ; others at 5,000, 3,332 and 2,556 feet respectively, and
towards the end of the year 1865 a small plantation was formed as an experi-
ment in the Teesta Valley, in an open Sal forest, at an elevation of only 1,000
feet above the sea and in a locality of which the climate differs considerably
from that of any part of the Rungbee Valley. During the official year 1865-66
nearly 6,000 plants were put out in permanent plantation, and the total
stock of all sorts and ages amounted at the end of that year to 178,741.
At the same date the Nilgiri plantations contained about a million and a half
plants of all ages, of which 40,000 were in permanent plantations.
Propagation by cuttings of C. succirubra and C. officinalis went on
vigorously during succeeding years. It gradually, however, -became apparent that
officinalis does not thrive in Sikkim, and, after about four hundred thousand
plants had been put out, all further planting of this species was discontinued,
and not only so, but three-fourths of the area covered by it were replanted
with succirubra. Only one hundred and twenty-five thousand plants of offici-
nalis are therefore now returned. Of C. succirubra there were on 1st April
1875, two millions three hundred and ninety thousand trees. The propagation
of this species is now thoroughly understood and can be carried on with ease to
any extent that may* be considered desirable. The best of all the medicinal
Cinchonas — namely, Calisaya or Yellow Bark — promises to do well in Sikkim, and
Species
cultivated
at itungbee.
20
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
there were in the plantation on 1st April 1875, 351,500 trees of that species,
besides young plants in the nurseries. The great preponderance of succirubra
trees in the plantation is not due to a preference for that species over Calisaya, but
to the fact that the Red Bark tree is hardier, much more easily propagated and
has a much wider range, as regards conditions of growth, than Calisaya. Owing
to the backwardness of Calisaya to yield seed, propagation by artificial methods
had to be relied on until 1871. During that year the Calisaya trees for the
first time seeded freely ; it was therefore hoped that rapid extension of this
species by seedlings could then be begun. In the meantime Mr. Wood, the
recently-appointed Quinologist, had analysed the bark of the numerous varieties 1
of this species which occur on the plantation, and had pointed out that whereas
certain of these varieties yield a bark containing as much as per cent, of
total alkaloid of which nearly the whole is Quinine, others yield so little as 1|
per cent, of total alkaloid. The best varieties (yielding from 5|- to per cent,
of total alkaloid) are all characterised by narrow leaves (in one of them these
are purple below), perfectly white flowers and small seed vessels. The bad
varieties, on the other hand, have large broad leaves, purplish flowers and large
seed vessels.
Although seed was saved from the fine varieties only, so large a proportion
of the resulting seedlings shewed such a marked resemblance to the bad varieties
that it was resolved to plant out none of them, and to trust to propagation by
cuttings for any further extensions which may be decided upon. Of other
species originally introduced into Sikkim, one — namely, C. Pahudiana — proved
worthless, and its cultivation has long since been entirely abandoned. The Grey
Barks ( C. micrantha , C. Peruviana, C. nitida) being poor in Quinine, the cultiva-
tion of these species is now no longer carried on. C. Pitayensis is closely allied
in nature to officinalis and apparently will not succeed in Sikkim. One import-
ant species is now receiving special attention. This was referred to in the
earlier reports on the Sikkim plantation as a hybrid. The first plant of this
appeared amongst a set of seedlings raised from seed got some years ago from
Dr. Thwaites, E.R.S., Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Ceylon. It is
possible that this may turn out to be a distinct species and not a hybrid. Ana-
lysis of its bark shews it to contain much Quinine. Since the discovery of this
fact every effort has been made to propagate this variety. Experience, more-
over, proves that it grows well in Sikkim and at a higher level than Calisaya.
Of this variety 21,000 plants were in permanent cultivation on 1st April
1875. Like Calisaya, this variety does not come true to seed, a large majority
of its seedlings closely resembling C. officinalis in appearance. < It must there-
fore be propagated by cuttings in the manner to be described hereafter. A
form similar to this sprung up accidentally in some of the Nilgiri plantations,
but does not appear to have been propagated to any extent on those belonging
to Government.
The details of the Sikkim plantations, as they stood on the 1st April 1875,
will be found in Appendix E of this Report. The total expenditure on the
Sikkim plantations to the date just mentioned, including all quinological
charges, has been Rs. 6,46,243. The total revenue to the same date amounts to
Rs. 7,958, 2 but the plantation has not as yet begun to be worked for revenue.
A Cinchona plantation was begun by a private company in Sikkim almost
simultaneously with that belonging to Government. Batches of Cinchona
were also planted in several tea gardens in the district, but the cultivation has
not commended itself to private enterprise to the same extent in Sikkim as in
the Nilgiris.
1 Mr. Wood’s analysis of six varieties of Sikkim Calisaya is contained in the following table, extracted
from his report to the Government of Bengal, dated 5th August 1874. The variety marked No- 1 in the table may be
taken as a fair example of the bad varieties, which number about half a dozen.
Cinchona Calisaya varieties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Total alkaloid ... ... ... ...
1-6
6-1
5-57
71
5-75
7'4
Alkaloid sol. in Ether
0'82
5-9
5-21
693
5-75
7-4
Cryst. Sulphate of Quinine
None.
453
4-6
6-92
534
62
2 See Appendix F.
INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA.
21
Encouraged by its success on the Nilgiris, Cinchona cultivation was
warmly taken up by European residents in the other high lands and hill
ranges of the Madras presidency. The coffee planters of Wynaad put outInthe
a good many Red Bark trees on their estates. These are found to grow well : wynaad
their bark, however, in common with that grown at low elevations elsewhere, is
comparatively poor in alkaloid, and the results on the whole are not very
encouraging.
In South Canara a small plantation was formed in 1869 at a place called ^ smith.
Nagooli above the Koloor Chat and at an elevation of 2,500 feet above the
sea, but the experiment there was pronounced by the Madras Government
as unlikely to be productive of useful results, and has therefore been practi-
cally abandoned.
On the Mahendra Mountain in the Ganjam district, the opening of a small inGanjam
plantation was sanctioned by the Madras Government early in 1871.
Under the Eorest Department an attempt was made to introduce Cin- ^,haeMully
chona on the Nulla Mully hills, but the first hot weather killed all the plants huis.
(Red Barks), and, a similar fate overtaking a second supply planted in 1867,
the experiment was abandoned. As the highest peak of the Nulla Mullys
rises to only 3,300 feet and the whole range is exposed to hot winds for two
or three months of the year, the result is scarcely to be wondered at.
The following account of Cinchona cultivation in Coorg has been fur- in coorg.
nished by order of the Chief Commissioner : —
“ With the object of introducing the experimental cultivation of Cinchona into Coorg,
a piece of ground about an acre in extent was taken up in 1863 by the district officer, and
placed under the charge of the Revd. Mr. Richter, the Principal of the Central School.
In 1872 the ground was enlarged by adding to it a neglected coffee garden of about seven
acres in extent, and, besides the cultivation of the Cinchona plant, an effort was made to in-
troduce and acclimatise fruit and other useful trees.
“The number of Cinchona trees within the limits of the original plantation is now about
412, of which 323 are from three to ten years old. Their condition is stated to be satis-
factory, though there have been several casualties from dry rot.
“ From the nursery attached to the garden some of the coffee planters and ryots of the
district have obtained seedlings, and the cultivation has, it is stated, become somewhat extended.
“ In 1870 some of the bark from the Government trees was sent to Mr. Broughton, the
Quinologist, for analysis. His re-
port shews the results marginally
noted. The bark Mr. Broughton
pronounced of good appearance and
apparently in a well-prepared state.
“ The cost of establishment was for the first ten years at the rate of only Rs. 6 per men-
sem, but when the plantation was enlarged the expenditure increased, and from September
1873 to July 1874, Rs. 235 were spent in clearing the old jungle, cutting a new road, and
forming a nursery, as well as effecting other improvements. Mr. Richter's own labours
are gratuitous.
“ The Mysore Government is not fully satisfied that the maintenance of this garden is
justified by the results that have been obtained, and the Superintendent of Coorg has been
directed to report more fully on the subject."
The average girth and height of the trees in June 1875 was as follows : —
Age of trees.
Average girth.
Average height.
12 years.
28 inches.
39 feet.
10 „
21 „
30 „
6 „
13 „
17 -„
4 „
9 „
9 „
The Travancore Government, by the advice of the Resident, Mr. Maltby, in
opened in 1862 a plantation of Cinchona at Peermede, near the station of Mary- Travancore
ville, a promising locality on the Travancore portion of the Western Ghats and
elevated about 3,000 feet above the sea. This locality was visited in 1865 by
Mr. Markham and Dr. Cleghorn, then Conservator of Eorests for Madras, and
was approved of as likely to suit Cinchona. In 1869 the plantation contained
3,552 trees, chiefly Red Bark, and in 1870 these were reported by the Resident at
the Travancore Court as “looking generally very well.” Shortly after this, they
Total Alkaloids ...
623
Quinine
104
Cinchonine and Cinchonidine
519
Crystallized Sulphates of Quinine obtained
0-63
„ „ Cinchonidine ...
511
Total Crystallized Sulphates obtained
5'74
p
22
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
In the
Pulney Hills.
In the
Tinnivelly
Hills.
On the
Shevaroy
Hills.
In British
Burma.
were visited and reported upon by Mr. Mclvor, whose verdict was that the trees
were cankered. The existence, however, of a certain amount of disease, of the
nature of canker, is one of the accidents of Cinchona cultivation in all parts of
India, and its occurrence need not he regarded as necessarily proving the un-
suitability of any particular locality for Cinchona cultivation.
In the Pulney Hills the introduction of Cinchona has received some atten-
tion both from Government officials and from private parties, notably from the
Homan Catholic Missionaries. Planting has not been pursued on any large scale,
but it has been tried at several places. The experience is that the trees grow
fairly, but that the bark is not very rich in alkaloids. In October 1872 there were
se^en hundred healthy Cinchona trees in the Mission House garden at Kodicanal.
In the Tinnivelly Hills experimental plantations were made at various ele-
vations from about 2,700 to 4,300 feet, and under various conditions of exposure
and soil. Some trees were planted on virgin forest land cleared for the purpose,
others were put in grass land. At one of the spots near Papanassam (3,000
feet) thirty-two succirnbra trees and ninety-eight of officinalis were planted in Sep-
tember 1866. Three years later, thirty of the former and seventy of the latter
were in good condition, the tallest of them having reached a height of 13 feet,
and the average height of the whole being 8 to 10 feet. When it is stated that
these trees had. neither been planted nor tended by skilled labour, but had been
under the care of wild liill-men, this result is very favourable. The portion of
the Tinnivelly Hills where the plantations are situated being practically un-
inhabited, the experiment cannot be said to have had the amount of attention
that it merits.
On the Shevaroy range Cinchona succiruhra seems to thrive. A hundred
seedling Bed Barks planted in October 1866, although damaged by fire and in-
jured by transplantation, seem to have done very well.
It was considered that the higher parts of British Burma offered a suitable
climate for Cinchona, and it was thought of much importance to interest the
Karen population in the cultivation. The matter was therefore taken up with
some vigour by the Porest Department. The following account of the experi-
ment in that province has been drawn up by Mr. Bibbentrop, the Officiating
Conservator of Porests1 : —
“ The first mention of Cinchona cultivation in Burma is in the annual forest report of 1 865-66,
where it is stated that a few Cinchona plants were planted on the top of the Bogalay Hills
east of Tounghoo. In the report for 1867-68 it is noted that of these plants only two sur-
vived, and these trees are still in existence and doing well. In December 1868, 188 plants of
Cinchona succiruhra were planted out at Phunado, at an elevation of 2,100 feet; and of these
there were surviving, at the close of March 1870, 87 plants in the upper site and 59 in the
lower. A large number of cuttings were obtained froip these plants and successfully propa-
gated in new series. Two Karen lads, who had been placed under the care of Mr. Mclvor,
Ootacamund, in September 1868, returned to Rangoon in November 1869, having gone
through a course of training. Unfortunately one of these lads, Fandee, died on the 2nd April
1870. A spot called Thandoungyee had been in the meantime selected as the headquarters
for Cinchona planting, and Phunado was in great part abandoned, Thandoungyee is situated
18 miles north-east of Tounghoo, and the hills on which the present plantation is located vary
from about 3,700 feet to 4,400 feet above the sea level. One hundred acres were here made over
to the Forest Department in March 1870, but owing to seed having failed to germinate, there
was nothing done till 1871. In this year the cuttings raised at Phunado in 1870 were re-
moved to Thandoungyee and planted out, and by the end of the planting season 500 plants
had been put out in the main plantation, while the raising of seedlings was being carried on
in the propagation-house. It was in the beginning of 1872 that Dr. Adamson received charge
of the Sittang Division, involving the charge of the Cinchona plantation, and at that time
the establishment consisted of the trained assistant Takai, 2 other assistants under instruction,
and from two to four coolies as required. During 1872 large numbers of seedlings were raised
in nursery beds and in the propagation -house, but only a few cuttings were planted out in the
main plantation. At the close of the official year 1872-73, there were about 500 young trees
in the main plantation, and 18,000 to 20,000 seedlings and cuttings available for planting out
in the rains of 1873 and ensuing years. In 1873 an area of about 9 acres was taken in hand,
felled, burnt, and jdanted up, and altogether upwards of 6,000 seedlings and cuttings were put
out. In 1874 a fresh clearing of about 27 acres was made in the usual manner, and about
15,000 seedlings and cuttings planted out. In 1875, a still more extensive clearing having
been made, 23,000 seedlings and cuttings were transplanted from the nurseiy beds to the clear-
ing, while about 3,200 were utilised in filling up blanks of the previous two years’ cultivation.
Such is a short resume of of the progress of Cinchona planting in Burma during the last five
years, the total number of trees reported alive at the end of October 1875 being about 44,000.
Letter to the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, dated 27th November 1875.
INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA.
23
“ The following' statement shews the proportion of the different varieties of trees planted out
in different years : —
1873.
1874.
1875.
Cinchona succirubra
2,024
7,490
18,023
,, Calisaya
198
50
640
„ Condaminea
2,809
4,900
7,806
5,031
12,440
26,469
“ It has been found by experience that the variety Cinchona succirubra succeeds best in the
Karen Hills. The plants are put out at a distance of 7 by 7 , giving 49 square feet per plant.
There are thus at least 50 acres covered with Cinchona trees, to which has to be added the area
consisting of roads, and that covered by the village and other offices. The original area
marked off (100 acres) has thus been already fully occupied.
“ The soil is a light red soil, the result of decomposition of granitic rock, with, however,
a great preponderance of rather coarse quartz sand. The surface soil is only to a very small
depth, nowhere exceeding a foot, discoloured either by the decomposition of vegetable matter
or by the ashes of burnt-down vegetation. Huge rounded granitic boulders are seen here, as
everywhere, in the Karen hills, striking out from the ground or lying loosely on or along the
ridges or carried down to the choung.
“ The lowest and highest temperatures of the past year were as follow : —
6 A. M. 2 P. M. 6 P. M.
January 14th 43° Fht. 73° 55°
April 19th 70° „ 84° 76°
“ The rainy season lasts from May to October.
“ I subjoin a statement of the heights and girths of 15 trees of those planted out at Than-
doungyee in 1871, taken in November 1872 and again in October 1874.
No.
NOVEMBER 1872.
OCTOBER 1873.
Height.
Gieth.
Height.
Gieth.
Ft.
In.
Ft.
In.
Ft.
In.
Ft.
In.
I
5
0
4
13
0
1
0
II
4
7
31
12
4
1
O
in
5
0
4
12
O
1
0
IV
4
7
4
10
4
O
11
V
5
O
4
10
10
1
0
VI
5
0
4
11
11
0
11
VII
4
71
4
12
3
1
1
VIII
4
10
31
13
4
1
1
IX
5
1*
31
11
10
1
2
X
5
0
4
11
8 •
1
O
XI
4
9
4
12
10
1
2
XII
4
9
4
13
1
1
2
XIII
3
1H
31
13
2
1
O
XIV
4
7
4
11
5
1
O
XV
1
5
1
31
13
7
1
1
“ On the 31st October 1875 there were in nursery beds 10,000 young seedlings of Cinchona,
succirubra and 4,700 cuttings of Cinchona Condaminea. About 3,000 seedlings were distri-
buted at the beginning of the rains of 1875 to Karens, who promised to plant them under the
auspices of the Missionaries (Reverend Father Biffi and Reverend Mr. Bunker), and Mr.
Adamson reports that he heard from the Reverend Father Biffi that, those he planted were
doing well. There can be no doubt that the Cinchona trees at Thandoungyee have succeeded
very well as yet. Mr. Kurz, of the Calcutta Botanical Garden, was of opinion that they
would do so, but that they would never attain the size of full-grown trees, but always be
stunted and branched like the surrounding evergreen vegetation.
“Three specimens of bark were sent in 1873 to the Government Quinologist at Madras,
and the following report on them was received : —
“ ‘ The specimens were three in number and were respectively labelled, 1$£, bark from upper
plantation, Phunado ; 2nd, bark from lower plantation, Phunado ; 3rd, bark from one of the two
trees at Bogalay. Of the age or part of the trees producing these specimens I am ignorant,
but imagine the age to be about 5 years. The bark, which was that of Cinchona succirubra,
had a thin and bad appearance, and gave me the impression of being grown at too low an
24
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
elevation. Submitted to analysis they yielded the following percentages of alkaloid in 100 parts
of quite dry bark : —
•
Upper planta-
Lower planta-
One of the two
tion, Phunado.
tion, Phunado.
trees at Bogalay.
Total alkaloids
429
423
313
Quinine and Quinicine ...
032
118
0-98
Cinchona and Oinchonidine
3 97
3-05
215
Pure Quinine Sulphate obtained Crystallized
027
0-49
056
„ Cinchonidine Sulphate
175
105
073
“ ‘ The barks thus contain a satisfactory amount of alkaloid, but practically yield scarcely
any Quinine Sulphate. From this circumstance and their bad appearance, they give little
hope of fitness for export. For local employment as a febrifuge they are quite suitable.
This opinion is of course based on the assumption that the specimens are fair samples of the
barks produced by the trees.’
“ I doubt,” continues Mr. Ribbentrop, “ very much whether ah extension of Cinchona
plantations in Burma well ever repay the unavoidably large outlay, labour (and that of a very
inferior kind) being so costly as compared with other parts of India; moreover it has been
necessary for the last two years to supply the coolies employed at Thandoungyee with their
staple food, rice, from Tounghoo, owing to the famine that has, within that period, existed in the
Karen country, and which still continues with no prospect of a speedy termination. This,
though not adding to the expense of the plantation, as the coolies repay all expenditure on
account of purchase and transport of rice or paddy, has greatly added to the work of the
divisional officer, and much difficulty has been experienced in procuring carriage, especially
during the rains. Taking this into consideration, but bearing at the same time in mind the
wishes of Government to train Karen lads in the planting and raising of Cinchona with a view
to introduce the plant amongst the Karens and other hill tribes, I have ordered for the present
year an extension of only 8 acres, which will suffice for the training of the lads, perhaps even
by more instruction, as Takai will have more of his time to give to their education. At the
same time a considerable quantity of seedlings will be reared for gratuitous distribution.
“ I annex a memorandum of expenditure during the past 4 years which has been wholly on
account of Thandoungyee, except Rs. 480 for the pay of one man at Phunado.”
1871- 72
1872- 73
1873- 74
1874- 75
Rs. 1,834
„ 2,041
„ 2,358
,, 5,158
In the Kha-
sia Hills.
In the North'
West Pro-
vinces.
In 1867 a Cinchona plantation was opened at Nunklow on the north-
west slope of the Khasia Hills. This was stocked with six hundred plants of
C. succirubra and fifty of C. micrantha from the Sikkim plantation. A supply
of seed of C. officinalis from the same source was furnished at a later date.
The plantation was begun by, and remained under the care of, Mr. A. Biermann
(one of the Rungbee staff) for three and a half years. Mr. Biermann put out
several patches on the slopes of the Kliasias at elevations varying from 4,585
feet above the sea down to the level of the plain of Assam. On the 1st
August 1869 there was in the various Khasia plantations a total stock (includ-
ing trees permanently planted, seedlings and nursery stock plants) of about
twenty-seven thousand Cinchonas, chiefly Red Barks. As the Sikkim planta-
tions were promising so well, it was not considered desirable to extend opera-
tions on the Kliasias. The European gardener was therefore withdrawn, and
the plantations put in charge of a small native establishment sufficient to keep
them fairly free from the heavier weeds. Mr. Biermann’s opinion was that suc-
cirubra promised well on these hills at suitable elevations. The trees grew
freely as low as 800 feet and as high as 4,800. At levels above 4,800 feet they
failed from excessive cold ; at lower levels, and especially on the plain of
Assam itself, they presented from the first a sickly appearance and rapidly died
out, thus confirming the conclusion arrived at in other places that Cinchona
will not answer on level ground.
Cinchona cultivation received a very patient trial for several years in the
North-West Provinces. The experiments were carried out by the staff of the
Botanical Garden at Seharunpore, and for some time were under the immediate
charge of a gardener who had been for several years employed in the Govern-
ment Cinchona plantation in Sikkim, and who was therefore familiar with all the
INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA.
25
practical details of propagation and cultivation as carried on there. Reviewing
the various experiments which had been made in these provinces, Dr. Jame-
son, Superintendent of the Seharunpore Garden, thus writes 1 : —
“ For several consecutive yeai’s Cinchona cultivation has been carried on in the Dun and
Kohistan of the North-West Provinces, or from altitudes of 2,500 feet above the level of the
sea up to 6,500 feet, and in all localities it has failed. It has been tried at Chandwallah and
other localities in the Dehra Dun at 2,500 ; at Chejuri in Garhwal at an altitude of 4,500 ;
at Mussooree, altitude 6,500 feet. In the Kumaon Babar, altitude 2,000; at Hawal Bagh in
Kumaon at an altitude of 4,500; at Ayar Toli and Raneekhet, altitude 6,000; and at Urkulli,
altitude 6,500 to 7,000 feet. In all these localities, barring the Babar of Kumaon, the
plants progressed during the hot weather and rains. In the cold weather it was deemed
necessary to protect them from the frost, and this was done for three years, and until many
of the plants had attained a height of from 4| to 6 feet. These, with many others, ranging
from 2^ to 3 feet, were then left uncovered during the cold weather, and the result was the
destruction of every plant in all the localities mentioned. At Raneekhet, plants of the Cin-
chona succirubra species from 4 to 5 feet in height were also cut down, even though partially
protected, in a similar manner to those in the Dehra Dun, &c. This, therefore, shews that
the plant is not at all fitted for the Dun or Kohistan of the North-West Provinces or Punjab.
To rear the plant, particularly the species Cinchona succirubra and Cinchona officinalis , there is
no difficulty, and at the present moment there are at Hawal Bagh upwards of seven hundred
plants, under glass, in a thriving condition. But these plants are of no practical use, as
during the extensive trials which they have received for several consecutive years all have been
destroyed by the frost during the cold season. To continue the growth of the plant as an ex-
periment, in view to the cultivation for economic purposes, would be a mistake, and the time,
therefore, has come to close the experiment which has been carried on with the utmost care,
labour, and attention, and to declare that the Duns and Kohistan of the North-Western pro-
vinces and Punjab are not fitted for the cultivation of Cinchona plants for commercial pur-
poses.”
Cinchona received an extended trial on the plantation of Colonel Nassau- in the
Lees- in the Kangra Valley. This gentleman threw much spirit into his efforts vaaiiegya
to introduce the plant. He provided himself from Java, Ceylon and the Nil-
giris with seeds or seedlings of all the leading species, and he imported from
Scotland a trained gardener to superintend the cultivation. He was also sup-
plied by Mr. Markham with seeds of C. Pitayensis ,2 a species which thrives at
high altitudes on the Andes, and which it was hoped would thrive in the com-
paratively severe winter climate of the Kangra Valley. Colonel Lees’ planta-
tion called New Quito is in latitude 30° 7' S" North and at an altitude of 4,500
feet above the sea. Experiments were made by others in the Kangra Valley,
and for some time the prospects of success appeared moderately hopeful.
Ultimately, however, the majority of the plants succumbed to frost, and the
final result is almost identical with that obtained in the North-West Provinces.
In the Bombay Presidency, the Maliableshwar hills were chosen as the in the
locality most suitable for Cinchona. A site was accordingly selected in 1 864 warm!?**'
at Lingmulla on the hanks of the Yenna stream. This spot is described as
having “ a northern aspect, protection from the prevailing winds, a good soil and
subsoil, and the least possible (for Maliableshwar) rainfall, viz., about 150
inches.” At the close of the year 1864 there were sixty young plants, and by
Eebruary 1866 they had been increased to two hundred and seventy by layering.
The plants did not thrive well, and in 1874 the Bombay Government asked
Mr. Mclvor, of the Nilgiri plantation, to visit and report on their condition.
At the date of Mr. Mclvor’ s visit there were in permanent plantation at
Maliableshwar the following trees 3
Cinchona succirubra ... ... ... 13,416
„ Condaminea ... ... 491
Total ... 13,907
Mr. Mclvor considered that, as regards soil, exposure and cultivation, the
Mahableshwar plants could not have been more favourably situated, hut in his
opinion the climate is unfavourable, presenting, as it does, such extremes of
drought and moisture, and he attributed the prevalence of disease among the
1 Memorandum on Cinchona Cultivation in the Bun and Kohistan of the North - West Provinces, dated 14th
August 1873.
2 Collected by Mr. Cross.
3 The above return does not include nursery stock.
G
26
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
In Ceylon.
In other
colonies.
trees to this cause. He recommended the immediate abandonment of the
plantation. The Government did not, however, at once act on his advice, but
decided to keep it on for another year in order to try whether a plan proposed
by Mr. Woodrow (the Superintendent of the Botanical Garden) would not
prove beneficial. Mr. Woodrow thought that a form of canker was the cause
of the unhealthiness of the trees and that by protecting the soil from sun
and rain by a covering of dead fern fronds, the roots of the trees could be
defended from the extremes of heat and cold and of moisture and drought,
and that thus an improvement might be effected. A year’s trial of this plan
shewed no good results, and the plantation, on which about Bs. 64,000 had
been spent, was finally abandoned.
In Ceylon the cultivation of Cinchona was begun in 1861, and so long
ago as 1861, Dr. Thwaites, F.B.S., the distinguished Director of the Botanical
Gardens at Peradenia and Hakgalla, was able to report that the “ plants ex-
hibited the most perfect health and vigour.” “ The site of the plantation at
Hakgalla,” writes Mr. Markham (who visited it in 1865), “ has been so admir-
ably selected and resembles so closely the native habitat of the Cinchona in
South America that the healthy growth of the plants there must have been
a certainty from the first.” The growth of the two species succirubra and
officinalis at Hakgalla has been excellent, and the ground under the trees by
the sides of the roads in the plantation and all waste spots near it are crowded
with spontaneous Cinchona seedlings — a circumstance which clearly proves
the thorough suitability of the spot to the requirements of Cinchona. From
this Hakgalla plantation hundreds of thousands of seedlings and many ounces
of seed have with the greatest liberality been given away to planters in the
colony, by whom Cinchona cultivation has been taken up as an adjunct to
coffee-planting. The recent progress has (as will be seen* from the following
extract from the Ceylon Directory for 1875) been most striking : — “ The Direc-
tor of the Boyal Botanical Garden in his report for 1873 mentioned that he had
applications during that year for over a million of Cinchona plants, 800,000 of
which he was able to supply. Previously, it is estimated, half a million of
plants were issued. During 1871 the Director reports that 826,000 additional
have been issued, and, counting the number of plants obtained from private
nurseries and estates, very nearly three millions will thus be made up.” I am
informed .by Mr. Fergusson, the Editor of the Ceylon Observer , and himself a
successful Cinchona planter, that during 1875 about a million and a half
plants, raised in Government and private nurseries, were planted out, and that
the acreage under Cinchona from 1872 to 1875 may be stated as follows : —
1372
M.
500
acres
1S73
... ...
... 1,500
1871
. . . , , ,
... 2,000
1875
...
... 3,000
»
Large extensions are now been carried on, and by the end of 1876 the same
authority estimates that the Cinchona trees in Ceylon will number nearly six
millions. The Ited Bark tree from its rapid growth and the prospect it gave of
yielding a quick return on capital was at first the favourite with planters. But
now that the merits of the Pale Barks are becoming better understood, C. offici-
nalis is also being largely planted. C. Calisaya has as yet made little way in
Ceylon. Ceylon-grown bark has been repeatedly analysed and shewn to be rich
in alkaloid. No attempt has been made, nor probably will any be made, to
extract the alkaloids locally ; repeated consignments of bark have, however,
been sent to England for sale and have brought good prices.1
The cultivation of Cinchona has been begun in Jamaica, and in others of
the West Indian British colonies, in the French colonies of Bourbon and
Beunion, in St. Helena, the Mauritius and elsewhere. In all these locali-
ties, succirubra is the species grown : it is, therefore, probable that the European
market will soon be flooded with supplies of Bed Bark, and it is not unlikely
that the price of that sort will fall correspondingly.
See Appendix G.
THE CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA TREE.
27
CHAPTER IY.
THE CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA TREE.
With regard to the climate suitable for Cinchonas, it may he laid down sui“bie for
as a universal rule that none of the medicinal species will stand frost. They prefer estivation,
rather a cool climate in which the contrast between summer and winter, and
between day and night temperatures, is not very great. These conditions are
in some measure obtained in the Nilgiris and in Sikkim. At Ootacamund,
about 7,500 feet above the sea, the minimum lowest temperature in the shade, ^fremera'
calculated on an average of three years, is about 49° and the maximum 69° Falir. ;
and at Neddiwattum, situated about 2,000 feet lower, the minimum, calculated
also over three years, is found to be about 54° Falir. and the maximum 66° Falir.
Full details will he found in the Appendix.1 Observations taken in 1866 and
1867 at an elevation of 3,332 feet in the Rungbee Valley, in Sikkim, shew a
minimum temperature of 40° and 41° Fa.hr., and a maximum of 88° Falir., the
mean minima for the two yearsbeing59‘20° and57'53°, the mean maxima 7l'7° and
72'28° Falir., and the mean temperatures 65-6° and 64‘ 89° respectively. Detailed
statements of observations for these years, made at five stations in the Eungbee
reserve, at different altitudes, are given in an Appendix.2 The latter figures
give an idea of a climate fairly suitable for succirubra, but rather cold for
Calisayci. A more congenial climate for both species is indicated by the
figures obtained at a lower station (elevation above the sea 2,556 feet)
which, for the years 1866 and 1867, are as follow : —
Minimum temperature ...
Maximum ,,
Mean minimum temperature
,, maximum ,,
,, temperature
40° and 41° Falir.
92° and 94°
59 3° and 60-94° „
80-6° and 81-59° „
70-1° and 71-26° „
In various parts of Ceylon a favourable climate for Cinchona is obtained,
as will be seen from the following extract from a most reliable local public-
ation 3 : —
“ In the Dimbula district, for example, there is a mean temperature of 65-8° Fahr. with
nothing colder in the shade in winter than 44-5° (12° above freezing point), and nothing hotter
in the shade in summer than 89°, both extremes being exceptional, and the latter helping to
produce a maximum temperature favourable to coffee cultivation, equally so to Tea and Cinchona
without being injurious to human health. Dismissing the rarely occurring extremes, we get a
mean maximum in the shade of 73-2° Fahr. against a mean minimum of 58-4° Fahr., result-
ing, as we have already noticed, in a mean shade temperature of 65"8C Fahr. But * * *
on a clear January morning, before thp sun has dawned, the exposed thermometer may indicate
a cold of 33° Fahr. or only one degx-ee above freezing point; while at noon-day in April (our
hottest month) the mercury may, under the full influence of the sun’s rays, rise to 136° Fahr.
But these, again, are the extremes on the grass and in the sun ; the mean maximum of the
exposed thermometer being only 103-5° Fahr. against a mean minimum of 54-1° Fahr.”
In the matter of moisture, the peculiarities of the Cinchonas were at first Rainfall,
rather misunderstood, their preference for incessant rain and mist having been
exaggerated. It is found, especially on the Nilgiris, that all the species, and
particularly the Red Barks, withstand long droughts. All the species assume a-
yellowish tint during the rains (indicating an excessive supply of moisture),
and (in the Nilgiris) all make their most vigorous growth during the seasons in
which sunshine and showers alternate. After a continuance of dull steamy
days all the species seem to become tender, and a sudden change to bright
sunny weather affects the plants in a most marked way, causing their leaves to
flag. In Sikkim, succirubra makes its most vigorous growth during the latter
half of the rains, but both on the Nilgiris and Himalayas the trees continue to
grow for two months after the rains cease.
Observations which have been made shew that (calculated on the returns
of five years) there are at Ootacamund no fewer than 218 dry days in the year,
and at Neddiwattum about 240 dry days. The rainfall of the former locality
(on an average of three years) is about 44 inches per annum, and that of
Neddiwattum 105 inches, The amount of moisture in the air is indicated
1 See Appendix H.
* See Appendix I.
3 See a pamphlet on the climate of Dimbula published at the Ceylon Observer office, Colombo, 1875.
28
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Wind and
hail.
Elevation
above the
sea.
Soil and
drainage.
by tlio returns for tbe year 1868-69, which are given as an Appendix 1 to
this report. The rainfall in Sikkim is much heavier than on the Nilgiris, hut is
much affected by locality. At Bungbee, altitude 5,000 feet, during 1872,
165 '55 inches of rain were registered, while at Bishap, 3,000 feet lower and
four miles distant, only 120’6 inches fell.2 The general features of the climate
have been thus described in one of my reports : —
“ The climate of the Rungbee Valley is peculiar. Being so completely shut in upon all sides,
it is protected in a striking degree from wind, and up to the higher limits of the Cinchona
belt, the air is rarely stirred by even the gentlest breeze — a state of things in striking contrast
to that obtaining in the Nilgiris, where in exposed places great and permanent injury is done
to the Cinchona plants by the high winds. At the lower levels frost is completely unknown,
and the climate is indeed sub-tropical, while on the higher southern and western slopes frost,
and even snow, are the order of the day during the cold season. Occasionally heavy hail-
storms pass over the valley, tearing to pieces the thin broad leaves of the Red Bark trees.
The mischief thus done is, however, rapidly recovered from. The rainfall is heavy, but not
equally so, in all parts of the valley. The warm vapour-laden air, passing up from the plains,
has its moisture condensed into clouds by the cool, high, forest-clad ridges that form the
northern and western boundary of the valley, and for a great part of the year the higher part
of these are enveloped in drizzling fog. Even at the driest season one is struck by the amount
of mist which, condensed at the higher elevations, almost every evening creeps well down their
slopes, while the whole of the opposite side and of the lower part of the valley continue quite
clear. During the monsoon the rainfall on these high southern ridges must be very great.
Some idea of its extent may be formed from the fact that at a bungalow standing in the south-
western corner of the valley, at an elevation of ouly 5,000 feet, and thus far below the crest,
the rainfall for the year averages about 200 inches. At lower levels in the valley the raiufall
is very much less, and no part of the Government Cinchona cultivation is exposed to such a
downpour. For example, at the Rishap plantation hut (2,000 feet above the sea), where a
rain-gauge has been kept for some years, the average is shewn to be about 120 inches, and as
the mouth of the valley and the Teesta are approached, the climate becomes very much drier.
The northern side of the valley being itself comparatively low and cleared of forest, and being
besides beyond the influence of the high ranges, shares in the drier climate.'’'’
Cinchona appears to find a congenial home in the uniformly moist climate
of Ceylon in the districts of Dikoya and Maskeliya ; for example, the rainfall
ranges, as far as the figures available enable us to judge, from 120 to 145 inches
for Dikoya, and from 130 to 150 inches for Maskeliya. This rainfall is well
distributed over the year.
In the adjoining district of Dimbula the annual rainfall is about 108 inches,
and the number of dry days in the year about 145. In all three the rain falls
uniformly and gently, violent storms being rare. The meteorological returns
in the Appendix 3 (for which I am indebted to Mr. Tergusson, Editor of the
Ceylon Observer ) will give a good idea of the climate.
The Nilgiri and many of the Ceylon plantations are much exposed to continu-
ous and high winds ; those of Sikkim are on the other hand but rarely subjected to
even a moderate breeze. Wind, when excessive and frequent, appears to do con-
siderable and permanent damage, especially to succirubra, the leaves of which
are large and tender. Hail, if heavy, strips a plantation of its leaves, but the
check to growth caused by this is but temporary, as new leaves speedily appear.
In standing the violence of storms, says Mr. Mclvor, “ the Crown Barks rank
first, the Bed second, the Grey third and the Yellow fourth.”
As regards elevation above the sea it is found that, in the Nilgiris, succiru-
bra succeeds best at altitudes of from 4,500 to 6,000 feet. An elevation of
7,000 feet is found to be too high, the growth being too slow to be profitable.
Pale or Crown Barks thrive in a zone above this, and seem to succeed well even
up to 8,500 feet. Calisctya on the Nilgiris has not been a success at any ele-
vation, but it does rather better, as also do the Grey Barks, within the succirubra
zone than at higher elevations. In Sikkim, 16 degrees further north, experience
has shewn that succirubra and the Grey Barks thrive well from 1,500 to 3,500 feet,
and can be got to grow both as low as 800 feet and as high as 5,000 feet ; Calisaya
thrives between 1,500 and 3,000 feet ; officinalis does not thrive at any elevation.
All the species are most impatient of stagnant moisture at their roots, and
therefore require an open sub-soil, a sloping exposure and the other conditions
of perfect drainage. They cannot be got to grow on flat land. Like most
other plants, they prefer a rich soil, and for this reason they do better in
newly-cleared forest than in grass lands of the sort so extensive in the Nilgiris.
1 See Appendix H.
See Appendix J.
3 See Appendix K.
THE CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA TEEE.
29
The Crown or Pale Barks, however, are more tolerant than the others of a
soil poor in vegetable humus, and grow fairly well on grass land as well as
on “ laterite soils.” The freer and more friable the surface soil the better, hut
an open well-drained sub-soil is above all things indispensable to their successful
growth. As soon as the roots of a Cinchona tree get down into sub-soil in
which there is any tendency for moisture to collect, the plant most certainly
begins to sicken and die. The basis of the soil of the Nilgiris is decomposed
gneiss ; in Sikkim it is composed both of gneiss and of decaying mica schist.
In Sikkim and also in the Nilgiris and elsewhere in India where Cinchona Disease,
has been introduced, the plants are subject to two forms of disease. Both
diseases were common on the older parts of the Sikkim plantations, and
attracted some attention during the meeting of the Cinchona Commission there
in 1871. Mr. Mclvor apparently considers them more serious than they have
turned out to be. They are thus described in my report on the Sikkim planta-
tion for 1871-72 : —
“ After very careful examination it appears plain to me that two distinct forms of disease
occur in the Sikkim plantations, — the one, a constitutional malady affecting the whole plant
and usually fatal; the other, local and by no means fatal. The former disease is confined en-
tirely to trees which have been originally planted in damp situations, or in situations which
have become damp subsequently by the oozing of drainage water. Disease first attacks the
roots of such trees. Its existence becomes apparent by the discolouration of their leaves,
which ultimately all fall off. Gradual shrivelling of the cortical and woody tissues then takes
place from the root upwards, and before this process has gone far the death of the plant has
begun. This disease is in fact apparently nearly identical with that known to gardeners in
England as ‘ canker; } it is not in any way infectious or contagious, as some appear to think.
It depends entirely on a local cause — namely, excess of moisture in the soil ; and where that
does not exist, it cannot occur. In the Cinchona planted on the western end of the Rungbee
valley, patches of trees killed by this disease are not uncommon. Such patches are invariably
co-extensive with damp, watery soil.
“The second form of disease does not affect the entire constitution of the plant, but
manifests itself in patches on the stem and branches. The appearance of one of these patches
is as if some escharotic had been dropped on the bark, which is of a dark, unnatural colour,
shrivelled, dry, and brittle ; occasionally these appearances extend to the wood, but as a rule
they do not. In size the patches vary ; many are about the size of a shilling, others are
much larger. They are not numerous on one tree, and are often confined to a single branch.
When small, no apparent affection of the general health of the plant occurs, and growth goes
on unchecked. Where, however, a large patch occurs on a small tree, involving the bark
pretty nearly all round the stem, death results. Death from this disease is, however, as far
as my observations go, not common ; and it is a well-established fact that a tree which has
been extensively affected will often, when cut down, throw up from its stump perfectly healthy
shoots ; while in hundreds of trees at Rungbee I have seen illustrations of recovery, the little
patches of diseased bark being thrown off and replaced by perfectly healthy tissue, and the
plant apparently as robust as if it never had been attacked. I had not sufficient leisure last
year during the season at which this affection is most prevalent — namely, the rains — to make
successive observations on the state of the diseased tissues, and I am prepared with no theories
about its cause ; I hope, however, to find out something during the approaching rains. This
disease is not confined like the last to certain localities, but is found on plants in all parts of the
plantation. I do not think it is to be feared much, and I certainly do not concur in Mr.
Mclvoffs views concerning its dangerous nature. In my opinion it must be accepted as one of
the drawbacks attending the Ciuchona experiment.”
It is quite possible that, as some observers are inclined to think, both
these diseases may be essentially one in nature, the second being a mild form
of the first and caused by some of the roots getting into uncongenial sour soil
and so becoming diseased. On this view recovery would be accounted for by
the gradual penetration of the roots into more suitable soil.
Cinchona seeds ripen during the dry season that follows the rains.1 Mode of
They should be carefully gathered just as the seed vessels bSgin spontaneously seed.ctmgr
to burst. After being gathered the latter should be laid out in shallow boxes
to dry until the seeds fall out of their own accord. Exposure to strong sun-
light is unnecessary, and the seeds probably dry best if laid during the day in
a place exposed to a current of air. At night they should be put under shelter
for protection from rain and dew. The seeds of all the species are oblong,
flattened and very light. Mr. Mclvor calculates that “ an ouuce of clean seeds
produces on an average from 20,000 to 25,000 plants.” These seeds do not
retain their vitality long and should be sown as soon as possible after collection.
1 In Sikkim, succirubra seed begins to ripen about tbe end of the rainy season ; Calisaya seed does not ripen uutil
about January.
H
so
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Sowing
seed.
Treatment
of seed-beds
and
seedlings.
For transport to a distance they travel best if packed in porous cloth and
sent by post. Wax cloth makes a bad covering, as it prevents ventilation.
“ Cinchona seeds,” says Mr. Mclvor, “ germinate best at a temperature vary-
ing from 65° to 70° Fahr.; they will also germinate, though slowly, at a tem-
perature of 55° Fahr. and will sustain a temperature of 80°Fahr.” During the
cold season seeds should therefore be sown under glass, but during the hot
weather and rains they should be sown in open beds which are sheltered merely
by thatched roofs. In either case the seeds must be sown in fine, rich,
thoroughly-decayed vegetable mould, either pure or mixed with an equal volume
of clean sharp sand which does not feel clayey or sticky when a little of
it is taken up and compressed between the fingers. Mould can usually
be easily collected in the forest and is specially abundant at the base of old
clumps of bamboo. After being sifted, the soil so collected should then be
spread in layers about two or three inches in depth and five feet wide, on
beds of ground which have been previously well cleared. These beds may be
of any length that is convenient. They should run east and west and should
have their open side directed towards the north. They should slope to one side
so that no water whatever may lodge in them at any season, and should
be protected from rain and sunshine and from all drip by a single sloping
thatch,1 the slope of which should be in the same direction as, though of course
much greater than, the slope of the bed. It is convenient to have a path in
front of each bed. The drainage of each bed should be distinct from that of its
neighbour. In most places where Cinchona is likely to be grown, perfect
drainage can always be secured by making the beds on terraces on a hill-side.
Before sowing the seeds, the soil of the seed-bed should be brought to a uni-
form degree of firmness by working it through and gently pressing it down
with the expanded fingers. If this be not attended to, but on the contrary the
soil be left loose in one part and compressed in another, water will penetrate
unequally, and unevenness of surface will ultimately result. The surface should
from the first be smooth and even, but not hard and compressed. The seed
should then be scattered pretty thickly on its surface, and afterwards a very
little fine earth or sand may be sprinkled above it.2 It is not desired to cover the
seeds, but merely to steady them by a little earth above them here and there, and
to get them into proper contact with the soil. It is a very good plan after
sowing the seed to press the surface of the bed very gently with the expanded
palms or with a smooth board. Water should be given in the early part of the
day rather than in the evening. Watering must be done judiciously, and any-
thing like deluging must be carefully avoided ; at the same time a uniform
state of moisture should be maintained. This is best managed by using a very
finely bored garden syringe and forcing the stream of water through it at some
distance from the bed to be operated on, so that the moisture may fall on the
soil in the form of fine spray. Very cold water should be avoided; it may
therefore often be necessary to allow water to stand for some time in a warm
sunny place before using it, so as to bring it as near to the temperature of the
air as possible. The seeds will germinate in from two to six weeks, according
to temperature. Besides the morning watering, it may he necessary to water
the seedlings slightly once or even twice during the day, but watering late in
the evening should be avoided. From the time the seed is sown, it will some-
times be necessary to give the beds a more complete protection from wind, rain
or sunshine than is afforded by the thatch above described. When this is
necessary, it can be easily done by putting up mats at the exposed parts of the
bed. If seeds are sown under glass, they should be well shaded, and especial
care should be taken in watering seedlings under glass to allow the leaves to
become quite dry before shutting the frames. Young seedlings are especially
1 It is not convenient to have the thatch too low. If it he made five feet above the soil at the front or higher
and two feet at the hack or lower side, coolies can easily work under it, and plenty of light and air are besides ad-
mitted. During the rains it is especially necessary to admit a free current of air.
s In his notes on the propagation of Cinchonas (Gantz Brothers, Madras, 1867) Mr. Mclvor recommends that, if
the seeds be fresh, they should be steeped in cold water for twelve hours before being sown, but if the seeds have come from
a great distance or have been kept for some time, six hours steeping will, he considers, be suflicient. “ The most con-
venient way,” writes Mr, Mclvor, “to steep the seeds is to place them loosely in a bag and immerse the same in water.
When the seeds have been soaked the prescribed time, take the bag out and drain off the water ; the seeds will be found
to have swollen considerably, and in order to separate them, mix them with about twice their bulk of dry sand. In this
way the moisture around the seeds is absorbed, and on being stirred gently the seeds separate from each other freely
and intermix with the sand. In this condition they are sown on the surface of the soil, and lightly covered over with a
mere sprinkling of dry sand.”
THE CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA TREE.
31
liable to damp off, and every precaution should be taken to prevent this accident.
In Sikkim, more particularly in very damp weather, the seed-beds are occa-
sionally infested by the mycelium of a fungus, the minute threads of which
ramify in the soil and kill many of the tender seedlings. Gentle stirring of the
soil is found to be of some use in checking the ravages of this pest.
The next operation is to prick the young seedlings out into nursery beds. Pricking out.
This first transplantation should be done when the plants have got two, or
even three, pairs of leaves. The best way to remove them is to insert a small
flat-pointed stick into the soil under the plants and then to press the point of
the stick gently upwards, so stirring and loosening the soil as to allow the
plants to be easily removed from it without breaking their tender rootlets. It
is a good plan to begin this operation at one end or side of a seed-bed and to
work across it in one direction until all the plants with two or three pairs of
leaves are taken out. Probably a few days later some seeds hitherto dormant will
have germinated ; these can then be removed in their turn. The seedlings taken
out should be transplanted into nursery beds formed in every respect like the
seed-beds, but with a thicker layer of vegetable soil. They should be pricked
out in lines at distances of a little less than 1^ inches with a space between
the lines of about 2 inches. A bed, 5 feet wide, will thus give transverse lines
holding about 50 plants each. The holes for the roots of the seedlings are
readily made with a blunt-pointed stick. In this, as in subsequent transplan-
tations, care should be taken not to double up the roots, but to make the holes
deep enough to receive them stretched out to their full length. The roots of
the seedling being put into the hole, the earth should be filled in, and care
should be taken to press down the earth and so fill the hole thoroughly to the
very bottom. A careless planter will often press the soil firmly into the upper
part of the hole, leaving the bottom of the latter imperfectly filled with soil.
It is often of advantage to prick the seedlings out into shallow boxes instead of
the open ground. They are thus under command and can be put under glass
frames if necessary to establish them. After having been pricked out the plants
should remain untouched until they are about 4 inches high, when a second trans-
plantation will be necessary. On this second occasion they should be planted
out in the same manner as before, only at distances of about 4 by 4 inches each
way. When from 8 to 12 inches in height, the seedlings are ready for trans-
planting into the situations they are permanently to oecupy. If left too long
in nursery beds, they are liable to become unhealthy. On the other hand, it is
a mistake to put out too small plants. To harden them for the final trans-
plantation, the thatch by which the seedlings have hitherto been protected
should be removed, and they should be exposed freely to the weather for at least
a fortnight prior to removal, but dull cloudy weather must be chosen (for the
beginning at least of this hardening process), for sudden exposure to a bright
sun would be disastrous. Prom the sowing of the seed until this final trans-
plantation, probably eight to twelve months must elapse, and during this time
judicious watering is necessary whenever the soil is dry, care, however, being
taken not to overdo it.
Cinchona succirubra is propagated from cuttings with great readiness, and Propagation
this method is probably easier and, to the unexperienced cultivator, safer than by cuttmes
propagation by seedlings. The best wood to choose for cuttings is the thin, but
not too succulent, wood of the current year’s growth, that yielded by young
shoots springing from the lower part of the stem being preferable to the branches
of the tree. The cuttings should be cut just below the joint, or point where
a pair of leaves (Cinchona leaves always are in pairs) originates. The larger
leaves should be removed all except their bases, but the younger unexpanded
leaves, if any, should be allowed to remain. Cuttings of this species answer
very well if put out in thatched beds of the sort already described for seedlings.
They may be also tried in shallow boxes about two inches deep, filled with
a layer of fine vegetable mould mixed with sand. A layer of pure sand above
the mould is of great use, as it promotes drainage, and cuttings are very apt to
rot off at the level of the soil if it is not thoroughly drained. Red Bark cuttings
form roots in from two to four months according to season and temperature. Tor
out-door cuttings, the months from April to August are found in Sikkim
to be the most favourable. In drier localities, April will probably be found
32
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
too early ; but tlie most suitable season must be determined for every locality
by experience.
propagation In his admirable treatise on the principles and practice of horticulture,1 2 a
fromustocls book deserving of careful study by all interested in the growing of plants, Dr.
Lindley makes the following remarks which are particularly appropriate to the
artificial propagation of Cinchona Calisaya : “ It is known,” says Dr. Lindley,
“ that plants possess some quality analogous to animal irritability, to which, for
want of a better, the name of excitability has been given. In proportion to
the amount of excitability in a given plant is the power which its cuttings
possess of striking. The great promoter of vegetable excitability is heat.
Therefore the more heat a given plant has been exposed to, within certain
limits, the more readily its cuttings strike root. This explains what seems to
have puzzled Mr. Newman.* ‘The young wood,’ he says, ‘of trees growing in
the open air will not do for cuttings : and yet if those same trees are forced in
a hot-house, their cuttings are almost sure to succeed.’ ” This is the case with
Cinchona Calisaya, in Sikkim at least. When, therefore, it is necessary to resort
to artificial methods (as is the case with Calisaya ) of propagation, the first step
is to establish stock plants from which to take cuttings. This is easily done
by making layers in the usual way. The operation of layering consists in
bending the branch of a tree into the soil and half cutting it through at the
bend, the object being to cause the upper part of the branch thus partially
separated to form roots on the cut surface. The cut part is then put into the
soil and, if necessary, pegged down, a quantity of sand being put round the
wound so as to ensure good drainage. It is often found useful to bend the shoot
well back before putting the wound in the ground, so as, in a measure, to obstruct
the channels by which the sap passes, and thus, by impeding the return of sap
from the layer into the main stem, to secure it for the layer itself. As the
wood of Calisaya is rather brittle, bending, if practised at all, must be done care-
fully. If the branches of a Cinchona tree, as is usually the case, cannot be
conveniently bent down to the natural soil, soil must be elevated to them.
This is easily done by filling boxes with well-selected earth and raising them
on posts. In the course of three or four months Calisaya layers are found to
root. While rooting they must be carefully watered : the beginning of the
rainy season is therefore the best suited for layering. When well rooted, the
layers should be transplanted into glazed frames (made like ordinary cucumber
frames), and planted in good soil at distances of about six inches apart.
These are called stock plants, and about every month, or every second month
according to circumstances, they will yield a crop of cuttings. Each of the
cuttings so yielded will of course consist of soft young wood. In taking the
cuttings from the stock plants entire shoots should not be removed, but a bud
or two should always be left on the part of the shoot remaining on the stock plant
to provide new shoots. The cuttings themselves should be about three to four
inches long. The fully-developed leaves on the cuttings should be cut so as to
leave only their lower halves on the cuttings, but all young leaves should be
allowed to remain entire. The cuttings should be put into shallow boxes of
the sort already described. The soil in these boxes should consist of fine, perfect-
ly-decayed, vegetable mould, mixed with from one-half to one-third its volume
of sand, and on the top of the soil should be spread a layer, about two-thirds
of an inch deep, of pure sand to promote drainage. It is preferable to put the
cuttings into boxes, as described, than to put them into open soil under frames ;
for when the cuttings are rooted, the boxes can be removed, so as to harden the
cuttings gradually without disturbing their delicate roots.
“ What is demanded,” says Dr. Lindley in the work 3 already quoted, “ when
cuttings of plants are to be struck is a due adjustment of heat, light, and
moisture. The first stimulates the vital processes, the second causes the forma-
tion of matter out of which roots and leaves are organised, the third is at once
the vehicle for the food required by the cutting and a part of it. The difficulty
is to know how to adjust these agents. If the heat is too high, organs are formed
1 The Theory and 'practice of Horticulture, by John Lindley, F.R.S., &c., &c. Longmans & Co., London, 1875.
2 The author of an excellent treatise on the propagation of plants.
? Theory and Practice of Horticulture, page 289.
THE CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA THEE.
33
faster than they can he solidified ; if too low, decay comes on before the
reproductive forces can be put in action. When light is too powerful, the fluid
contents of the cutting are lost faster than they can be supplied ; when too
feeble there is not a sufficiently quick formation of organisable matter to
construct the new roots and leaves with. If water is deficient the cutting is
starved ; if overabundant, it rots.” Bearing these principles in mind, therefore,
care should be taken to provide mats to lay on the glazed frames, so as to shade
them when the sun’s rays are too powerful ; an equable moist atmosphere should
be kept up inside the frame ; ventilation should be provided for by opening the
frames for half-an-hour or an hour early in the morning, and by keeping them
at other times slightly ajar by means of a small stone or stick ; and above all,
watering should be very carefully done by means of a finely-drilled syringe.
Deluging should always be avoided, and the leaves should never be allowed to
be wet in the evening or at night. Good cuttings will root during warm
weather in from three to four weeks ; in the cold season, however, sometimes as
long as four or five months elapse before good roots are formed. Propagation
in frames or houses furnished with bottom heat need not be described here, as
in a favourable climate for Cinchona cultivation cuttings can be made to root as
above described. When thoroughly rooted, the cuttings should be transplanted
into thatched beds, like seedlings at their second transplantation. Their further
treatment should be precisely that of seedlings.
Propagation by buds was practised both on the Nilgiris and Sikkim in the Propagation
early days of the Cinchona enterprise. It is now no longer necessary to resort by budh'
to this method.
In preparing ground for permanent plantation, the first thing is, of course, to preparing
select the place ; this should be done with due care and after full consideration |e?m“nlnt
has been given to the points imperfectly discussed above. The selected spot must plantatl0n'
then be cleared of its natural vegetation.1 The best time for beginning to do this
is obviously when the dry season has sufficiently advanced to make a second
growth of grass improbable. When the felled forest, whether grass or timber,
is sufficiently dry, it may be fired. Stumps and logs remaining unburnt after
the fire may be rolled into spots unsuitable for planting, or heaped together
and burnt. A better way is to lay them between the lines of plants, and
allow them to rot and thus to profit by the humus formed by their decay.
The large fibrous roots of tall grasses and other weeds likely to over- Lining out.
power the young trees about to be planted, should be dug out and killed either
by exposure or burning. The land being thus cleared, any necessary roads
may be lined off and made. The sites in which the plants are to be put must
then be marked off. This may conveniently be done by means of a cord,
about 100 feet long, on which marks are tied at the intervals at which
it is wished to plant the trees. This cord is stretched on the ground, and
opposite each of the marks on it a piece of split bamboo is struck into the soil.
The cord is then moved, another line is staked off at a proper distance from
the last, and so on. Coolies follow, whose duty it is to dig pits, about a foot to Digging pits.
fifteen inches in depth and eighteen inches wide, of which the stakes already put
in should be the centres. The earth (freed from roots and stones) which has
been taken out of each hole should be returned to it, so as to form a free mass
in which the roots of the plant about to be placed can freely work. A coolie
in Sikkim makes from 100 to 130 of such pits per day according to the nature
of the ground. Plants hardened as described are then brought from the
nursery lines in shallow boxes, care being taken to bring some earth with their
roots and not to expose them to the air longer than is absolutely necessary.
The nursery beds should be well deluged with water the night before the
plants are removed, so that the soil may adhere to their roots. A set of coolies
should be told off to plant these in the pits just mentioned. This is readily Planting
done by scraping a hole with the hands, or with a native trowel. The usual
precautions should be taken to make this hole deep enough to receive the
roots of the plant without doubling, and to press the soil well down as it is thrown
in to cover the roots. One man can easily supply two planters with plants ; he
should walk between two rows of holes and hand to each planter (from a box
1 In windy, exposed places, belts of forest may be left on tbe ridges to give shelter.
I
34
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Planting
distance.
Shading.
Staking.
Tillage.
carried in front of himself) a plant as he requires it. If the plants be taken
out of the box in which they have been brought from the nursery, and laid on
the ground beside the holes to he planted as the planters work up to them
(a cheaper plan than that above recommended), the halls of earth round their
roots are almost sure to he broken. Planting is too important an operation to he
done badly ; it is not wise to try to economise on it, and it is probably always
unadvisable to do it by contract. A good planter should be able to put in
from five hundred* to a thousand plants per day, according to the nature of the
ground. Nothing need be said of deep hoeing or trenching the soil preparatory
to planting, as these operations are too costly for Cinchona, and, besides, are in-
admissible in steep ground on account of the wash that follows excessive
loosening of the soil. In the earlier days of the Nilgiri plantations the soil was
trenched prior to being planted. In his little book on Cinchona cultivation,
already quoted, Mr. Mclvor recommends trenching, or, where that is considered
too expensive, the digging of pits for the plants, each pit to be two feet square
and two feet deep. Planting should he done when the soil is moist and when
the weather is cloudy or even wet, but heavy rain is not favourable.
In the early Nilgiri planting, the trees were put out at distances of twelve
feet apart, subsequently at distances of eight feet, and latterly at six by six feet.
In Sikkim, the earlier planting stands six by six feet, but for the past four years
a distance of four by four feet has been adopted. The Bed Bark, even in South
America, is never a large tree ; Cinchona officinalis is but a big shrub ; and it is
doubtful whether, in India, Calisaya will ever attain any very great size. Wide
planting is therefore obviously an error. All the Cinchonas, moreover, have the
habit of throwing out a quantity of superficial rootlets, and young Cinchona
plantations do not thrive until the soil between the trees is sufficiently pro-
tected from the sun to allow these superficial rootlets to perform their func-
tions freely. The growth of weeds, as has just been stated, is also checked by
shade. By close planting, therefore, two desirable objects are speedily obtained,
and, moreover, the trees are encouraged to produce straight clean stems.1 As
the trees begin to press on each other they can be thinned out, and a quantity of
bark may thus be got at a comparatively early period with positive advantage
to the plants that are allowed to remain on the ground. It is true that the
initial cost of close planting is greater than of sparse planting : on the other
hand, the cost of keeping clean, especially during the first three years, is less.
In Sikkim, no shading or protection is necessary for newly-planted Cin-
chonas. In other localities, protection from the sun may, however, be required.
This can readily be afforded by erecting on the sunny side of each plant a rough
framework of bamboo on Avliich grass or ferns can be tied, by sticking leafy
branches into the ground, and so on. The best and cheapest mode for any par-
ticular locality must of course be dependent on local conditions.
In windy localities it may be necessary, when the plants attain the height
of a few feet, to give them support by stakes. The great danger to be avoided
in staked plants is the chafing caused by the swaying of the plant. Means
must therefore be taken to prevent this by using a soft material for tying and
so forth. A mode of support, suggested by Mr. Mclvor, is to run rows of stakes
between the rows of trees, and along the stakes to tie a continuous grass rope at
a sufficient height from the ground to be clear of the stems and on a level with
the leafy heads of the trees. The trees stand in this way free from the rope, but
receive support from it when they are much bent by the wind. Staking in any
form is expensive, and it is a question whether it is worth while to plant Cin-
chonas in situations where it is likely to be necessary.
As soon as the weeds in the newly-planted land threaten to choke the
young plants, they must be cut and a similar cleaning must be repeated when-
ever necessary. No special rule can be laid down as to the number of clean-
ings to be given in a season, but for the first three years it is probable that two
or three will be necessary, after which once a year will be enough ; and finally
weeding will not be wanted at all. If laid in lines between the rows of plants,
the cut weeds rot and form manure. It is hopeless to think of entirely freeing
the ground from weeds and of keeping a Cinchona plantation as clean as a
1 On this well-known habit is founded the practice of close planting in forest plantations in Europe, the object
being to produce long, straight, uubranehiug stems from which to cut timber of long scantling.
THE CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA TREE.
35
flower garden, and it is quite unnecessary to do so. Myriads of annuals, notably
the White Weed ( Ageratum ), grasses, sedges, &c., spring up, but, if kept
under by cutting, these do but little harm. All large perennial grasses
and other deep-rooting weeds which have survived the first cleaning of
the ground, should be taken out as soon as they shew signs of growth. Some
of the species of grass resembling the Couch Grass of England are especially
noxious, and where they remain in the ground, Cinchona will not grow. In
cutting weeds of any kind, the coolies ought to be taught to cut quite close to
the ground. Where the majority of the weeds are annuals and the soil is soft
and friable, it may be advisable occasionally to substitute hand-weeding for
cutting. The disturbance of the surface of the soil caused in pulling the
weeds up by the roots, affords a rough kind of cultivation which is advan-
tageous : moreover, the superficial roots of the Cinchonas are less damaged than
by hoeing. It need scarcely be stated that, in proportion as the Cinchona trees
grow and their leafy heads cover the ground, the undergrowth of weeds becomes
less luxuriant. A slight superficial hoeing of the soil immediately round the
plants should, however, be given once a year, if possible. The space thus
cleared need not exceed one and a half to two feet in diameter, having the tree
stem as its centre. To young plants especially, this is very beneficial, and it is
found that even the oldest trees in the Sikkim plantation are much benefited
by the operation. The first year after planting, a general digging or hoeing
should be given during the cold season to eradicate the weeds that may have
escaped the first cleaning; during the second year only a light lioeing will be
necessary. In all cultural operations it ought to be borne in mind that the
roots of Cinchonas are comparatively superficial, and that any very deep hoeing
is therefore more likely to do harm than good.
Like many other trees, Cinchonas, especially when close-planted, have a Pruning,
strong tendency to throw off their lower branches as they increase in height.
Artificial removal of such branches as would in time naturally drop off may be
resorted to in places where the young trees stand so close that the circulation
of air is seriously impeded. When it becomes necessary to thin a plantation,
double stems may be reduced to one, and any large branches that may project
so as to injure a neighbouring tree may be cut away, but any extensive pruning
of the trees that are to be allowed to stand is to be avoided. It should not be
forgotten that the leaves are the chief means by which a tree grows and that
an increased yield of bark is not likely to follow a too free removal of these.
The Nilgiri trials of manure went to shew that its application does not Manuring,
stimulate the growth of Cinchona trees. The limited Sikkim experience on
the contrary indicates that Cinchona, like most other plants, is benefited by
manure. It would, however, be premature to form as yet any decided opinion
as to the extent to which the application of manure will be profitable.
The effect of manure on improving the quality of the bark will be con-
sidered in the next chapter.
36
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Belative
values of
the Cincho-
na barks.
Bed Bark
chiefly a
druggist’s
bark.
The alkal-
oids other
than Qui-
nine.
Madras
Commission
to report on
CHAPTER Y.
CHEMISTRY OE THE BARK CROP.
We have now traced to the present time the history of the introduction of
medicinal Cinchonas into India and the establishment of plantations of them in
this country, and have given some account of the best modes of propagating
and cultivating them, but hitherto little allusion has been made to anything con-
cerning the bark — the crop for the sake of which these trees are grown — nor to
the modes of harvesting this crop, of improving its constitution, and of extracting
the alkaloids which give it its medicinal value.1 As has been already explained,
the medicinal alkaloids contained in bark are Quinine, Cinchonidine, Quinidine
and Cinchonine. A fifth called Aricine is occasionally found, but has never been
used in medicine. M. Hesse has also recently announced the existence of an-
other alkaloid occurring only in the succirubra barks grown in Sikkim. This base
has received the name of Quinamine. As everybody knows, it is the first of
these which has hitherto formed the specific for malarious fever. Bark for the
manufacture of this alkaloid consequently brings a price in direct proportion to
the amount of Quinine contained in it. The barks of Calisaya, officinalis , and
JPitayensis contain the largest proportions of Quinine and are consequently the
most valuable to a Quinine-maker, who in buying a bark takes account only of
the Quinine in it, and allows little or nothing for the other alkaloids. Cinchona
barks, however, have long had a recognised value otherwise than as sources of
Quinine. They have long been regarded as most valuable tonics, and as such are
used for making various pharmaceutical preparations, decoctions, tinctures, &c.
Eor the manufacture of such preparations, Red Bark, as being the richest of all
in its yield of total alkaloids, has always been much esteemed, and of late years
(since it began to get scarce) has brought a price as high or even higher than
that got for the barks richer in Quinine. The demand, however, for such tonic
pharmaceutical preparations being but limited, from the fact that they are chiefly
used in Europe, there is no probability that Red Bark will retain its high price
in the face of a largely augmented supply. On the other hand, the demand for
Quinine is daily increasing, and there is little fear of an increased supply of barks
rich in Quinine causing a fall from the present prices of such. It had for many
years been suspected that the other alkaloids in which Red Bark is so rich are
nearly, if not quite, as efficacious febrifuges as Quinine. The settlement of this
point naturally demanded attention at an early stage of the Cinchona experiment.
In order to settle it by actual trial, a Commission of sixteen medical officers of
the Madras Presidency was appointed in 1866 under the presidency of Dr. Shaw,
Inspector-General of Hospitals. This Committee was, by order of Her Majesty’s
Secretary of State for India, supplied from the manufactory of Messrs. Howard
and Sons with a quantity of chemically pure sulphate of each of the three al-
kaloids Quinidine, Cinchonidine, and. Cinchonine. Extended trials were made
with these in the most malarious districts of the Presidency, and the finding of
the Committee in their preliminary report, dated 28tli February 1867, 2 3 was —
“ That in recent cases of uncomplicated paroxysmal fever the new alkaloids appeared to most
of the medical officers using them and to most of the members of the Commission to he quite as
efficacious in the curing of fevers as Quinine. * * * qqie evidence, so far as it has
come before the Commission, does not go to shew the superiority of one alkaloid over another.
* * The main conclusion which the members of the Commission have derived from
the data before them is that the alkaloids, hitherto hut little valued in medicine, are scarcely, if
at all, inferior as therapeutical agents to Quinine.”
1 From the time when the first Nilgiri trees had become large enough to yield bark fit for analysis and up to the
present date, Mr. Howard, the eminent Quinologist, has favoured Government with his advice and assistance in the conduct
of the Cinchona experiment. He has in particular made repeated analyses of the various harks. So long ago as 1863,
he reported on a specimen hark from a two-year old succirubra tree, informing Government that he found in it the same
constituents as in Red Bark from South America. In successive years he furnished analyses proving that, as the trees got
older, their hark became richer in alkaloid, until they ultimately reached a degree of richness to which American barks
rarely attain, and that the barks renewed under moss were the best of their sort that had ever been analysed. Thus
Government nt every step were assured of the success of their enterprise. Mr. Howard’s exertions did not cease with
the appointment of a resident Quinologist for the Nilgiri plantations; on the contrary, they are continued to the present
time.
3 Parliamentary Returns on East India Cinchona Cultivation, printed 9th August 1870, p. 103 et seq.
CHEMISTRY OP THE BARK CROP.
37
The numerical results on which the Commission founded their conclusions are
as follows : —
No. of Cases.
Cured.
Failed.
Treated by Cinchonine . .
. . . 410
400
10
„ Cinchonidine . .
346
13
„ Quinidine . . .
. . . 376
365
11
During the succeeding year, the Commission, altered in constitution by the
accession of two new members, continued their investigations. Their operations
differed, however, from those of the previous year, by the inclusion of chemically
pure Sulphate of Quinine amongst the alkaloids tested. The other alkaloids
were thus in this second experiment more effectually pitted against Quinine.
The total number of fever cases treated by the four alkaloids was 1 2,472. Of
these 2,445 were cures and 27 were failures. The ratio of failure per 1,000
cases treated was found to be as follows : —
Ratio of failures per
1,000 cases treated.
Chemically pure Sulphate of Quinine 7'092
„ „ „ Quinidine 6'024
„ „ „ Cinchonidine 9925
„ „ „ Cinchonine 23255
This result would show that Quinidine is rather more effectual than Quinine, and
that Cinchonine is less effectual than the other three alkaloids. The conclusion
expressed by the Commission is as follows : —
“ In regard to the relative effects of the three new alkaloids, and with them chemically pure
Sulphate of Quinine, the evidence derived from their use shows that, with the exception of sul-
phate of Ciuchonine, as already stated, they, in a remarkable degree, so closely resemble each
other in therapeutical and physiological action as to render distinctive description of little or no
practical utility. In a large proportion of cases in which they were tried chemically pure, Sulphate
of Quinine and Sulphates of Quinidine and Cinchonidine appeared to indicate nearly equal febri-
fuge power, and in equal circumstances their use produced almost the same physiological results.
* * * result confirms the general opinion expressed by the Commission last year
and likewise conclusively established beyond doubt that ordinary Sulphate of Quinine, chemically
pure Sulphate of Quinine and Sulphate of Quinidine possess equal febrifuge power : that Sulphate
of Cinchonidiue is only slightly less efficacious, and that Sulphate of Cinchonine, though consi-
derably inferior to the other alkaloids, is notwithstanding a valuable remedial agent in fever.”
Similar commissions of medical officers of the Bengal and Bombay Presi- The Bombay
dencies reported substantially to the same effect. The following extract2 commissions
contains the opinion of one of the leading physicians in Bengal on the re- favourably,
spective merits of the alkaloids : —
“ Since our report we have received from Dr. Ewart, of the Calcutta Medical College, an
account of some experiments with the alkaloids carried out during the month of October 1866.
The period was limited and the cases not numerous, but their character was strongly marked in
every instance, and the result of treatment well pronounced. Dr. Ewart states his opinion in
the following general conclusions which are fully sustained by the facts he adduces : —
“ ‘ Sulphate of Quinidine is an excellent antiperiodic in doses of 5 to 20 grains. It
is probably not inferior to Quinine, and is easily tolerated by the stomach. It is a good bitter
tonic in smaller doses, and may be combined with ferruginous medicines. It is less disagreeable
to the taste and stomach than Quinine, and its use is not accompanied by the unpleasant effects
known as cinchonism.
“ ‘Sulphate of Cinchonidine stands next in antiperiodic power in 10 to 20-grain doses, and
as a tonic in smaller quantities it is agreeable to the stomach and is not accompanied by
symptons analogous to cinchonism.
“ ‘ Sulphate of Cinchonine is doubtless a powerful antiperiodic in doses of from 10 to 20
grains. The irritability of stomach caused by it is the great objection to its ever taking rank
as a substitute for either of the other alkaloids, but it may be obviated by injecting the medicine
in solution hypodermically. It is a good tonic in small doses/ * * *
“ There is no longer room to doubt that the alkaloids are capable of beipg generally used
with the best effects in India. They have been compared with Quinine, a drug which possesses,
more than any other that can be named, the confidence of medical practitioners here ; and
have been found, by more than one observer, to supplement this sovereign remedy in some of
its points of deficiency. The risk attending their use is clearly not greater than in the case of
Quinine, nor such as to be in any way deterrent ; while the diversities of opinion on their re-
lative usefulness and potency are no more than will be found between opinions concerning any
three drugs of the pharmacopoeia examined by separate observers.”
1 Cinchona, Return already quoted, p. 159.
2 Report of the Committee of Bengal Medical Officers appointed, to examine the Properties of the Cinchona
Alkaloids, to the Secretary to the Government of India in the Home Department, 1868.
K
38
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Object of
Government
in introduc-
ing Cin-
chona into
India.
Mr. Mark-
ham’s
suggestions
as to the
utilisation
of Indian
Cinchona
Barks.
Mr. Mark-
ham recom-
mends the
appointment
of a
Quinologist,
Mr. Brough-
ton’s
appoint-
ment.
These results are eminently satisfactory, especially as Red Bark, so rich in
the alkaloids other than Quinine, is the species which in every part of India has
proved the easiest of propagation, the most luxuriant in growth, and the only
one which can be grown at all at low levels. The establishment of the thera-
peutic excellence of these alkaloids largely increased the value of the R.ed Bark
plantations in India, and made much easier of solution the problem of supplying
its fever-stricken population with a cheap and effectual febrifuge. In his report
to the Government of Madras, written after his second visit to India in 1865-66,
Mr. Markham had directed the especial attention of Government to the im-
portance of finding out as soon as possible the best way of dealing with the
anticipated produce of the Government plantations so as to secure the avowed
object of Government in undertaking the cultivation at all. Had pecuniary
profit been that object, it would probably have been best secured by arranging
to send the bark to England for sale, and by continuing to purchase Quinine in
the usual way, trusting to reduce its price by increasing the supply of bark.
But it is extremely doubtful whether, under such an arrangement, a cheap
febrifuge would ever have been brought within the reach of fever patients so
poor as the agricultural population of India, a population who for ages accus-
tomed to look on often-recurring fever as part of their fate, have become too
apathetic to be prepared to pay much for relief from it. The object of
Government is that an efficient febrifuge shall be available by purchase in every
corner of India, that it shall become part of the stock-in-trade of every village
shopkeeper, and that it shall be purchaseable at not more than a rupee an
ounce. At the present moment Quinine is available by purchase only in a
few of the larger towns where there is a European population, and even in
such places it costs from six to ten rupees per ounce. It is of course supplied
to all Government dispensaries, but only to a very limited extent, the supply for
a year being as a rule really equal to the actual demands of but a few days. The
dispensing of so costly and scarce a drug gives rise it is believed to much sharp
practice among the lower officials at dispensaries and hospitals, and a dose of
the coveted febrifuge is probably as a rule unattainable to the very poorest of
the patients. Mr. Markham suggested that, instead of sending the bark to
England to be sold, a febrifuge should be prepared from it at the Government
plantations which should contain the alkaloids in a rough form and should be
saleable at a cheap rate. He recommended the preparation called Quinium,
a product which (while an effectual febrifuge) would not be bought up by
speculators as a source of Quinine, it being unsaleable for manufacturing pur-
poses. Quinium is made by treating pounded bark with slaked lime and the
resulting lime product with alcohol. Mr. Markham considered that a com-
petent chemist* should be got from England and located on the Nilgiris whose
functions should be to work out the whole subject of Indian Quinology. His
recommendation coincided with others which had been made to the same effect,
and was subsequently strengthened by the verdict of the Alkaloid Com-
missions already referred to. Accordingly, in October 1866, the Secretary
of State appointed as Government Quinologist on the Nilgiris Mr. John
Broughton, then Hr. Erankland’s Assistant at the Boyal Institution, London.
Mr. Broughton was engaged for a period of three years, and his duties were
defined as follows : to discover by repeated analyses of bark from plants growing
in different situations, the conditions as regards elevation, climate, soil and
exposure best calculated to produce the largest possible yield of alkaloids ; to
ascertain the difference as regards yield and efficiency between green and dried
barks ; to analyse the leaves and flowers of the different species ; to settle the
best method of drying the bark ; and finally, to enable Her Majesty’s Govern-
ment to arrive at a decision with respect to the best and cheapest method of
preparing the febrifuge for use among the poorer classes of the natives of India.
Mr. Broughton arrived at Ootacamund in January 1867 and decided to build his
analytical laboratory there : his alkaloid manufactory, however, was subse-
quently established at Neddiwattum. Mr. Broughton’s attention was at first
of course directed to an analysis of the barks yielded on the plantation, and in
April 1867 he published his first report, giving results confirmatory of those
previously obtained by Mr. Howard. Since his appointment, Mr. Broughton
lias worked steadily towards the ends set before him by the Secretary of State,
and has published his results in a series of able and interesting reports com-
CHEMISTRY OF THE BARK CROP.
39
municated to the Madras Government, and in some papers laid before the
Royal Society of London. These results may now he roughly summarised. £°^rcheg
They are as follow 1 : —
(1) The leaves of Cinchona contain hut a minute quantity of alkaloid, £^80n0an
and only about half of that is Quinine. So far hack as the year 1863, the late
Dr. Anderson concluded, as the result of some experiments made at Darjeeling, “
that the leaves contain some alkaloids, and he believed that they might be of
value as a febrifuge. This hope is dispelled by Mr. Broughton who has deter-
mined the amount to be as follows : —
Total Alkaloids.
Quinine.
In dried leaves of Red Bark
In dried leaves of Crown or Pale Bark
00190
00111
0008
0005
The bitter taste of the leaves is largely due to the presence of Quinovine.
(2) The flowers of the Cinchonas contain no alkaloid but a considerable cinchona
amount of Quinovine ; while ripening fruit contains but the faintest trace of comiin no
alkaloid, and ripe seed none whatever. The act of flowering does not appear alkalold-
to have any direct influence on the amount of alkaloid in the bark.
(3) As regards the wood of Cinchona trees, Mr. Broughton found that cinchona
drv Red Bark wood contains 0‘08 to 0T1 per cent, of alkaloid, of which 0'004 contlina
is "Quinine, and that Pale or Crown Bark wood yields R0101 per cent., with aikiloia.
O' 004 of Quinine. t
(4) The order in which the alkaloids are formed in the bark of living The order in
trees appears to be as follows : The first to appear is one which resembles IiklSoid^eare
Quinine in every respect except in not forming crystallizable salts. This alka- cinSfon^
loid is found alike in the original bark of young trees, and in strips of young bark'
bark forming over the cambium of old trees to replace strips of the original
bark which have been removed. The chemical changes which occur in the
bark are thus related more to the age of the bark than to the age of the tree.
As time passes on, this primitive alkaloid resembling Quinine becomes replaced
partly by real crystallizable Quinine (the desideratum of the quinine manufac-
turer) and partly by Cinchonidine. Although Mr. Broughton has never
actually succeeded in converting Quinine into Cinchonidine by artificial means,
he is led to believe that such a transmutation occurs in nature. This conclu-
sion is supported by many collateral facts.
(5) High temperature favours the formation of Cinchonidine and dimi- High
nishes that of Quinine. Bark of trees grown at a low elevation, and of those unTaveorurabi°e
grown even at a high elevation but of which the stems have been exposed to of Qunitne a
sun-light, contains a large proportion of Cinchonidine, and is pro tanto poor
in Quinine. A low mean temperature, within certain limits, is therefore favour-
able to the production of Quinine. Deprivation of light favours the increase
of the total amount of alkaloids in a bark. Mr. Broughton covered the stem of
a Cinchona tree with a shield of tinned plate and the stem of another with
black cloth, his object being to keep the bark in darkness without impeding
the access of air or protecting it from the heating influence of the sun’s rays.
The results were that, after ten months’ protection in this way, the amount of
total alkaloids was found to be increased by about 2-8 per cent, in each case.
(6) The researches of Mr. J. E. Howard and of Dr. Eliickiger, confirmed by ceuuiar
those of Mr. Broughton, prove that the alkaloids are contained in the outer seat of the
and cellular portion of the bark, and not in the inner, fibrous or liber layer, alkal01ds
and it even appears that an increased development of the 'fibrous part of a
bark is accompanied by a decrease in the amount of Quinine in it.
(7) Intimately connected with the last two results is the fact, first Renewed
brought into prominence by the result of Mr. Mclvor’s experiments, that bark crystaii^-111
renewed under moss contains a larger amount of both total and crystallizable tiktioids.
alkaloids than ordinary bark. Such bark is more cellular than ordinary bark,
and has, by means of the moss, to a great extent been protected both from the
heat and light of the sun’s rays during its formation.
1 Parliamentary Return, East India Cinchona Cultivation, printed 9th August 1870, pp. 237 et seq.
40
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Alkaloids in
living bark
not perma-
nent.
The salts
formed by
the alka-
loids in liv-
ing bark.
Proportion
of alkaloids
varies with
age.
The most
healthy
trees
yield the
richest bark.
Effects of
manure on
composition
of bark.
Modes of
drying
bark.
(8) The alkaloids in living Red Bark are not permanent in either nature
or quantity. On the contrary, they are affected both by the seasons of the year
and also by age. During the rainy season on the Nilgiris (from June to Sep-
tember) the yield of total alkaloids is at its lowest. It rises at the end of the
rains ( i . e. towards the latter half of September) and continues high during
the cold and dry weather, falling slightly during February and March, rising
again in April, and attaining its maximum in May. The yield of crystallizable
sulphates in the main follows a similar line of variation. The dry season is,
therefore, other things being equal, the time to collect bark. The particular
part of the dry season must, however, in some measure he influenced by the
readiness or the reverse with which the hark can he separated from the wood.
The seasonal variation in Crown Bark has not been determined.
(9) The chemical form or state of combination in which the alkaloids
occur in living hark is a point of much importance. Mr. Broughton’s researches
lead him to believe that, in Red Bark, four-fifths of the total amount of
alkaloids exist combined with Quino-tannic acid in a solid state within the
tissues, and most probably exclusively within the cellular tissue. The alkaloids
appear not to be very active vital constituents, but rather to be stores “ of which
only a small portion at the most shares in the changes incident to growth.” The
remaining fifth of the total alkaloid is in solution in the juice of the bark.
(10) Up to a certain point in the life of a Red Bark tree the total alka-
loids contained in its bark increase in quantity, the annual increments dimi-
nishing in amount until a maximum is reached. The proportion of crystalliz-
able quinine, however, rather diminishes as the maximum yield of total alka-
loids is approached. The maximum of total alkaloids is reached about the
ninth year, after which age not only waste but deterioration begins, the total
amount of alkaloid diminishing and cinchonidine becoming transformed into
Cinchonine, an alkaloid of less value. The influence of age on the Crown
Barks has, owing to their great variability in quality at all ages, not been settled
with the same degree of certainty, but it is probably less than in the case
of Red Bark.
(11) One of the most important conclusions arrived at by Mr. Brough-
ton is that “ the most vigorous and rapidly growing trees yield a much richer
bark than more stunted and less vigorous trees of the same age, and of course
they yield at the same time more bark.” Hence, whatever conditions stimu-
late growth have a direct effect in increasing the yield of alkaloid. The bark
of diseased trees contains little alkaloid and that of dead trees none whatever.
(12) Mr. Broughton’s experiments show that Red Bark is but little benefited
by the application of manure, the increase in alkaloid resulting from its applica-
tion being but slight, and little of that increase being Quinine. Crown Bark, on
the other hand, was found to be much improved by manuring. An applica-
tion of farm-yard manure three or four times during a period of about five
years gave an increase in pure Quinine of 4’75 per cent., and in total alkaloids
of 2'81 per cent., thus raising the value of the bark about kalf-a-crown a
pound. A pound of guano given to a tree caused an increase of total alka-
loids in the bark of 25 per cent., of which 2 per cent, were Quinine, thus
raising the value of its bark eighteen pence a pound. Ammonia Sulphate in
doses of fib per tree gave an increase of 122 per cent, of total alkaloids and
of 057 per cent, of Quinine. A curious point in this experiment was that none
of these manures caused any apparent increased growth of the trees, and did
not even affect the tint of their foliage.
(13) Mr. Broughton’s elaborate experiments on different modes of drying
bark prove that exposure to a high temperature, especially in a moist atmo-
sphere, causes an alteration in the chemical composition of the alkaloids and
renders bark almost worthless. Even the sun’s rays are hurtful if bark is long
exposed to them. To secure it in the best possible condition, bark should be
taken off the trees in large pieces, and these should be arranged on drying
stages, under shelter from the light and heat of the sun’s rays, but open to the
access of air. The pieces should be frequently turned. Bark should be taken
off in dry weather only. If allowed to become mouldy and to ferment, as is
apt to happen if it be taken during wet weather, deterioration more or less
serious surely occurs. Dry bark, on the other hand, will keep unchanged for
many months.
CHEMISTRY OF THE BARK CROP.
41
(14) Mr. Broughton calculates' that trunk bark loses from 70 to 74-8 per
cent, of weight in drying, and branch bark from 75 to 76 per cent. The Sik-
kim experience goes to skew that trunk red hark loses 73 per cent, and twig
hark 75 per cent.
Such are the facts in the life-history and chemistry of the Cinchona alka-
loids which Mr. Broughton has elicited and determined.
Loss of
weight in
bark by
drying.
Report to Secretary to Government of Madras, dated 1st December 1873, Appendix.
42
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Benewal
under moss.
Description
of the
process of
mossing.
Arguments
in favour of,
and against,
mossing.
CHAPTER YI.
MODE OE HARVESTING THE BARK CROP.
Two matters of practical importance still remain to be discussed, and to
tliese the remaining chapters of this report will he devoted. These matters are,
first, the most profitable means of harvesting the hark crop ; second, the best
means of extracting the alkaloids contained in it, so as to obtain the largest
amount of an effectual febrifuge at the least possible cost. Mr. Mclvor’s
attention was early directed to the solution of the problem of how to produce
the greatest amount of alkaloid in the least amount of time. From the begin-
ning he appears to have been full of faith that, under cultivation, the total
yield of alkaloid and the proportionate amount of Quinine in any bark could be
increased. In April 1863 he reported to Government that “ the Cinchona tree
has the power of rapidly renewing its bark, if the spaces from which the latter
is taken are immediately covered with damp moss;” and that the new bark
formed over these spaces is thicker, in proportion, than that part of the bark
which had not been interfered with. Subsequent experience led Mr. Mclvor
to the double conclusion that not only can the amount of bark yielded by a tree
be very much increased by the process of mossing, but that the total amount
of alkaloids (and especially the proportion of crystallisable Quinine) in bark so
renewed is considerably greater than in natural bark. Mr. Mclvor proposed to
harvest all Cinchona bark in this way, and in 1865 he sought to obtain a patent
for his method, so as to secure to himself a pecuniary interest in its application.
This was, however, disallowed. Mr. Mclvor’s mossing process is thus described
in his own words' —
“A labourer proceeds to an eight-year old tree, and, reaching upas far as lie can, makes a
horizontal incision of the required width. From either end of this incision he runs a vertical
incision to the ground, and then, carefully raising with his knife the bark at the horizontal
incision until he can seize it with his lingers, he strips off the hark to the ground and cuts it
off. The strip of hark then presents the appearance of a ribbon more or less long. Suppos-
ing the tree to be of 28 inches in circumference, the labourer will take nine of the above
ribbons, each Q inches wide. He will thus leave, after the tree has been stripped, other nine
ribbons still adhering to the tree, each somewhat broader than the stripped ribbon and at
intervals apart, occupied by the spaces to which the stripped ribbons had adhered. As soon as
he has removed his strips, the labourer will proceed to moss the trunk all round, tying ou the
moss with some fibre. The decorticated intervals will thus be excluded from light and air, and
this point is one of the capital points in the system. The mere exclusion of light and air from
a stem partially bared of bark acts in two ways : it enables a healing process to be rapidly set
up in the same way as a plaster does in the case of a wound in an animal organism : and it has
this farther curious effect, it increases the secretion of Quinine in the bark renewed under its
protection. This increase ofQuinine is admitted by Mr. Broughton in all his reports. At the
end of six or twelve months the bands of bark left untouched at the first stripping are re-
moved, and the intervals they occupied on the trunk are mossed. At the end of twenty-two
mouths, on an average, the spaces occupied by the ribbons originally taken are found to be
covered with renewed bark much thicker than the natural bark of the same age, and this re-
newed bark can be removed and a fresh process of renewal again be fostered by moss. In
another six or twelve months, the renewed bark of the natural ribbons left at the first strip-
ping can be taken and so on ; harvests ai’e obtainable from the trunk, alternately from the
spaces left at the first stripping and the spaces left by the second stripping. Experience
hitherto does not shew any limit to the taking of these harvests from a tree. Of course, it is
understood that at every stripping the ribbons taken are longer than at the preceding stripping,
because the tree has each year increased in height and bulk, and, therefore, the top of every
ribbon consists of natural bark and the lower part of renewed bark.” Mr. Mclvor farther
adds, “ All experience hitherto acquired shews that bark invariably renews. It renews easilv
and early when the cambium is untouched. In cases where the cambium is injured, the renewal
proceeds, but the process is slower. In respect of universal renewal, there is no difference
whatever between the Red and Crown Barks.”
Mr. Mclvor has all along urged that this mode of cultivating and cropping
bark will he found by far more profitable than any other. Its advantages, as
stated by him, are — that, as the bark (if taken with proper precautions) is al-
1 Report to the Commissioner of the Kilgiris, dated 9th August 1873.
MODE OE HARVESTING TIIE BARK CROP.
43
most invariably renewed by the end of periods varying from twelve to twenty-
two months, a crop, amounting to half the trunk bark of a tree and increasing
in actual amount pari passu with the growth of the latter, can be regularly
taken about once a year without in any way interfering with the health and
vigour of the tree ; and, moreover, that the bark so taken is richer in total alka-
loids, and specially richer in crystallisable Quinine, than natural bark. By
following this plan Mr. Mclvor believes that advantage can always be taken of
the period in its growth when renewed bark is richest in alkaloid, so that it may
be removed then. This is on the supposition that at that period the bark shall
have attained sufficient thickness, which of course it may not have done. Mr.
Broughton’s more recent investigations on the effects of mossing Red Bark go to
shew that the increase of total alkaloid, which undoubtedly characterises re-
newed bark on young trees, does not characterise the renewed bark of trees
which have arrived at the age of maximum yield, — in other words that, on trees
more than eight years old, moss-renewed bark is not richer, as far as yield of
total alkaloid is concerned, than natural bark of the same age. Such bark
appears, however, to contain more crystallisable Quinine than natural bark and
is thus more valuable as a source of pure Quinine, although not more so as a
source of Cinchona alkaloid. It must not be forgotten that mossing deals with
only part of the bark of a tree, namely, half or third of that covering the trunk.
Mr. Broughton’s most recent inference from his analyses is therefore, if correct,
of some importance. It is to the effect that there is apparently a transference of
alkaloid from the untouched, into the renewing, bark and that, therefore, if the
renewed mosspd bark of a tree be enriched, the natural bark remaining on the same
tree above the.region treated by moss is pro tanto impoverished. Mr. Broughton
has recently been farther led to conclude that the renewal of bark is not by any
means an invariable result of treatment with moss. On the contrary, he estimated
that 85 per cent, of 2,000 trees barked and mossed in 1871 had, two years later,
either wholly or partially failed to renew their bark. This conclusion was
substantially confirmed by Dr. Bidie, who was sent to report specially on the
subject. These 2,000 trees are, however, stated by Mr. Mclvor to have been
barked and mossed by unskilled labour : moreover Mr. Mclvor maintains that
their failure to renew their bark has been much exaggerated.
Additional serious objections to the mossing system are, the necessity (in
order to prevent injury to the delicate cambium)1 2 of having the operation done
by skilled and careful men under constant European supervision, the fact
that, at the age when it is richest in alkaloids, the renewed bark is frequently
found to be much thinner than natural bark, and the consequent necessity of
allowing it to stand until it thickens, thus reducing the frequency of cropping
from once in eighteen months (as originally estimated by Mr. Mclvor) to once
in from two to three years, and finally the diminution in health* and vigour
actually observed in trees which have been submitted to the process, a diminu-
tion so great as to involve the danger of their premature death. As already
explained, bark is only successfully renewed when it is formed regularly over
the entire surface of the wood that has been laid bare. If tfie delicate cam-
bium surface has been injured by rough handling, the damaged part of the
wood dies ; it does not reproduce bark, and, unless covered by lateral growth
from the cut edge of the natural bark, it remains bare. The bare part ulti-
mately decays, and thus disease is introduced into the stem.
The minor objections to the process are, that it can be done only when
there is much moisture in the air, and that consequently bark must be harvest-
ed at the very seasons when it is most difficult to dry it for exportation ; and
that, even if wet bark is to be used for local manufacture, the supplies are
poured into the factory during a limited season of the year only.
Mossing has been tried in the Sikkim plantations and lias totally failed ^osshig, a
from a cause not alluded to in any of the Nilgiri reports, namely, the attacks sYkkim!'
1 On this point Dr. Bidie in his report to the Government of Madras, dated 13th November 1873, writes: —
“ It is of great importance that the cambium layer should not be injured by the knife, or be allowed to dry, or be exposed to the sun,
as, if injured in any of these ways, the bark will fail to renew."
2 Dr. Bidie’s testimony regarding this is as follows : —
“ So far as mere dimensions of stem go, there is but little difference between the mossed and unmossed (Red Bark) trees ; but, taking
a bird’s eye view of the trees, the most casual observer cannot fail to notice the superior luxuriance of the unmossed."
And again concerning the Crown Barks he writes : —
“The mossed Crown Barks, owing to the renewal of their lower branches and the faded hue of their foliage, present, on casing a bird’s
eye view of an estate, a very inferior appearance compared with trees that have not been barked. 1 also observed, in both the Red and
Crown Barks which had been mossed, a tendency to produce an unusual amount of flower and seed, a peculiarity very common in plants
which may have had their vitality reduced in any way.”
44
CINCnONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Renewal of
bark without
moss.
Coppicing ;
description
of the
process.
Experience
of coppicing
in the
N ilgiris.
of ants. In every tree treated by Mr. Mclvor’s process in Sikkim, the renew-
ing bark has, as fast as formed, been regularly eaten by these insects, to which
the moss apparently forms a most acceptable cover, and to which the succulent
young bark-cells appear to afford a particularly attractive food. This is no
matter of surmise or theory, for these insects have repeatedly been observed at
work by Mr. Gammie, the resident manager of the plantation, and also by
myself. Trees covered with straw, instead of moss, fared no better.
A number of trees, however, which were recently barked in Sikkim in the
way described by Mr. Mclvor, but which were left bare of any kind of covering
whatever, have renewed their bark fairly well, the renewal taking place
(as in successful mossing) not by growth from the edges of the bark left on the
stem, but by development over the entire denuded cambium surface. The bark
thus renewed has not yet been submitted to analysis, being as yet not suffi-
ciently old to be judged of. The successful renewal of Cinchona bark with-
out protection has also been observed on the Nilgiri plantations.1
The other system by which it has been proposed to take the bark crop on
the Nilgiris is that known as coppicing. This consists in cutting down trees
either close to the ground or within a short distance of it, and of allowing one or
more of the crop of shoots which rises from the stumps to grow. If any shoots
naturally arise from near the base of the stem prior to cutting it, these would
of course be left to form coppice, instead of trusting to the formation of entire-
ly new shoots from the cut stump. As a fact, such natural root-shoots do not
occur to any great extent on healthy Cinchona trees at Sikkim, although they
appear to do so in the Nilgiris. Coppicing is a mode of working well known
in forestry and is done in several ways ; thus, the trees in a piece of forest may
be cut down all at once ; or a proportion only may be felled, leaving the young
shoots originating from their stumps to grow under the protection of the larger
trees left standing. One or other of these modes is that proposed as an alter-
native to mossing. If Mr. Broughton is correct as to the period of the
maximum richness of Bed Bark, and if it be desired to take advantage of that
period, the trees would, under the coppicing system, be felled during the eighth
year of their age ; and from the stumps two or three shoots would be allowed to
grow, which shoots would in turn he felled (when of sufficient size) either
simultaneously, or one at a time annually until all are cut. The cutting
of each shoot would be followed by the appearance of new shoots from the
stump. A steady, successive, series of crops of bark could, it is believed, thus be
got from a plantation treated coppice fashion. That other trees continue to
yield coppice for a long series of years is a well-known fact of which the ex-
tensive hard-wood coppices of France and Germany, and the Cinnamon cop-
pices of Ceylon, need only be mentioned as instances. It seems pretty well
established that in their natural forests on the Andes, Cinchona trees sprout
freely from their cut stumps. The presumptions in favour of the success of
coppicing appear therefore pretty strong. It is much to be regretted that
hitherto treatment of Cinchonas coppice-fashion has received no proper trial
in the Nilgiris, whereas many thousand trees have been submitted to the moss-
ing, process. Mr. Mclvor’s return of coppiced trees is as follows : —
There were coppiced in December 1866 about 50 trees
in
January
1867
33
50
D
in
May
1871
33
240
33
in
June
1873
33
58
3)
in
October
33
33
57
33
Total ... 455 trees.
Of these, he informs us, a considerable percentage died after being cut,
(that is, they sent up no new shoots) and the shoots of those that survived were
but poor. Mr. Mclvor speaks of the shoots on some trees at Neddiwuttum as
being when seven years old “ mere wands ” clothed with bark “ too thin to
be of any value whatever.” In his report already alluded to, Dr. Bidie gives
his opinion of the Nilgiri coppicing experiments in the following words : —
“ So far we may be said to have had in the Nilgiris no experience whatever of this method
of harvesting the bark, as the few experiments which have been made have been on too
1 See Dr. Bidie’s report, paragraph 16.
MODE OF HARVESTING THE BARK CROP.
45
small a scale, and not conducted in a manner likely to throw much light on the subject. The
oldest coppiced trees are some Red Barks which were cut down in 1866. I was not able to find
the whole of these, but those which I saw had not done well. This is hardly to he wondered
at, as, in the first place, some of the trees were immediately over the scarp of a road, — a had
situation for coppiced trees, — and, in the next place, too many shoots had been left to grow up
from the stumps. The coppicing experiment was made in 1871, — 240 C. succirubra trees having
been cut down in that year. Of these, 40 are on the Kilgraston estate and form a single row,
flanked on each side by tall neighbours; while the 200 are on the Denison estate and con-
stitute a plot which has been completely cleared. As regards the 40 trees on the Kilgraston
estate, they can hardly be said to have had fair play, as their neighbours have so completely
shaded them as to deprive them, to a considerable extent, of the necessary light and air. Too
many shoots have also been allowed to spring up from the stools, and these shoots, owing to
the dense shade, were observed, in many instances, to be too feeble to stand erect. No opinion
as to coppicing can be deduced from this part of the experiment. The 200 coppiced trees on
the Denison estate have done better, all the stools, with a very few exceptions, having survived,
and the shoots have grown fairly and are looking healthy.
“ Another coppicing experiment was carried out in June 1873, — 58 Red Bark trees having
been cut down, while a similar number of contiguous trees, of the same species and age, were
barked and mossed with the view of the results of the two systems being rigidly contrasted.
I must say at once that this trial is on much too paltry a scale, and that the coppiced trees
were cut at an unfortunate period of the year, as, being then full of sap, they of coui’se bled
profusely and thus ran a great risk of dying or having their vitality more or less permanently
impaired. Owing to the short time that had elapsed since this experiment was instituted, it
was quite useless for any practical deductions ; but I may remark that all the stools had
either thrown up shoots or gave promise of doing so. The same remarks apply to a small
coppicing experiment on Crown Barks on the Dodabetta estate, these trees having also been cut
in June 1873/'’
The objections urged against the application of coppicing to Cinchonas may ^oppiSn *
be summed up as follows : —
1st. — The stump of the felled tree (usually called the stool ) may fail to The steals
send up shoots. This not unfrequently happens, even with shootai to
healthy trees, both in the Nilgiris and in Sikkim. In the case of
unhealthy trees the results are of course much less favourable.
2nd. — It has been urged that coppicing is a difficult and delicate operation . It is said to
On the Continent of Europe and in England no such difficulty and delicate
is experienced, and coppicing is done by unskilled labour. In operatlou
Sikkim, ordinary hill coolies of by no means great intelligence
are found to do it quite well. The thinning-out of the shoots
that spring from the stool, so as to leave only two or three of the
best of them, is the most delicate operation connected with cop-
picing ; yet, this is found in Sikkim to be a task which a coolie of
ordinary intelligence can be taught in a few lessons.
3 rd. — It has been said that coppice shoots grow more slowly than young coppice
trees. In Sikkim four-year old succirubra trees average in height to grow
15 feet : four-year old shoots from the stools of trees cut at the i’lowly’
age of four years average 12'4 feet in height. Such shoots are not
however so thick as the stems of untouched four-year old trees.
4 th. — The bark of coppiced shoots is said to be thin and worthless. Mr. coppice
Broughton’s and Mr. Wood’s analyses of such bark yield results beudnaVd
which shew it to be as good as, if not better than, original bark. worthless-
5 th. — It has also been given as an objection to coppice that, as the removal said to be
of the shade of the older trees is rapidly followed by a growth method,
of weeds, the annual cost of keeping it clear of weeds will be
about equal to that of keeping up a young -plantation. The
weight of this objection has however been ratber exaggerated, for
it is found that, if only alternate rows of old trees, or if alternate
trees in alternate rows be cut, sufficient shade is given by the
heads of the trees left standing, not only to protect the young
stool-shoots, but also to a great extent to keep weeds in check.
It is moreover doubtful whether the total abandonment of all
cultivation, although a cheap, is really a desirable or profitable
policy ; for it must be remembered that Cinchona trees of all
ages receive much benefit from the moderate stirring of the soil
that is incidental to the operations of weeding and hoeing.
M
46
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Said to yield
less bark
t han the
mossing
process.
The two
systems
compared.
6th. — It is very strongly insisted on both by Mr. Mclvor1 and by the
Commissioner of the Nilgiris that more bark can be taken from
a tree within a given time by mossing than by coppicing. An
illustration is given by the latter as follows'2 : —
“ One thousand succirubra trees of eight years old were mossed. They will be twelve
years old in September next. In these four years they have given at four harvestings : —
2,980 tbs in 1871-72 of dry bark.
764 „ „ 1872-73
1,546 „ „ 1S73-74
770 „ „ 1874-75
6,060 „ „
or in all 6,000 and odd pounds of dry bark. On the other hand, the 240 trees coppiced hy my
predecessor and Mr. Broughton in May 1871 gave the following results : — 200 of the trees
were coppiced in one block. They were of the season 1862-63. The other 40 trees were of
the season 1864-65, and they were coppiced in alternate rows. The bark obtained from the
240 trees aggregated 720lbs. of green trunk bark (equal to 2551bs. of dry bark) and 3241bs.
of green branch bark (equal to lOOfbs. of dry bark). The whole quantity of dry bark attained
was thus 355lbs. or 1/48R). per tree. I have on several occasions stated that these trees have
given nothing since. Therefore the mossed trees have yielded 63bs. of dry bark per tree
against l-48fb. in the case of the coppiced trees, including all the branch bark, which of
course has not been taken in the mossed trees. Six pounds each tree of mossed trunk bark
have to be set against l|fb. of mixed trunk and branch bark, or four times the quantity of
the more valuable bark.”
The figures just quoted would seem to shew a strong case in favour of
mossing. It must not however be forgotten that, whereas the mossing experi-
ments were conducted with much enthusiasm and care, those in coppicing were
on a very small scale, received but little attention, and are admitted by every-
body to have been inadequate and unsatisfactory. These figures are, moreover,
vitiated for the purposes of comparison by an obvious, though doubtless un-
intentional error. The 1,000 trees referred to as mossed were eight years old ;
they yielded3 in 1871-72, 2,9801bs. of dry bark per tree. But this was natural
bark, originally covering their stems, which was taken off to allow moss
to be applied ; and it is equal to about three pounds per tree. Of the six pounds
claimed as the produce of these mossed trees, half the quantity is thus original
bark which existed on them prior to the application of moss, the other half is
bark renewed under moss. On the other hand, the 240 coppiced trees were, as Mr.
Mclvor states4, of two ages : 200 were eight years old and 40 were five and a half
years old. They yielded only T48 lbs. of original bark (the bark of both stem
and branches being included) and must therefore have been very much smaller
trees than the thousand which yielded, from their stems only, three pounds each
of original bark. The bark of the four-year old shoots of these coppiced trees
is besides not calculated at all. In Sikkim we know that the value of bark
taken from four-year old coppice shoots rising from stools from 5-| to 8 years
old would be considerable.
The contrast between the Nilgiri results of mossing as compared to cop-
picing, imperfect although the latter are, is therefore not so great as at first
sight appears. But, even accepting Mr. Mclvor’s estimate of the yield obtain-
able by mossing, it does not appear that the data as to the comparative merits
of the two systems are as yet sufficient to warrant the formation of a final and
definite opinion as to which is the preferable one in practice for the Nilgiris. It
may possibly be found that a compromise may be most advantageous, and that
it may pay best first to take a crop of bark by mossing and then to coppice the
trees. The removal of a large part of the bark of a tree every year can hardly
fail to cause an amount of derangement in its vital processes which can scarcely
be beneficial to its health. It will not therefore be anticipated by anybody
at all conversant with vegetable physiology or with practical horticulture, that
Cinchona trees will for a long series of years not only bear annual decortica-
tion with impunity, but go on producing, with the regularity of machines, annual
1 Letter from Mr. Mclvor to the Commissioner of the Nilgiris, dated 9th August 1873-
2 Letter from the Commissioner of the Nilgiris to the Secretary to the Government of Madras, dated 17th June
1874, paragraph 17.
3 See Mr. Mclvor’s annual report on the Nilgiri Cinchona plantations for 1871-72, paragraph 11.
1 Letter to Commissioner of the Nilgiris, dated August 1873.
MODE OF HARVESTING THE BARK CROP.
47
crops of bark of high quality. Experience alone will decide liow long they
will live under such treatment. It has already taught that on the Nilgiris the
trees will do for some time,1 and the supporters of mossing say for long enough
time to yield better results than any other mode of bark harvest hitherto pro-
posed. It is urged by the advocates of the process that, if mossed trees shew
symptoms of failing health, they can be coppiced or replaced by seedlings, and
that, even under these circumstances, they will have paid better than had they
been coppiced.
With the view of estimating the merits of the coppicing system, a number Experience
of trees of various ages were cut down in the Sikkim plantation towards the in 8>kkim. g
end of the year 1874. About a year later (i. e., in September 1875) these
plants were examined and the details of the measurements of the coppice of a
few of them may here be given in a tabular form.2 The figures are as follows
Number of plants 1
measured.
When planted.
Planting distance.
When coppiced.
Percentage of plants
which have failed to
send up shoots from
their stools and which
are presumably dead.
Percentage of plants
in which the coppice
shoots are two or
more.
Average height of
coppice in Septem-
ber 1875.
Feet.
50
1866
6x6
Dec. 1870...
12
12-4
feet
100
1866
Ditto
„ 1874...
7
26 per cent.
2-58
r
j
50
1867
Ditto
„ 1874...
2
57
2'88-j
i
i
20
1867
Ditto
„ 1874...
5
...
2-20
100
1867
Ditto
„ 1874...
22
31
2-70
100
1868
Ditto
„ 1874...
18
34
2-46
20
1869
Ditto
Nov. 1874...
10
none
2-35
100
1870
Ditto
Dec. 1874...
30
71 „
334
86
1871
Ditto
„ 1874...
17
61
3-91
100
1872
4x4
„ 1874...
36
20 „
3-27
Rejueks.
From this patch a few cankered plants had been cut
and some thinning of healthy trees had been done
between 1870 and 1873. In 1874 a patch was cut
down almost entirely, a few trees only being ef
per acre. The measurements here given are those
therefore of as nearly as may be a clean coppice,
free from shade.
The trees were cut in rows in the plantation, the
coppice was thefore shaded.
Ditto
ditto.
Ditto
ditto.
Ditto
ditto.
Ditto
ditto.
Ditto
ditto.
The trees in this patch were very vigorous and had
large shady heads. The coppice therefore was
smothered. —See remarks on page 48.
1 It is quite beside tbe question to quote, as has been done, the repeated and long-continued yield of cork by the
cork-oak and to argue from that in favour of the success of continued artificial decortication of Cinchona trees. Cork
consists of the outer bark, which, when not removed artificially, is shed spontaneously by the trees at stated intervals.
The inner bark of the tree forms no part of the cork of commerce, and neither in the artificial removal nor in the natural
shedding of cork is the inner bark layer removed. The young wood or cambium is therefore never exposed. Medicinal
Cinchona bark, on the contrary, consists of the entire bark, outer as well as inner ; and, in the process of mossing, the
whole is removed and the young wood or cambium is laid bare — a process to which there is nothing analogous in the
collection of cork. The habit of naturally shedding the outer bark is not peculiar to the cork-oak, but occurs in other
plants. As familiar examples, may be mentioned the grape-vine and the guava.
2 The measurements of the coppice shoots of fifty trees planted in 1866 and cut down in December 1870 arc
also given.
48
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Longevity o:
Cinchona in
India not
known yet.
Value of the
bark of
young trees.
Modifica-
tions of
coppicing.
These figures give a fair example of the condition of some thousands of
coppiced trees in the Sikkim plantation : they cannot on the whole be regard-
ed as very favourable. One important item of the Sikkim experience of
coppice is that shoots grown under shade are inclined to be thin and lank, and
they are undoubtedly less healthy and vigorous than those of the coppice that
follows a complete, or nearly complete, clearance of the old trees. The expense
of keeping such a coppice clear of weeds is, as has been already pointed out,
considerable.
It must be admitted that we are still ignorant of one most important fact
in Cinchona cultivation in India, and one which has a most important bearing
on modes of taking the bark crop ; the fact is this — we do not know the age to
which the trees will naturally live in this country . If their lives are to be short,
it will be advisable to adopt working plans involving early taking of the bark ;
if they are to be long-lived, longer-deferred cropping must be practiced. With
regard to mixed coppice, we do not know exactly up to what age the shade of
the older trees is advantageous or the reverse to the young shoots. There is,
doubtless, a period at which the shade of the older trees will begin to be dis-
advantageous to the coppice under them, and, as soon as this period arrives, the
older trees must be sufficiently thinned out. Recent analyses by Mr.
Wood, the Government Quinologist on the Sikkim plantations, go to shew that
the yield of alkaloid is really not so much affected in Sikkim by the age
of the tree as Mr. Broughton found it to be in the Nilgiris; and that the bark
of healthy trees from four to eight 1 years old, and of coppice shoots from three
to four years old, is all pretty much the same in its percentage of total alkaloid.
Mr. Wood is further inclined to think that, at all ages of the trees, the value of
bark depends on its position on the stem; the richest stem bark being nearest the
base of the stem, and the poorest nearest its apex, the bark of the larger roots
being the richest of all, and that of the small branches the poorest. The first of
these discoveries has an important bearing on the question of bark harvesting and
makes it highly probable that, if the object be to grow bark for the sake of its total
alkaloid (and this is the avowed object of Government), and not merely for
its Quinine, it will probably pay best to plant thickly, 2 as in Sikkim, and to take
the crop early. By planting at 4 x 4 feet, as is done in Sikkim, alternate
rows might be cut out at the end of the fourth year, leaving the trees standing
at distances of 8 x 4 feet. Possibly the stools of the first cutting, standing
in such deep shade as this close planting involves, would not send up coppice
shoots, and it is scarcely desirable that they should do so. By a second cutting
a year or two later, the distances might be increased to 8 x 8 feet. The stools
formed from this and subsequent cuttings would probably coppice fairly well.
Purther cuttings of alternate rows or of alternate trees would follow, coppice
shoots rising from each and being worked in the modes usual for coppice inEurope.
1 The following extract from Mr. Wood’s report to the Bengal Government dated 24th May 1875 contains some
analyses of suceirubra stem bark of various ages : —
“ The next point, for consideration is the alkaloidal value of the bark. Wishing in the first place to ascertain the maximum quality to
which our suceirubra attains, and having already examined bark taken from trees growing at different elevations, I requested Mr. Gammie
to obtain for me samples from the stems of our finest trees of different ages. He therefore furnished me with seven samples.
“ The results of analysis were as follows
Total Alkaloid.
No. I, trees planted in 1866
67 per
ii
, „ „ 1867
7'3
.. hi
„ „ 1868
6'8
.. IV
„ „ 1869
6-61 ,
„ V ,
„ ,. 1870
6'63 ,
.. VI
,, „ 1871
6-04 ,
„ VII
» „ 1872
7-68 ,
The constituents of the total alkaloid from the oldest and youngest of these were determined
No. 1.
No. 6.
No. 7.
(1866.)
(1871.)
(1S72.)
“Total alkaloid
67
604
7-68
Alkaloid soluble in Ether
24
2 73
2 17
Cinchonidine
... 19
1-99
2'95
Cinchonine
2 4
1-31
2'56
Crystalline Sulphate of Quinine
1-3
1-35
•82
“ The mixed stem and branch bark of suceirubra
trees of similar
ages gave the following
Total Ukaloid.
“1866
4 37 per ceut."
1867
670 „
1869
485 „
1869
432 „
1870
4S5
1871
4'8I)
1872
423
: The increase in total outturn of bark per acre when close planting is adopted is very much greater than a
superficial glance at the figures indicating the planting distances would lead one to suppose. Thus, while the adoption
of a planting distance of 12 x 12 feet (as in the older parts of the Nilgiri plantations) gives 303 trees per acre,
planting 6 x 6 feet gives 1,210 trees, and planting 4x4 feet (as in Sikkim) gives 2,722 trees per acre. This considera-
tion is lost sight of in the calculations already quoted on the respective yields of mossing and coppicing on the Nilgiris.
For a table of the number of plants to the acre according to planting distance see Appendix L.
MODE OE HARVESTING THE BARK CROP.
49
It may also be found to answer to cut down entirely all the trees on a patch
planted 4x4 feet as soon as they begin to impede each other’s growth, which
would in good soil be about the third or fourth year. The coppice on a patch
so treated would grow freely, and so also would the weeds ; cultivation would
therefore be necessary. These methods are now being tried on the Sikkim
plantation.
The rather discouraging results of coppicing, and the undoubted Harvesting
richness 1 in alkaloid of the bark covering the larger roots of Cinchona trees, the trees,
suggested to the resident manager of the Sikkim plantation (Mr. James A.
Gammie) that the plan of digging out the trees by their roots might be advan-
tageous. Accordingly during the past cold season about thirty-five acres of
eight and nine-year old trees have been treated in this way. The operation of
rooting out is not so formidable as might be expected. If a plantation is
worked from below upwards, it is found that, after the lower row has been taken
out, the trees are very easily eradicated by pulling them downwards, a little
earth having been first removed from their roots at the upper side, and a rope
being attached to the stem pretty far up, so as to give a long leverage. The
collection of bark by the method of rooting out is estimated to cost 2£ pies
(•28 of a penny) per pound of green bark, as against If pies (‘22 of a penny) by
coppicing.
It seems not unlikely that uprooting might be conjoined with early coppic-
ing. Tor example, a patch planted 4x4 feet might be thinned to 8 x 8 at
the end of the fourth year ; and at the end of the eighth year the remaining
trees might be uprooted. The ground in this method of uprooting is sub-
mitted to a thorough deep cultivation and may be replanted at once, or it may
be allowed to lie fallow for some time before being replanted. The obvious
objection to immediate replanting is, of course, that it is bad practice to replant
with the same species ; but, as nothing except the bark of the former crop will
have been removed from the ground, this objection ought to go for little in the
face of the immense advantage gained by a thorough upturning of the soil.
Moreover, it is the custom on fir plantations in Scotland to replant with fir ;
and in the case of fir the old crop is almost entirely removed in the shape of
timber. One advantage of replanting at once is that the expense of clearing
the land is obviated, as in the process of uprooting it is cleaned to hand. By
adopting a different planting distance from the last crop, the new plants could
be made to occupy slightly different spots from their predecessors. If, however,
it is deemed expedient to give the ground rest for a few years, a rotation on
this basis could easily be established.
At certain seasons of the year the bark can be separated from the wood Removing:
• •• * « • t «*• biirk
with great ease. This is the case in Sikkim during the greater part of the
cold season, which, therefore, for this, as for other reasons, is the best for taking
the bark crop. The barking is done by a gang of coolies, to whom the felled
stem and branches are made over as fast as they are cut. Provided with a
stout gardener’s knife, a cooly in removing stem bark, or the bark of thick
branches, first marks it off into long narrow slips by longitudinal and transverse
incisions ; he then separates one of the ends of a strip by putting his knife
under it and pressing upwards ; the end being freed, the remainder of the strip
readily comes off. Bark from the smaller branches and twrigs cannot of course
be removed thus ; but it is easily whittled off, care being taken to include as
little wood in the whittlings as possible.
On being taken off the trees, the bark is laid to dry in rough sheds fitted Drying the
up wdth open shelves made of split bamboo. These sheds are erected in any
convenient place near the spot where the trees are being cut. When the bark
has dried as far as is possible without artificial heat, it is carried off to the drying-
house, a masonry building (near the factory) fitted up with shelving and supplied
with arrangements for keeping charcoal fires lit. If the drying-liouse be kept
well closed, the bark is speedily and throughly dried, and without being1 2
exposed to a temperature high enough to affect its chemical constitution.
When well dried, it can be stored without danger of deterioration.
1 Mr. Wood’s analyses shew that root bark contains about 8 per cent, of total alkaloids.
? The temperature of the Sikkim drying-house ranges from 10° to 15° Fht above that of the open air.
K
50
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
CHAPTER YII.
ON THE LOCAL MANUFACTURE OF A CINCHONA FEBRIFUGE.
The Cinchona plantations on the Nilgiris yield practically two barks, Red
Bark and Crown. Red Bark is rich in total alkaloids, hut not very rich in Quinine,
Commercial and the Quinine in it is difficult of extraction. This hark is of comparatively small
Bark.of Bed value, therefore, to the Quinine-maker, although of great value to Government
as a source of supply of a cheap febrifuge. Red Bark is also of much value
in Europe for decoctions (in other words it is a good druggist’s hark), and re-
cently large prices have been got for consignments bought by druggists. These
rates are far beyond the value of the Quinines contained in such bark
as estimated by a Quinine-maker. It is doubtful whether a European alkaloid-
maker could, in fact, work Red Bark for its alkaloids at their present price, and
pay for the bark at the rates recently given in London for Nilgiri- grown
produce. The present good prices should undoubtedly be taken advantage
of by all planters to whom gain is the sole object. If, however, the profits of
sale are to be taken advantage of, the idea of at once supplying a cheap febrifuge
must be abandoned. The latter is the avowed object of Government, and no
passing commercial advantage should be allowed to interfere with its realisation.
The following table, extracted from Mr. Broughton’s report to the Govern-
ment of Madras, dated 9th August 1873, gives analyses of certain Nilgiri
barks which were sent to England for sale, and may be taken as a fair example
of the produce of the Government plantations there : —
1 a
^4
p a
O
«5
3
M
Jjf
rt
Ned-
Ph
£ d
'O
O
p
£
o
3
P
o>
o -h
rd £
•2 a
Ph
M
u
T3
D
«
*** a
S s
P O
P
Q
M
P .
O
o
O t ■ 4
p
raj
cS
P
A
S S
a «#
'd m*
a. z)
• o ^
o a
&
'S*
o
a
08
ej a
CM
S eS
CP
£ ^
gP
S
«
5
P4
W
P
5
6
a
o
P
*
t
t
§
ii
f
Total alkaloids ... ...
6-20
5'S2
2'?5
4'45
571
8'58
4-32
3'42
6*60
3-61
091
Quinine and Quinicine
114
3-25
1-31
0 97
1'33
308
2 32
3'89
2'07
Cinchonidine and Cinchonine
506
2-67
275
314
4'14
2-25
1-24
170
271
1-54
Pure Sulphate of Quinine obtained crys-
tallised
Pure Sulphate of Cinchonidine obtained
074
2 '62
074
0-62
0'81
3 11
2-39
386
2-04
crystallised
3-47
0-88
l’OO
1'61
2'22
1-14
0'85
0’G7
100
0-99
* Mean of three analyses. t Mean of two analyses. || Mean of two analyses,
t Mean of two analyses. § Do. do. Do do.
Commercial Crown Bark is, on the other hand, rich in crystallisable Quinine, and is
crownBark. nearly as highly valued by the Quinine-maker as good American Yellow. If
any bark is to be sent to England for sale, Crown Bark should be sent. The
Red Bark trees are, however, by far the most numerous on the Government and
other plantations in India and the Colonies. This species is hardier, grows
better, and yields about a third more bark than the Pale or Crown Bark.
The utilisation of Red Bark by manufacture in India is therefore of the highest
importance.
The Sikkim The Sikkim plantations consist of Red and Yellow Bark trees. Yellow
andkYeifow.d Bark, which has been a failure on the Nilgiris, promises to be a success there.
In character Yellow resembles Crown Bark, but is even more esteemed by the
Quinine-maker. It is hardly necessary to say that, both being easy to work,
Crown and Yellow Barks would be very much preferable to Red Bark as
sources for the manufacture in India of a cheap febrifuge if officinalis and
calisaya trees could be got to grow as luxuriantly as succirubra.
As the result of his experiments, Mr. Broughton decided on issuing as
“ the cheap febrifuge ” wanted for India a preparation called Amorphous
Quinine, which consists of the total alkaloids of Cinchona Bark in the form of a
non-crystalline powder, mixed to some extent with the resin and red-colouring
matter so abundant in Red Bark. This alkaloid has been accepted by the medi-
Mr.
Broughton’s
Amo rphous
Quin ine.
ON THE LOCAL MANUFACTURE OF A CINCHONA FEBRIFUGE.
51
cal faculty in tlie Madras Presidency as a remedy in malarious fever scarcely,
if at all, inferior to Quinine. Mr. Broughton’s own account of his mode of
preparing this alkaloid, is given by himself as follows' : —
“ 6. The actual Cinchona bases being1, of course, the active medicinal constituents in the Br'(;uc,lton>f,
Therapeutical considerations and results. sulphates or other salts employed as febrifuge, it was m^ufoetur.
as effective medicines as their salts.
necessarily believed that the bases themselves would be described!*
Alkaloids exist in hark as insoluble Quino
tannates.
Principle of method in use.
The considerable amount of tinctures and extracts of
Cinchona bark still employed in medicinal practice clearly shews the efficacy of salts other
than sulphates, nor, as far as I could learn, do the preparations made from Cinchona bark des-
titute of real Quinine skew any failure in febrifuge efficacy, a fact readily explained by the
results of the Madras Cinchona Commission. Pure Quinine Sulphate contains but 73’55 per
cent, of Quinine. It was, therefore, believed that a preparation of the Cinchona alkaloids,
in the proportion that they naturally exist in the barks, which would contain about
ninety-seven per cent, of the pure bases, would admit of exactly the same medicinal
doses being employed as of Quinine Sulphate. If there should be, for which there is no
evidence, a somewhat inferior febrifuge quality in the alkaloids other than Quinine, this would,
it was believed, be compensated for by the larger amount of the real bases in the preparation
in comparison with Quinine Sulphate. The report of the Medical Inspector-General, attached
to G. O. No. 29 of the 11th January 1871, appears subsequently to corroborate these suppo-
sitions, as he states it to be ‘a remedy in malarious fever, scarcely, if at all, inferior to Quinine.’
********
“ 8. In a report appearing in Return on Cinchona Cultivation, 1870, page 243, paragraph 54,
and more fully in a Memoir in Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.,
1870, I shew that six-sevenths of the alkaloids in the
bark of C. succirubra occur in the form of Quino-tan-
nates. As this salt is nearly insoluble in water, the presence of a strong acid is necessary for
its decomposition and complete solution of the alkaloid. It is this circumstance which con-
stitutes the main difficulty in the preparation of alkaloid, since, even after the tannates have
been decomposed in hot or dilute solutions, they partially re-form when the same solutions be-
come cold or are increased in strength.
********
“ 14. The method I have adopted is quite similar in principle to the usual method that since
the time of Pelletier has prevailed in manufactories of
Cinchona alkaloids. It consists in precipitating the
alkaloids in an insoluble state and subsequently separating them from the mass of impurities
with which they are mixed by solution in alcohol. The method is, however, so contrived that
the very cheapest materials are used, and the greatest economy is practicable, with those mate-
rials which are not found on the plantations. The only material of which the consumption
is large is that of wood fuel, which some years ago it was believed would be furnished in any
amount by the Cinchona plantations by trees which had been coppiced. This, however, has
not been the case, owing to the adoption of Mr. Mclvor’s system of mossing, respecting which
I have already expressed an opinion which I need not further reiterate.
“ 15. The process was first tried in my small laboratory at Ootacamund, and I found that
, , „ , , from eighty to ninety-five per cent, of the total amount
* of alkaloid m the bark was obtained by it. If done with
analytic precision, which, of course, cannot be practically carried out in a manufactory, 97 T
per cent, of that amount is obtainable, though I have never obtained this result when working
with native coolies, but only when the work was performed by myself or by my laboratory
assistant.
“ 16. The first product of this process, named by the late Principal Medical Inspector-
General “ Amorphous Quinine,” was prepared in the
small experimental manufactory erected at Ootacamund,
where enough was prepared from Red Bark grown at Neddivuttum for a fair trial of its medical
efficacy. The results of its medical trial are contained in a report of the Principal Medical
Inspector-General attached to G. O. No. 29 of the 11th January 1871, which were considered
highly favourable.
“ 17. I will now describe the method of manufacture I have adopted, which, though
in the course of work, it has been constantly modified
employed. an(j improved, is, of course, susceptible of further im-
provements in detail.
The bark in long strips, exactly as taken from the tree, is placed in a copper pan with 1^
per cent, of sulphuric acid2 and a quantity of water that has already been used for the
fourth extraction of nearly spent bark aud is boiled for an hour. The liquid and bark are
then separated by strong pressure in a screw press, the former falling in a wooden vat
placed underneath. The squeezed and nearly dry bark is again boiled with liquid that has
been used for a third boiling of other bark, and another half per cent, of acid is added. After
an hour’s boiling it is again squeezed. It is then again boiled with a liquid that has come off
nearly-spent bark, again squeezed, and finally boiled with water. During these four boilings
the bark after each squeezing diminishes greatly in bulk and becomes almost pulp, so that it
occupies far less room in a pan at the third boiling to what it did at the first. The order in
IV. B — The numbering of the paragraphs of Mr. Broughton’s letter is retained in the above quotation.
1 Mr. Broughton’s letter to Secretary, Madras Government, dated 1st December 1873.
s This is the amount of acid employed for irunlc bark ; for prunings but one per cent, or even less is ordinarily used.
First trials of manufacture.
Description of method now
Extraction of bark.
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Mr.
Broughton’s
manufactur-
ing process
described.
which the several liquids used in extraction are employed depends on the qualities of bait un-
der manufacture; but it is so arranged as to obtain finally a liquid containing as much alka-
loid as possible in solution, and also that, as far as possible, the bark should be exhausted of
alkaloid. Finally, there arrives a point when the amount of alkaloid in the bark has become
so small as not to repay the expense of further extraction. The bark then is dried in the sun
and used as fuel.
“ 18. The liquid, which, if the foregoing be judiciously managed should be intensel}7- bitter
and strong, is evaporated to about one-sixth of its bulk.
Precipitation ot extracts with lnne. , <• j , , , in ^ , , -» • .
transferred to a tub, and allowed to cool. It is then
decomposed by neutralisation u7ith milk of lime, which precipitates the alkaloids, decomposing
the Quino-tannates and Sulphates with formation of insoluble lime salts. A slight excess of
lime is always added. After standing for a day, the precipitate is separated by filtration,
squeezed, dried, and powdered in a common ragi mill.1 The liquid, wdiich contains abundance of
Calcic Quinate in solution, is thrown away.
“ 19. As first conducted, the evaporation mentioned in the foregoing paragraph was omitted,
_ „ , the precipitation being at once performed in the original
.Evaporation was at first dispensed with. v •% .> , i, . • j • n . , , .• , Y i i
Necessity for the use of lime. Muld- Bnt> as alkaloid is unfortunately slightly soluble
in lime-water, this proceeding was found to produce
considerable waste, and therefore it was found necessary to evaporate in order to reduce this
waste to a minimum. In India lime must necessarily be the precipitant, as it is by far the
cheapest of all the alkaline bases. I have tried both English Caustic Soda and Indian Soudoo as
precipitants of the alkaloid, but for many reasons do not now employ them.
“ 20. The powdered lime precipitate is then packed in the apparatus, of which a drawing is
given ; ABCD being a large cone of sheet iron, through the centre of which passes an up-
right tube, the upper end of which terminates in a crosspiece with four openings. The lower
end of the tube is also open, and supported on a flat perforated circular disc (CD) made of sheet-
iron. This allows it to rest in the cone. Below, and tightly fitting to the lower part of the
cone, is au under copper vessel (FG). The cone is supported by chains, and above it is placed
in connection w7ith the lower end of a simple worm-tub (not shewn in the drawing) by means
of a tube (H). The powdered lime precipitate is filled in the cone till immediately under the
_ , , . , , , , cross tube (E). The upper lid of the cone is
b 1 J fitted on and alcohol poured on till, by passing
through the precipitate, the lower vessel becomes about a-third full. The spirit is then saturat-
ed with alkaloid, which is neutralised with care by diluted sulphuric acid, of which the strength
is known. Then the upper lid of the cone is put into connection with the upper condenser by
the tube E, and a fire is lighted below. The spirit boiling in FG rises in vapour through the
inner tube and passes out at the four openings of the cross-piece. It here generally condenses
to a liquid, but if not it passes into the copper condenser, where it, of course, condenses, so that
by a judicious arrangement of the fire a layer of liquid is kept on the surface of the precipitate.
A gauge (BI) allows this to be seen from the outside. If the fire is, however, kept too fierce,
no harm can ensue, since, if the layer of liquid rises in consequence higher than the percolation
through the precipitate removes it, it simply passes down through the centre tube into the
lower vessel. Hence the apparatus is self-acting, and the cooly work-people have no access
to the alcohol, which is all inside the apparatus. A small amount of alcohol by constant
circulation through the apparatus thus completely dissolves the whole of the Cinchona bases
without any waste of spirit or alkaloid. Every two days the alkaloid is neutralised with dilute
acid. If this be done with moderate care, there is no chance of the copper under-ves6el being in
the least attacked, but if very carelessly done, a mere trace of Oxide of Copper is dissolved.
This, however, rarely occurs ; but if it does, it is readily remedied subsequently.
21. The fire is thus kept up until the whole of the alkaloid is dissolved and passes into the
_ , lower vessel. This state of things is known by the
Recovery and actual waste or alcohol. c ,• ... ~ ■
alkalinity oi the liquid in the lower vessel not in-
creasing; but, to make sure, the spirit dropping from the cone is usually tested when the pro-
cess draws near its end. When finished, the exhausted precipitate does not contain a trace of
alkaloid, all being in the lower vessel. The lower vessel is then removed and the alcohol sepa-
rated by distillation. Water is also poured on the cone, in order to wash out the alcohol with
which the precipitate is still moistened, until the latter is quite removed. The alcohol is thus
nearly all recovered and is purified for another operation by distillation. W ith care, waste of
spirit practically does not occur, but I have been unable yet to prevent all loss of spirit from
the carelessness with which every operation in this country appeal’s more or less attended.
The loss, however, has not exceeded six per cent, and has fallen frequently much below this.
“ 22. The alkaloid sulphate in the lower vessel is suddenly diluted with about ten times
. , . . „ „ , its bulk of cold water. This separates a considerable
Purification and precipitation of alkaloid. Qf black siuce th(J contamination of
copper occurred in Bengal in the alkaloid, I have always as a precaution added a small amount
of a dilute acidulated solution of Sodic Sulphide to the liquid. This completely removes copper
if it be present, though with very moderate care it is completely unnecessary. The solution is
still, however, coloured with impurities, to remove which a small amount ol alkaloid is pre-
cipitated by the addition of dilute Caustic Soda, which carries down with it the colouring matters.
The whole is then filtered through a cloth bag, and the alkaloid in the filtrate is precipitated
by Caustic Soda, separated by filtration, squeezed, dried, and powdered. It is then “ Amorphous
1 The mill used by the peasantry for grinding their grain.
Scales ife vru'Jr&s tx> thsjfoot.
ON THE LOCAL MANUFACTURE OF A CINCHONA FEBRIFUGE.
53
Before it leaves the manufactory, as a precautionary measure, it is always tested for ^ughton ,s
manufactur-
Potasli
fuel.
should be obtained from aslies of
Quinine.”
copper.
“ 23. Formerly, from the ashes of the fuel employed, Caustic Potash was prepared, to use d^c?ibed!S
as precipitant, instead of soda. But lately so small an
amount of potash has occurred in the ashes that this
has been discontinued. If the Cinchona wood from cop-
piced trees was employed as fuel, this might be again resumed, and thus a further saving effected.
“ 24. Sulphuric acid has been used in preference to hydrochloric acid, mainly because it is
the cheaper acid. While the cost is nearly the same, the
Why sulphuric acid is preferred for ex- effecfcjve work produced by the sulphuric acid is nearly
double that of hydrochloric acid for equal weights. It
has also some better qualities for transit through the tropics. The use of sulphuric acid has
also some chemical advantages which I need not further particularise. With Red Bark there is
unfortunately no fear of the sudden crystallisation of Quinine Sulphate on the dilution mention-
ed in paragraph 22, as there would be with Crown Bark.
“ 25. The alkaloid which is carried down in connection with the precipitated resin, and in
the purification by fractional precipitation, is, of course,
from time to time obtained free from impurities by the
obvious methods of drying and digestion with dilute
acids, etc. Thus obtained, it is generally very pure and colourless.
“ 26. Throughout the whole course of manufacture,
apparatus tbiougbout has been sjmpiic^y 0£ arrangement has been carried out, as far as
possible. The reasons for this are —
—That certain labour-saving appliances which are used in England would here he a
source of considerable expense and are obtainable with great difficulty and delay.
Until alkaloid manufacture in South India has proved itself a permanent success, I
have, therefore, felt it wiser to refrain from all dispensable expenditure for apparatus
for which simple substitutes could be provided.
2 nd. — That the simpler the apparatus the more readily are they repaired, when necessary,
in India.
The intelligence of Canarese coolies on the Nilgiris is fully exercised by the simplest
proceedings of manufacture ; therefore any increase in their apparent complexity has
to be made with a risk of loss and injury to the apparatus.
*******
Alkaloid
wasted.
Simple
preferred
contained in the resin is not
lst.-
3rd.-
“ 35.
Sources
ure.
I will indicate the sources of the loss of alkaloid which occur in the manufacture,
nearly the whole of which are preventible only at a
greatly increased cost of labour and product —
of waste of alkaloid in manufac-
“ 1st. — The not quite complete exhaustion of the hark of alkaloid on first extraction with
acidulated water. Usually the bark at the end of the boilings described in para-
graph 16 of this report still contains a small amount of alkaloid which another boil-
ing and squeezing would remove. This is not now performed, as the small amount of
alkaloid obtained would not repay the cost of the labour, fuel, and subsequent
evaporation.
“ %nd. — Spilling and waste of extract, and occasionally of bark itself, by the carelessness
and indifference of the coolies. This is not preventible in India.
“ 3rd. — Waste of material in grinding the lime precipitate and in final powdering of the
alkaloid. This may, with care and training, be diminished, but cannot entirely be
obviated.
“ 4 th. — The solubility to a small extent of the alkaloid in limewater. At the beginning
of the year 1872-73 loss from this source occurred. It has since, as I have before
mentioned, been prevented by the evaporation of the liquid extract of hark down
to a small bulk, before the precipitation with milk of lime is performed. I cannot
fairly estimate the amount of waste that has occurred from this source, hut believe
it will not have exceeded 20tbs. of alkaloid.
“ 36. As a measure of precaution I have repeatedly tested whether the lime precipitate is
completely exhausted of alkaloid by the alcohol before throwing it away, and have always
found that no alkaloid is wasted by imperfect exhaustion, as might otherwise be naturally
supposed.”
Up to the end of the financial year 1872-73, about six hundred pounds ofEesuitsof
Amorphous Cinchona alkaloids had been produced at the Nilgiri factory. It manufacture
was found, however, that, after calculating at its manufacturing value 1 the Sfiig’iris
price of the hark used, Mr. Broughton’s product cost more than ordinary com-
mercial Quinine. The factory has accordingly been closed, and arrangements
are to be made for the disposal of the whole of the Nilgiri bark otherwise than
by local manufacture.
The Sikkim plantations are younger than those on flie Nilgiris. No Locai
Quinologist was appointed to them until the end of the year 1873, when Mr.
1 The prices taken by the Commission appointed to inquire into the working of the factory are— Dry truuk bark
2s., and branch bark 6 d. a pound.
O
54
CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA.
Sikkim
method of
manufacture.
Rate of
production
of alkaloid in
Sikkim.
C. H. Wood was sent out by the Secretary of State. Owing to delays in the
arrival of his laboratory apparatus, Mr. Wood was unable to begin work before
March 1874. Some time was necessarily spent in the preliminary work of
analysing the various barks produced in the plantation with the view of deter-
mining the influence of elevation, manure, &c., on them, and also in conducting
experiments with the object of settling on the most advantageous mode of
manufacturing an efficient febrifuge. Actual manufacturing operations did not
therefore begin until 1875.
The method at present in operation in the factory in Sikkim is simple in
the extreme. Its principle has been thus described : —
“ In this method,” writes Mr. Wood,1 “ the bark (roughly powdered) is first exhausted with
cold acidulated water, and the resulting liquor precipitated hy a caustic alkali. It is therefore
essentially the same as that advocated by Dr. DeVry, although I have found it desirable to modify
the plan of precipitation he recommended.” * * * “ No fuel is required except what may
be necessary to dry the alkaloid obtained. No expensive machinery is involved, the only plant
required being some wooden tubs and calico filters. Skilled labour is unnecessary, and very
little supervision is wanted.”
At present about a ton of dry Red Bark is being worked up in Sikkim per
week by this process. The bark hitherto so utilised has been chiefly derived
from thinnings and prunings undertaken from time to time in the interests of
the trees. By the end of the current financial year (1875-76) about 32,000
ounces of alkaloid will have been turned out. Next year a much larger
quantity will he yielded.
After making a very moderate estimate as to the actual number of trees
on the plantation and of the outturn of bark per tree (viz., one and a half
pounds in eight years), and after covering every expense and including
interest at four per cent, on all the capital sunk in the Government
Cinchona enterprise in Sikkim, Mr. Wood calculates that there can soon be
yielded by this rough process from 130,000 to 140,000 ounces (or from 3f to
4 tons) annually of an efficient febrifuge at a cost of rather less than one rupee
per ounce. But more complete methods of extraction are now under trial by
Mr. Wood, which give promise of a still cheaper rate for the outturn. Taken
in large bulk the Sikkim Red Bark yields a mixed alkaloid of an almost uniform
composition, which Mr. Wood gives as follows : —
Crystallisable Quinine
Amorphous Quinine
Cinchonine
Cinchonidine
Colouring matter, &c.
15‘5 parts.
17-0
33-5
))
29-0
5-0
))
Total • ... 100-0
An approximate2 idea of the commercial value of this compound may be
got by calculating what it would cost to make up a compound of similar
proportions of the sulphates of the cinchona alkaloids as sold in the London
market. The prices of these sulphates fluctuate greatly, and those of the alkaloids
other than Quinine do so more especially. And, although at the present time
plentiful, there is no guarantee that these alkaloids could always be had
in any quantity, even at a considerably enhanced price. As has already been
explained, they are by-products of the manufacture of Quinine and do not exist
in large proportion in the barks used by Quinine manufacturers. They exist
largely in Red Bark, which is at present chiefly a druggist’s, and not a Quinine-
maker’s bark, and were a Quinine-maker obliged to resort to Red Bark he proba-
bly could not afford to pay current rates for it and to sell its alkaloids also at
current rates. The Sikkim alkaloid at one rupee an ounce will in all pro-
bability remain very much cheaper than a similar mixture purchased in
Europe, and it will have the great advantage of being always available at one
price. The establishment of the therapeutic value of the alkaloids other than
Quinine has however been really one of the results of the Government Cinchona
enterprise : there is therefore nothing unfair in regarding 130,000 ounces of
the Sikkim product as nearly equal in money value (as it apparently is in
1 Report of Government Quinologist, British Sikkim, dated 5th August 1874.
- Only approximate, because, whereas the Sikkim product consists of the pure uncombined alkaloids, the com-
mercial sulphates consist of a comparatively costly alkaloid chemically combined with a considerable percentage of
sulphuric acid, which is one of the cheapest of chemicals.
ON THE LOCAL MANUFACTURE OF A CINCHONA FEBRIFUGE.
55
therapeutic efficiency) to a similar amount of Quinine which, at nine shillings
an ounce, it would cost the State £58,500 sterling to purchase in London.
The Sikkim alkaloid has already been submitted to a careful trial by
physicians attached to the four leading hospitals in Calcutta : it has also been
tried in the Burdwan fever. The reports 1 of the gentlemen who tried the
preparation are so favourable that Dr. Cockhurn, the Deputy Surgeon-General
of the Presidency Circle, has given it as his opinion that there is “ sufficient
evidence to shew that the drug may he brought into general use.” Larger
quantities are now being issued for trial in other parts of India. Should this
drug be accepted by the medical profession in India as an efficient febrifuge,
they will be provided with a means of combating the commonest disease in
the country such as they never before possessed. It is notorious that its high
price has prevented and still prevents the sufficiently free use of Quinine in
dispensary and other practice among the poor, and, until a cheaper substitute
be given to the medical profession and to the general public, the old and
ineffectual combat with malarious fever is likely to continue. With a good
febrifuge at a rupee or twelve annas an ounce, malarious fever should be
robbed of three-fourths of its annual victims, and the poor of this land be
thus attached to their paternal Government by yet another bond.
Therapeutic
value of the
Sikkim
Cinchona
febrifuge.
J Extracts from these reports will be found in Appendix M.
.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A.
List of the chief Modern Works relating to Cinchona (from Fliickiger and H anbury’s
Pharmacographia, page 328).
Berg (Otto), Chinarinden der pharmakognostisclien Sammlung zu Berlin. Berlin, 18G5, 4to,
48 pages and 10 plates shewing the microscopic structure of barks.
Bergen (Heinrich von), Monographie der China. Hamburg, 1826, 4to, 348 pages and 7
coloured plates representing the following barks: — China rubra, Huanuco, Calisaya,
flava, Huamalies, Loxa, Jaeu. An exhaustive work for its period in every direction.
Blue-books — East India ( Cinchona Plant), folio. —
A. — Copy of correspondence relating to the introduction of the Cinchona plant into
India, and to proceedings connected with its cultivation, from, March 1852 to
March 1863.
Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 20th March 1863. 272 pages.
Contains correspondence of Royle, Markham, Spruce, Pritchett, Cross, Mclvor,
Anderson and others, illustrated by 5 maps.
B. — Copy of further correspondence relating to the introduction of the Cinchona plant
into India, and to proceedings connected with its cultivation, from April 1863 to
April 1866.
Ordered by the House of Commons to he printed, 18th June 1866. 379 pages.
Contains monthly reports of the plantations on the Nilgiri Hills ; annual reports
for 1863-64 and 1864-65, with details of method of propagation and cultivation,
barking, mossing, attacks of insects, illustrated by woodcuts and 4 plates ; report
of Cross’s journey to Pitayo, with map ; Cinchona cutivation in Wynaad, Coorg,
thePulney Hills and Travancore with map ; in British Sikkim, the Kangra Valley
(Punjab), the Bombay Presidency, and Ceylon.
C. — Copy of all correspondence between the Secretary of State for India and the Governor -
General, and the Governors of Madras and Bombay, relating to the cultivation
of Cinchona plants, from April 1866 to April 1870.
Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 9th August 1870.
Contains reports on the Nilgiri and other plantations, with map ; appointment of
Mr. Broughton as analytical chemist, his reports and analyses ; reports on the
relative efficacy of the several Cinchona alkaloids ; on Cinchona cultivation at
Daijeeling and in British Burma.
Delondre (Augustin Pierre) et Bouchardat (Apollinaire), Quinologie. Paris, 1854, 4to, 48 pages,
and 23 good coloured plates exhibiting all the barks then met with in commerce.
Gorkom (K. W. van), Die Chinacultur anf Java, Leipzig, 1869, 61 pages. An account of the
management of the Dutch plantations.
Howard (John Eliot), Illustrations of the Nueva Quinologia of Pavon. London, 1862, folio,
163 pages and 30 beautiful coloured plates. Figures of Cinchona, mostly taken from
Pavon’s specimens in the Herbarium of Madrid, and three plates representing the structure
of several barks.
Howard (John Eliot), Quinology of the East Indian Plantations. London, 1869, fol. x. and
43 pages, with 3 coloured plates, exhibiting structural peculiarities of the barks of cultiva-
ted Cinchona.
Karsten (Hermann), Die medicinischen chinarinden Neu- Granada’ s. Berlin, 1858, 8vo., 71 pages,
and two plates shewing microscopic structure of a few barks. An English translation pre-
pared under the supervision of Mr. Markham, has been priuted by the India Office, under
the title of Notes on the Medicinal Cinchona Barks of New Granada by H. Karsten, 1861.
The plates have not been reproduced.
Karsten (Hermann), Flora Columbia terrarumque adjacentium specimina selecta. Berolini, 1858,
folio. Beautiful coloured figures of various plants, including Cinchona, under which name
are several species usually referred to other genera. Only the first three parts have been
published.
Markham (Clements Robert) . The Cinchona species of New Granada, containing the botanical
descriptions of the species examined by Drs. Mutis and Karsten ; with some account of those
botanists and of the results of their labours. London, 1867, 8vo., 139 pages and 5 plates.
The plates are not coloured, yet are good reduced copies of those contained in Karsten’s
Flora Columbia-, they represent the following: — Cinchona corymbosa, C. Triana, C.
lancfolia, C. cordifolia, C. Tucujensis.
p
58
APPENDICES.
Miquel (Friedrich Anton Wilhelm) De Cinchona speciebus quibusdam, adjedis Us qua in
Java coluntur. Commentatio ex Annalibus Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi exscripla.
Amstelodami, 1869, 4to, 20 pages.
Phoebus (Philipp), Die Delondre- Bouchardaf schen China-Rinden. Giessen, 1864, 8vo, 75 pages
and a table. The author gives a description, without figures, of the miscroscopic structure
of the type-specimens figured in Delondre and Bouchardat's Quinologie.
Planchon (Gustave), Des Quinquinas. Paris et Montpellier, 1864, 8vo., 150 pages. A descrip-
tion of the Cinchonas and their barks. An English translation has been issued under
the superintendence of Mr. Markham by the India Office, under the title of Peruvian
Barks, by Gustave Planchon, London, printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1866.
Soubeiran (J. Leon) et Delondre (Augustin), De V introduction et de V acclimataiion des
Cinchonas dans les hides neerlandaises et dans les hides britanniques. Paris, 1868, 8vo,
165 pages.
Triana (Jose), Nouvelles etudes sur les Quinquinas. Paris, 1870, folio, 80 pages and 33 plates.
An interesting account of the labours of Mutis, illustrated by uucoloured copies of
some of the drawings prepared by him in illustration of his unpublished Quinologia de
Bogota, especially of the several varieties of Cinchona lancifolia ; also an enumeration and
short descriptions of all the species of Cinchona , and of New Granadian plants (chiefly
Cascarilla) formerly placed in that genus.
Yogi (August), Chinarinden des Wiener Grosshandels und der Wiener Sammlungen. Wien,
1867, 8 vo, 134 pages, no figures. A very exhaustive description of the microscopic
structure of the barks occurring in the Vienna market, or preserved in the museums of
that city.
Weddell (Hugh Algernon), Histoire naturelle des Quinquinas, ou monographic du genre Cin-
chona, suivie d’une description du genre Cascarilla et de quelques autres plantes de la
meme tribu. Paris, 1849, folio, 108 pages, 33 plates and map. Excellent uucoloured
figures of Cinchona and some allied genera, and beautiful coloured drawings of the
officinal barks. Plate I exhibits the anatomical structure of the plant; Plate II that
of the bark.
Weddell (Hugh Algernon), Notes sur les Quinquinas, extrait des Annales des Sciences
naturelles, 5dme s&rie, tomes XI et XII, Paris, 1870, 8vo, 75 pages. A systematic arrange-
ment of the genus Cinchona, and description of its (33) species, accompanied by useful
remarks on their barks. An English translation has been printed by the India Office
with the title, Notes on the Quinquinas by H. A. Weddell, London, 1871, 8vo, 64 pages.
A German edition by Dr. F. A. Fluckiger has also appeared under the title, Uebersicht
der Cinchonen von H. A. Weddell, Schaff hausen and Berlin, 1871, 8vo, 43 pages, with
additions and indices.
APPENDIX B.
Statement shelving quantities of Quina Sulphas, Cinchonine, Cinchonidine, and Quinidine
Sulphates supplied to the Government Medical Depots in India from 1867 to 1873, and price
of the same.
Quantity.
Price.
Bengal.
1867.
Lbs.
£ s. d.
Quin® Sulphas...
1,083
0 4 0 per oz
1868.
Quin® Sulphas ...
500
0 3 11 „
?) »
1,617
3 10 8 per lb.
1869.
Cinchonine, Sulphate of — ...
150
0 12 0 „
Ciuchonidine „
150
2 8 0 „
Quinidine „
150
2 8 0 „
Quin® Sulphas ... ... ... ...
1,000
4 4 0 „
„ ,, ... ... •••
1,068
4 3 6 „
Cinchonine, Sulphate of — ...
350
0 9 6 „
Cinchonidine „
350
2 10 0 „
Quinidine „
350
2 10 0 „
1870.
Quin® Sulphas ...
1,160
4 19 8 „
)> >>
1,200
5 3 4,,
» >>
1,100
4 2 9,,
APPENDICES,
59
APPENDIX B — ( continued ).
B e N G a l — ( continued ) .
1871.
Quinse Sulphas ...
Cinchonidine Sulphate ...•
Quinidine
C Ihs. 850^
1 „ 846 J
Lbs.
1,696
220
160
£ s. d.
'5 5 10 per 16.
and
.5 5 2 „
2 0 0 „
2 14 0 „
1872.
Quinse Sulphas ...
>) ))
Quinine, Neutral Sulphate of —
Quinse Sulphas ...
Quinine, Neutral Sulphate of —
500
500
760
60
950
40
6 0 0
5 10 2
4 18 8
4 6 0
4 18 8
4 6 0
yy
yy
y*
yy
yy
yy
1873.
Quinse Sulphas
yy yy
1874.
Quinse Sulphas
Cinchonidine, Sulphate of —
Cinchonine ,,
Quinidine ,, ...
Ciuchona Febrifuge, Darjeeling
1875.
Quinse Sulphas ...
Cinchonidine, Sulphate of —
Cinchonine „
Quinidine „
Cinchona Febrifuge, Darjeeling
Madras.
1867.
Quinse Sulphas ...
yy yy
yy yy
1868.
Quinidine, Sulphate of — ...
Cinchonidine, Sulphate of —
Cinchonine „
Quinse Sulphas ...
16s. oz.
60 10
2,546
16s,
5,524
115
86
302
20
3,037
116
28
142
305
0 7 lOperoz.
6 16 0 per 16.
200
67
461
0 4
0 4
0 4
3
0
0
per oz.
yy
yy
133
133
133
645
0 5
0 5
0 1
3 18
0 „
6 „
8 per 16.
1869.
Quinse Sulphas ...
Quinidine, Sulphate of — ...
Cinchonine ,,
Quinse Sulphas ...
150
150
61
200
4 4
2 4
0 10
4 10
0
0
0
8
yy
yy
yy
yy
1870.
Quinse Sulphas ...
Cinchonine, Sulphate of — ...
Cinchonidine ,,
Quinidine „
130
149
208
195
5 6 8
0 12 0
2 0 0
2 8 0
yy
yy
yy
yy
Quinse Sulphas ...
Cinchonine, Sulphate of —
Quinse Sulphas, bleached
„ ,, unbleached...
1871.
360
20
15
25
5 6 6 „
1 0 6 „
0 8 3 per oz.
60
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX B — ( concluded ).
Quantity.
Price.
1872-73.
Lbs. oz.
£. a. d.
Quinae Sulphas ...
300
5 0 0 per lb.
>)
183 6
6 16 0 „
Cinchonine, Sulphate of — ...
48 8
Cinchonidine ,,
10 9
Quinidine ,,
71 14
1874.
IBs.
Quinae Sulphas ...
399
Cinchonine, Sulphate of — ...
74
Cinchonidine ,,
55
Quinidine „
63
1875.
Quinae Sulphas ...
632
Cinchonine, Sulphate of — ...
124
Cinchonidine „
68
Quinidine „
124
Bombay.
1867.
Quinae Sulphas ...
500
0 4 2peroz.
jy yy ... ... ... » « »
200
0 1 6 „
1868.
Quinae Sulphas ...
760
4 14 per lb.
1869.
Quinae Sulphas ... ... ...
750
4 3 0 „
1870.
Quinae Sulphas ... ... ...
700
4 17 6 „
yy yy
810
4 13 9 „
1871.
Cinchonine ... ... ...
3
1 4 0 „
Quinae Sulphas ...
400
5 18 6 „
1872.
Quinae Sulphas ...
722
5 12 0 „
1874.
Quinae Sulphas ...
1,000
Cinchonidine, Sulphate of —
167
Cinchonine „
Quinidine ,,
1875.
Quinae Sulphas ...
891
Cinchonidine, Sulphate of —
345
Cinchonine ,,
Quinidine „
...
APPENDICES,
61
02
APPENDICES.
Ootacamund, W. G. McIVOR,
\Wt June 1874. Snjodt ., Govt. Cinchona Plantations.
APPENDICES.
G3
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9s cS O
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■ P a a Q
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-u -u
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ci
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6 s» & : aa £ g «
m
"p *pP ci .S ^ ^
! * = |*i ■si %
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1 These prices arc quoted from the Nilgiri Report; they do not harmonise with the prices actually ruling at recent bark sales in London as given in Appendix G, pp GO— 70.
64
APPENDICES.
P
XI
t— I
P
P
P
P
<1
£3 O O CO
CO w*
r-T O
A
»q_ t-«
CO T*
P$ W
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WcqHOfeOfi,QPiHWPciHQWO>*ao2
-p i- a
The expenditure on account of the Quiuologist is not Included in the above statement.
APPENDICES
65
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£
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R
The above return refers only to trees planted out, nursery stock being excluded.
66
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX F.
Revenue and Expenditure of Government Cinchona Plantations in British Sikkim, on all
counts, from their commencement to 31s^ March 1875.
Year.
t-
Revenue.
Charges.
Rs.
Rs.
1862-63
nil
9,455
1863-64
nil
10,421
1864-65
nil
39,096
1865-66
nil
59,063
1866-67
nil
48,964
1867-68
1,068
67,601
1868-69
543
75,965
1869-70
156
54,542
1870-71
nil
54,756
1871-72
1,484
60,023
1872-73
2,320
50,795
1873-74
2,387
55,620
1874-75
nil
59,942
Total
7,958
6,46,243
APPENDIX G.
PARTICULARS OP BARK SALES AT LONDON.
{The prices are per pound avoirdupois.)
21 st and 2 3th January 1875.
91 Serons Calisaya, flat, middling- to good, 2s. 3d. to 3s. 5d., about 20 sold.
405 Packages Calisaya, quill, middling to good —
215 Packages sold, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 8 d.
190 Ditto bought in, 2s. to 2s. 3d.
38 Serons Caravaya, quill, fair, Is. 9 d., bought in.
1,659 Bales soft Columbian, middling to good —
485 bales sold, Is. 5 d., to 2s.
1,174 „ bought in, Is. 6d. to 2s. 4 d.
52 Bales New Granadian, fair, 2s. 3d., bought in.
136 Bags Maracaibo, fair, 2 \d., sold.
39 Bales Carthagena, middling, hard, Is. 1 d. to Is. 2 d., sold.
46 „ Ceylon Cinchona, middling to fair, 8 d. to Is. 3d., sold.
420 „ Ashy Crown —
21 bales, fair to good, Is. 3d. to 2s. 4 d. 1 , ,
399 „ ordinary to fair, 3d. to Is. Id. / so '
169 Sacks Mossy Lima, fair to good, 3d. to 4 d., sold.
34 Serons Crown, very ordinary to middling, 4 d. to Is. 5 d., soli.
67 Bales Red, fair to good, but rather small, Is. to 2s., about three-fourths sold.
4 th and 9 th February 1875.
492 Serons Calisaya, quill, middling to good, 2s. 3d. to 3s. 5 d., about 320 sold.
40 Ditto ditto „ common, smooth like Crown, withdrawn.
85 Ditto ditto „ „ Is. to 2s., about 60 sold, Is. 4 d., to Is. 3d.
ac-
APPENDICES. 67
3 Serons Calisaya, bold quill, fair to good, 3s. id. to 3s. 11 d., sold.
76 Ditto ditto flat, middling to good, 2s. 6 d. to 3s. 3 d.} about 20 sold, 3s. to 3s. 3 d.
831 Ditto soft Columbian, middling to good —
582 Serons, bought in, Is. 8 d. to 2s. 8<£.
249 Ditto common, sold, 3 d. to Is. 3d.
101 Ditto New Granadian, fair, 52 Serons sold before the sale, remainder, 2s. 3d.,
bought in.
37 Ditto Hard Pitayo, withdrawn.
17 Bags Ceylon Cinchona, small, twiggy to fair, 6d. to Is. 5 d., sold.
98 Bales Crown —
42 Bales, fair to good, Is. to 2s. 3^.,~| , i
36 Ditto very ordinary, 2d. to 9 d., f S0 ( '
35 Ditto red, very ordinary to middling, 6d. to Is. 3d., part sold.
12 Serons Condurango, good, 3d., bought in. >
Dated 18 th and 23 rd February 1875.
262 Serons Calisaya, flat, middling to fair, 2s. 2d. to 3s. 3d., about 100 sold, 2s. 9 d. to
3s. 3d.
82 Serons Calisaya, flat, ordinary to fair, all damaged, Is. 3d. to 3s. Id., about 50 sold.
205 Ditto ditto quill, very middling to fair, 2s. 6d. to 3s., about 30 sold, 2s. 9 d.
54 Ditto ditto ,, very inferior, smooth, Is. Id. to 2s., bought in.
3 Ditto ditto bold picked quill, 4s. 3d. to 5s. 5 d., sold.
850 Packages soft Columbian, middling to good, Is. 5 d to 2s. 8 d., about 70 sold, Is. 9 d.
to 2s. 2d.
412 Packages soft Columbian, very ordinary, Is., about 20 sold.
417 Ditto New Granadian, middling to fair, Is. Id. to 2s. 8 d., about 140 sold.
32 Bales Carthagena, middling to fair, Is. 1 d. to Is. 3d., sold.
30 Ditto ditto common, 3d. to 8 d., sold.
64 Ditto Crown, middling to good, Is. to 2s. 3d., all sold.
180 Ditto ditto very ordinary to middling, 3d. to 9 d., about 60 sold.
267 Ditto Mossy Lima, fair to good, id. to 3d., bought in.
56 Ditto Maracailes, middling to fair, 1 \d. to 3 \d., sold.
40 Ditto Red, middling to fair, Is. to 3s. 9 d., about 30 sold.
6 Ditto Ceylon Cinchona, fair silvery quill, Is. Id., sold.
18^ and 23rd March 1875.
51 Serons Calisaya, flat, middling to fair, 2s. to 3s., bought in.
309 „ „ quill, middling to fine, 2s. to 4s. Id., about 150 sold at 3s. 3d. to 4s. Id.
1693 Bales soft Columbian, middling to good —
44 sold before the sale.
367 withdrawn.
303 sold, Is. to 2s. 5 d.
979 bought in, Is. to 2s. 8^.
183 Bales New Granadian, fair to good, 2s. to 2s. 8 d., about 70 sold at 2s. 7 d. to 2s. 8 d.
25 ,, Hard Carthagena, Is., bought in.
87 „ Maracaibo, middling to fair, 2 \d. to 3d., about half sold at 2 \d.
85 Serons Crown, fair to fine, Is. 2d. to 2s. 2d., nearly all sold.
48 ,, „ very ordinary, id. to 3d., sold.
26 Cases Red, middling to good, Is. 3d. to 3s. 9 d., about 20 sold at Is. 3d. to 2s.
23 Bales East Indian Cinchona at Madras, good to fine Officinalis 2s. 10<7. to 3s. 10 d.
all sold.
8 tk and 13 th April 1875.
167 Serons Calisaya, middling flat, 2s. 1 d. to 2s. 10^., bought in.
36 ,j „ „ withdrawn.
10 ,, „ quill, 1 seron fine sold at 3s. 5 d., remainder middling to fair bought
in at Is. Qd. to 2s. lOi.
126 Bales Carthagena, fair to good, Is. 3d. to Is. 6^., sold.
39 „ „ middling, 8 d. sold.
180 Cases East Indian Cinchona, fair to fine, Is. 8 d. to 3s. 3d., about half sold.
907 Bales soft Columbian, middling to good-
62 Bales withdrawn.
845 „ Is. to 2s. 9 d., about 80 sold at Is. to 2s. Id.
18 Serons Hard Pitayo fine, 2s. 5 d. to 2s. 3d., bought in.
37 Cases Red, middling quilly to good flat, Is. to 2s. 13d., about three-fourths sold.
20 Bales Maracaibo, fair, 2 %d., sold.
165 Serons Crown and Grey, middling to fine, 3d. to 2s. 5 d., all sold.
233 Sacks Mossy Lima, middling, 2 id. to 2| d., about three-fourths sold.
68
APPENDICES.
22 nd and 21th April 1875.
115 Serons Calisaya, flat, middling' to fair, 2s. 6d. to 2s. 10d., about three-fourths sold.
160 „ ,, quill, middling to good, 2s. 3d. to 3s. Id., about 100 sold.
23 ,, „ „ very inferior, Is. 7 d. to 2s., bought in.
506 Bales soft Columbian, very middling to fair, Is. to 2s. 3d., nearly all bought in.
66 „ „ very ordinary, 6d., bought in.
359 „ New Granadian, fair to good, Is. 9 d. to 2s. 9 d., about 220 sold at 2s. 3d. to
2s. 9 d.
51 „ Hard Pitayo, middling, 8 d. to Is., bought in.
87 „ very ordinary Columbian, 2d., bought in.
220 Bags East Indian Cinchona at Madras, fair to fine, Is. 3d. to 3s. 5 d., all sold, about.
97 lbs. each.
60 Cases „ „ at Calicut, fair, Is. 9d. to 2s. 1 d., bought in, about 100 lbs. each.
35 Serons Crown, fair to good. Is. 3d. to 2s. 4 d., sold.
22 ,, „ very ordinary to middling, 4 d. to 10 d., bought in.
15 Cases Red, middling to fair, 2s. 4 d. to 3s., bought in.
11 Bales „ fair, badly damaged, 3|d. to 4£d., sold.
Is* and 3th July 1875.
72 Serons Calisaya, flat, middling to fair, 2s. 4 d. to 3s. 2d., sold.
384 „ „ quill, middling to fine, 3s. to 3s. lid., about 100 sold.
10 ,, „ picked quill, 4s. 3d. to 6s. 2d., sold.
54 „ „ very inferior smooth quill, Is. 2d. to 2s. 3d., about 35 sold at Is. 2d. to
Is. 4 d.
1,320 Bales soft Columbian, middling to good, Is. lOd. to 2s. Id., bought in.
201 Bales New Granadian, good, 2s. 2d. to 2s. 3d., about 60 sold at 2s. 3d. to 2s. 3d.
200 Bales Maracaibo, fair bright 3d. to 4 d., bought in.
27 Cases East India Cinchona, 21 fair quill Is. 5 d. to 2s. 3d., bought in 3d. twiggy
Id., sold.
79 Cases Red, 32, fair to good heavy flat, Is. 3d. to 4s. 3d. | .
47, small and inferior, 4 \d. to Is. j a so c .
20 Bales Ashy Crown, Is. 3d., bought in.
10 Bales Crown, fair, Is. 5 d. to Is, 7 d., sold.
63 Sacks Mossy Lima, middling to good, 2d. to 4 d., bought in.
7 th and 12 th October 1875.
60 Serons Calisaya, flat, middling, 2s. to 3s., bought in.
20 „ „ „ „ 2s. 2d. to 2s. 9 d., sold.
3 „ „ „ picked, 3s. lid. to 4s., bought in,
72 „ „ quill, ordinary to good, 2s. to 3s. 6d., bought in.
23 „ „ „ good, 3s. to '6s. 5d., sold.
9 Bales Carthagena, middling, 4d. to 8d., part sold.
204 „ Soft Columbian, good, 2s. to 2s. 4d., bought in.
9 „ „ middling, Is. 9d. to 2s., sold.
83 „ „ withdrawn.
14 Bags Ceylon Cinchona Red, good, Is. 2d. to 2s. 8d., sold.
5 „ „ Crown, good, 4s. 3d. to 4s. 7 d., sold.
12 Bales Crown, middling, 4d. to Is. 5d., sold.
35 „ „ „ 3d. to Is. 9d., bought in.
59 „ mossy Lima, middling to fair, 3d. to 4d., bought in.
13 th October 1875.
86 Serons Calisaya, flat, middling, 2s. to 3s., bought in. ,
60 „ „ „ „ 2s 2d. to 2s. 9d., sold.
3 „ „ „ picked, 3s. lid. to 4s., bought in.
72 „ „ quill, ordinary to good, 2s. to 3d., bought in.
23 „ „ „ good, 3s. to 3s. 5d., sold.
9 Bales Carthagena, middling, 4d. to 8d., part sold.
204 „ Soft Columbian, good, 2s. to 2s. 4d., bought in.
9 „ „ „ middling, Is. 9d. to 2s., sold.
83 „ „ „ withdrawn.
14 Bags Ceylon Cinchona, Red, good, Is. 2d. to 2s. 3d., sold.
5 „ „ „ Crown, good, 4s. 6d. to 4s. Id., sold.
12 Bales Crown, middling, 4d. to Is. 5 d., sold.
35 „ „ „ 3d. to Is. 9d., bought in.
APPENDICES.
69
hth and 3tli November 1875.
65 Serous Calisaya, flat, middling, all country damaged, 2s. to 2s. 4 d., bought in.
49 „ „ ordinary smooth quill, Is. 3d., bought in.
512 Bales Soft Columbian, middling to good, Is. 8 d. to 2s. 8 d., bought in.
145 ., „ very middling, Is. to Is. 3d., bought in.
103 ,, „ good, sold before the sale.
117 ,, Carthagena, fair to good. Is. 5 d. to 2s. 2d., sold.
15 ,. ,, common, 7 d. to 8 d., sold.
18 Cases East India Cinchona, fair quill, @ Cochin and Mangalore, 2s. 4 d. to 2s. 10 d.,
bought iu.
35 „ Crown & Grey, fair to fine, Is. 3d. to 2s. Id., all sold.
7 „ „ „ very inferior, 3d. to 3d., bought in.
59 ,, Mossy Lima, fair to good, 4 \d. to 3d., bought in.
2nd and 1th December 1875.
20 Serons Calisaya, flat, middling, 2s. Id. to 2s. 13d., sold.
106 „ ,, quill, good, 3s. lOcZ. to 4s. 4 d., sold.
172 ,, ,, ,, fair, 3s. 2d. to 3s. 3d, about half sold.
6 Cases ,, „ picked, 6s., bought in.
192 Bales Carthagena, fair to good, Is. 6^. to 2s., sold.
8 ,, „ inferior, 3d. to Is., sold.
81 ,, Soft Columbian, withdrawn.
489 „ „ middling to fair, 2s. to 2s. 3d., bought in.
21 ,, New Granadian, middling, Is. Id., sold.
158 „ Ceylon Cinchona, fair quill, 2s. to 2s. 5d. ) ,,
17 „ „ „ middling, small quill, Is. 2d. to Is. llr?. J so
5 Cases Red, middling to fair. Is. to 2s. 3d., sold.
22 Bales Maracaibo, fair, 3d., sold.
196 ,, Mossy Lima, middling to fair, 3d. to 3d., bought in.
5 Serons Crown, good, Is. 1 \d. to 3s., sold.
83 „ ,, middling to fair, 5 d. to Is. 3d., mostly bought in.
13th and 18 th January 1876.
402 Serons Calisaya, flat, ordinary to fair, sound, 2s. 3d. to 3s.*) , , . . .
damaged, Id. to 2s. 3r/./about ioU sold’
26 ,, „ very ordinary, Is. ‘Id., bought in.
17 ,, „ middling, 2s. 2d. to 2s. 3d., sold.
266 „ „ quill, middling to good, 2s. 3d. to 3s. 10 d. ; 70 fair to good sold at
3s. 3d. to 3s. \0d., 196 middling bought in at 2s. 3d. to 3s.
139 „ „ inferior smooth quill, sound, Is. to Is. Id. sold; damaged at 3d. to
Is. 3d. sold.
5 Cases „ picked quill, 4s. 3d. to 5s. 9 d., sold.
42 Bales Carthagena, fair to good, Is. 3d. to 2s., sold.
19 „ ,, inferior hard, Id. to 1 Id., sold.
1995 „ Soft Columbian, fair to good, 2s. 2d. to 2s. 9 d., about 300 sold.
260 „ „ inferior, 9 d. to Is., bought in.
327 „ New Granadian, Is. 3d. to 2s. 8^., mostly sold.
38 ,, East India Cinchona, good quill, 2s. 5 d. to 3s. 3d. \ . ,
43 ,, „ „ middling quill, Is. 2d. to Is. lid. f so *
55 Serons Crown, fair to fine, Is. 5 d. to 3s. 5 d., all sold.
154 „ ,, ordinary to middling, 3d. to Is. Id., mostly bought in.
81 Bags Mossy Lima, fair to good bright, 3d. to 3d., part sold.
18 Cases Red, fair bright quilly and flattish, Is. 3d. to 2s. 3d. *) , .
pickings and dust, Id. to 9 d. j S0 '
101 Bales Maracaibo Bark, 3d. to 3^6?., bought in.
131
163
28
20
49
6
169
58
6
58
8
2 7lh January and ls£ February 1876.
Serons Calisaya, flat, very middling to fair, 2s. to 3s., about half sold at 2s. to 2s. 3d.
quill, good to fine, 3s. 3d. to 3s. 13d., all sold.
„ middling, 3s., bought in.
,, ordinary, Is., 10^. do.
„ very ordinary smooth like Crown, Is. to Is. 3d., bought in.
Cases „ „ fine picked, 5s. 6^. to 5s. 13d., sold.
Serons Soft Columbian, fair to good, Is. 8 d. to 2s. 3d., about 40 sold at Is. 8 d. to Is. 3d.
„ Hard Pitayo, fair. Is. 3d., sold.
Cases East India Cinchona Bark, middling to fair quill, Is. 10^. to 2s. 3d., sold.
Bales Carthagena, fair to good, Is. Id. to Is. 3d., all sold.
„ ,, inferior hard quill, 6^., sold.
))
s
70
APPENDICES.
44 Serous Ashy Crown., good to fine, 2 s. 1<7. to 2s. 10 d., all sold.
70 „ „ middling to fair, Is. lrf. to Is. 9d., all sold.
44 ,, ,, very ordinary, 6d. to 9 d., bought in.
280 Bags Mossy Lima, ordinary to fair, 2 d. to 4 d., bought in.
48
114
20
380
123
470
67
37
13
256
37
11
20
9
24 th and 29 th February 1876.
Serons Calisaya, flat, very ordinary to middling, all damaged, Is. to 2s. bou
„ ,, quill, very ordinary, 9 d. to Is., bought in.
„ ,, flat, fair sound, 2s. 3d. to 2s. 8^., sold.
,, New Granadian, fair to good, Is. 3d. to 3s. 2d., about 300 sold.
,, ,, inferior, Is. lfl?. to Is. Id., all sold.
,, Soft Columbian, ordinary to good, Is. to 2s. Id., bought in.
„ ,, sold before the sale.
„ Carthagena, fair to good, Is. Id. to Is. 9 d., all sold.
,, ,, very middling, 5 d. to 9 d., sold.
„ Ashy Crown, middling to fine, Is. 5 d. to 2s. 9 d., all sold.
„ Crown, very ordinary to middling, 2>d. to Is. 3d., bought in.
,, Red, middling to fair, Is. 6d. to 2s. 3d., bought in.
,, Mossy Lima, fair, 4 d., bought in.
Cases East India Cinchona, fair quill, 2s. 3d. to 3s., bought in.
ght in.
APPENDICES
71
APPENDIX II.
Meteorological observations made at the Botanical Gardens, Ootacamund,from 1#/ April 18G8
to 31#/ March 1869.
MONTHS.
Dby Bulb.
Wet Bulb.
Maxi-
mum in
shade.
Mini-
mum in
shade.
Rainfall.
7 A. M.
2 P. M.
6 P. M.
Daily
mean.
7 A. M.
2. p. M.
6. P. M.
Daily
mean.
Inches.
Cents.
Days
with
Rain.
Days
with-
out
Haiti.
April 1868
68-57
7271
6171
64-33
53-86
6093
56-79
57-19
77-87
53-23
75
ii
20
May „
67 0
70-36
60'96
6277
54-20
61-48
57-32
57 67
7377
53-93
7
09
20
11
June „
5475
6235
65-30 ?
67-47
63-86
58-65
54-45
55-65
63-71
5363
8
03
21
9
July
63 47
61-89
54-47
56-61
52-79
59-05
6358
5514
10
35
23
8
August „ ...
63-67
63-0
55-10
57-22
5271
59-29
53-90
55-30
65-68
3
14
18
13
September ,,
52 54
6427
56-31
57-71
61-46
69-88
55-04
55-46
67-40
7
59
18
12
October „
53-56
66-30
56.52
58-46
5096
69-74
64-74
5516
68-39
9
01
20
11
November „
51-23
66-12
55-69
67-68
45-96
66-12
50-85
50-98
6990
••
3
25
6
24
December „
61 81
69-24
55 52
6886
4338
55-95
48-76
49 36
71-07
34
3
28
January 1869
61-12
08-12
55-59
58-27
4395
67-76
50-76
60-82
71-20
44
4
27
February „
5219
70-0
59-44
60-64
48-44
60-12
64-62
64-40
73-48
...
30
3
25
March „
53-52
70-67
60-31
61-50
48-29
62-29
55 33
55-30
74-04
2
30
11
20
Total
Annual mean ...
52
69
168
208
6361
67-0
67-24
59-28
49-99
59 72
63-84
54-37
7059
Ootacamund. W. G. McIVOR,
Supdt. of Govt. Cinchona Plantations.
N eddivuttum Weather report from 1#/ April 1868 to 31s/ March 1869.
MONTHS.
Hygrometer.
Maximum in
Minimum in
Rain in
Days with
rain.
Days without
rain.
Dry bulb.
Wet buib.
shade.
shade.
Inches.
April 1868...
66
58
82
61
0-70
2
28
May „ ...
68
58
82
62
5-80
8
23
June „ ...
58
57
69
55
279
27
3 .
July „ ...
57
56
59
52
18-97
30
1
August „ ...
59
59
62
56
30-22
1
to
to
9
September „ ...
59
58
67
53
9-17
22
8
October „ ...
60
60
70
57
5-24
10
21
November „ ...
60
57
70
56
2-20
7
23
December „ ...
60
56
74
55
...
31
January 1869 ...
59
50
76
51
...
31
February „ ...
58
53
73
54
0-4
1
27
March „ ...
66
64
80
58
0-57
3
28
Ootacamund. W. G. McIVOR,
Supdt. of Govt. Cinchona Plantations.
72
APPENDICES.
Ootacamund, I ' W. G. MclVOR,
\st April 1871. / Supdt.f Govt. Cinchona Plantations.
APPENDICES.
73
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1^ April 1871. J Supdt ., Govt. Cinchona Plantations.
Abstract of Meteorological Observations at Rungbee for 1 866.
74
APPENDICES
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January
February
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October
November
December
76
APPENDICES
APPENDIX J.
RAINFALL, CINCHONA PLANTATIONS.
British Sikkim.
1872.
1873.
Rungbee,
3,332 feet.
Rishap,
2,000 feet.
Rungbee,
3,332 feet.
Mungpoo,
3,400 feet.
Rishap,
2,000 feet
In.
In.
In.
In.
In.
January ...
0-7
113
0-4
0 23
0-27
February ...
...
March
1-50
1-53
2-80
2-54
2-15
April
...
4-8
4-67
7-90
4-75
4-84
May
...
...
8-8
3-79
9-80
9-25
6-50
June
29-7
27-08
25-80
18-46
15-31
July
40-2
33-87
3510
29-94
27-47
August
34-8
20-14
41-85
25-62
23-90
September
...
33-75
1907
1615
11-32
1017
October . . .
11-30
9-33
November
...
...
0-09
0-09
0 09
December „
...
...
Total
165-55
120-61
139-89
102-20
90-70
APPENDIX K.
Abstract of Observations taken at Langdale Estate , Lindula, Ceylon , at 4,600 feet elevation.
KaINEADL.
Shade Tempebatube.
Exposed Thermometers.
No. of years observed. |
Days rain.
Total fall in inches.
Most in 24 hours.
Years observed.
Mean maximum.
Years observed.
Mean minimum.
Mean temperature.
Highest temperature.
Lowest temperature.
Years observed.
Mean maximum.
Years observed.
Mean minimum.
Highest temperature.
Lowest temperature.
January
6
11
391
2-48
5
o
732
6
O
66-6
o
64-85
O
80*
O
45*
3
O
105-8
2
48-0
o
128*
o
33-
February
6
8
2-28
1-47
5
75-9
6
555
65-70
81-
45-5
3
110-0
2
50-8
126-
42-
March
6
9
2-10
1-50
5
78-1
7
655
66-80
84-
465
3
113-8
2
491
126-
39-
April
6
15
7-04
2-96
5
78-2
7
68-1
68T5
89-
49'
3
114-8
2
62-4
136-
42-
May
7
19
6-87
249
6
75-7
7
60-2
67-95
83-5
50-
4
106-0
2
68-1
133-
46-
June
7
26
18-40
510
5
70-2
7
610
65-60
78-5
66-
4
92-1
2
58-4
118-
43-
July
7
26
17-32
377
5
68-7
7
59-9
6430
78-
64-
4
88-6
2
67-6
120-
48-
August
7
24
9-32
1-60
6
70-6
7
69-9
6525
79-5
64-
4
98-8
2
66-8
134-
48-
September
7
24
1529
6-85
6
70-0
7
69-5
64-76
80-
60-
4
96-4
2
663
132-
46-
October
7
24
13-07
3'14
6
70-7
7
68-9
64-80
79-
51-
4
1001
2
66-3
132-
46-
November
7
19
7-71
2-36
6
732
7
68-2
65-70
79-
48-
4
107-9
2
63-8
132
46-
December
7
15
4-41
2 '75
6
734
7
67-4
65-40
79-
44-5
4
108-1
2
51-7
133-
41-
Means, Totals and
Extremes
220
107-72
6-85
...
73-2°
58"4°j
65-8°
00
CO
6
■14 '6°
103-5°
...
64-1°
136°
33°
ns
v
>
o
J.
o
rt
£
3
3
3
8
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
60
57
54
66
71
81
82
78
80
79
74
69
71
5-4
4'9
3 3'
3 6'
3 66
4 8'9
4 8’6
4 7'8
4 8'3
4 7-2
4 71
4 5-9
.. 66
APPENDICES.
77
APPENDIX L.
Table of Plants per acre according to 'planting distance.
Distances apart
in feet.
Plants in one
acre.
12 by 12
303
8 by 8
681
6 by 6
1,210
5 by 5
1,742
6 by 4
1,815
5 by 4
2,178
6 by 3
2,420
4 by 4
2,722
4 by 3
3,630
3fby3*
3,555
3 by 3
4,640
APPENDIX M.
Reports on the action of the mixed Cinchona Alkaloid supplied from the Government Cinchona
plantation, British Sikkim, by
Norm an Chevebs, Esq., M.D.,
Principal, Medical College, Calcutta .
Joseph Ewart, Esq., M.D.,
Surgeon Superintendent,
General Hospital, Calcutta.
Robert Bird, Esq., M.D.,
Civil Surgeon, Howrah.
John Gat French, Esq., M.D.,
Late Civil Surgeon, Burdican.
Dr. Chevers. — “ It is a rule strictly observed in hospital that none but severe cases of Dr. chever’i
paludal fever are admitted to my wards. It is, however, self-evident that a new remedy can- report-
not be subjected to a perfectly convincing test in such cases as these, as its failure might fairly
be attributed to the presence of organic complications which too often resist the action of
Quina itself. Consequently I determined to try the alkaloid in none but simple uncomplicated
cases of intermittent fever. It may be mentioned here that the whole of the eighteen cases em-
bodied in this report were those of patients suffering from quotidian intermittent fever.
“ I explained my intention to Dr. McConnell, the Resident Physician, who devoted great
care to the selection of simple cases in his out-patient room.
“ As the type of fever is constantly on the change, I was anxious to try the experiment
in cases which were as nearly as possible identical in type. I succeeded in doing this to my
satisfaction — the eighteen cases fairly representing the autumnal intermittent of September to
December 1874.
“They were all marked cases of fever, the highest thermometrical readings ranging from
101-2 to 106Fht.
Both the alkaloid and Quina were tried in several cases, which have not been tabulated on
account of the existence of splenic enlargement, bowel complaint, or some.other complication.
“ The table1 embodies twelve cases in which the alkaloid was used, against six in which
Quina Was employed.
“ My practice in intermittents has, for many years, been to give Quina to adult males in
full doses of 6 grains before and after every paroxysm, and in half doses of 3 grains through-
out the interval.
“ Having no data by which to judge the strength of the alkaloid, I made 7 grains the full
dose, and 4 grains the half dose. These doses of both drugs answering well, I continued
them throughout the trial. In a young patient, nine years old, I gave the alkaloid in
due proportion.
“ It was arranged from the first that the course of treatment in the whole of the eighteen
cases should be, as nearly as possible, exactly the same. Castor oil was used as the aperient,
and liquor ammoniac acetatis as the chief ingredient of the fever mixture.
“ A very large experience in the treatment of quotidians and tertians in Bengal has con-
vinced me that, when treatment is commenced immediately , certain fixed doses of Quina are almost
invariably sufficient to prevent the occurrence of the second paroxysm. The operation admits of
1 Table omitted for the sake of brevity.
78
APPENDICES.
almost as great precision asdoes the loading of a gun. Thirty grains are sufficient in a European male
adult ; twenty-fire in a European woman or native man ; twenty in a native woman. In hospital
practice, however, we cannot begin to treat our cases immediately ; and in proportion to the loss of
time are generally the severity of the disease and the uncertainty in the action of the remedy. It
will be observed that, in what I term the alkaloid cases, there had been from two to eleven
paroxysms before treatment was commenced ; and that in the Quina cases treatment had been
preceded by from one to five paroxysms.
“ An intermittent fever may be said to be arrested immediately the natural temperature
of the body becomes permanently re-established. In the twelve alkaloid cases the number of
grains which had to be taken before the natural temperature was re-established were 19 (boy
of 9), 19 (adult male), 21, 30, 30, 42, 46, 48, 56, 72, 83 and 117.
“ In the six Quina cases the numbers of grains required to produce the same effect were
30, 31, 34, 41, 41, and 42. Hence the average quantities needful were, of the alkaloid,1 a
fraction less than 45 grains ; of Quina, a fraction more than 36 grains. The result of my
trial appears to be that the Cinchona alkaloid is a very useful antiperiodic ; but, as might be
expected from its composition, somewhat less powerful than pure Quina. I would note the
strength of Quina as being one-fourth greater than that of the alkaloid.
“ I observed all the cases most carefully. I noticed nothing unpleasant, or in any way
to be objected to, in the operation of the alkaloid. I invariably gave it in solution. The
taste appears to be nearly that of Quinine/'’
Dr. Ewart’s
report.
Dr. Ewart2. — “ About the middle of September, 20 ounces of ‘Cinchona alkaloid/ obtained
from the Government Quinologist at Rungbee, near Darjeeling, were forwarded to me by
the Surgeon-General, with a request that a careful trial of it, in malarious fevers, should be
made at the General Hospital, and the result reported for the information of Government.
“ The substance consisted of a mixture in the precipitated form of all the alkaloids
present in the Succirubra bark. The proportions of these are, according to Mr. Wood, as
follows
Quinine
Cinchonidine
Cinchonine ...
Amorphous alkaloid
Colouring matter
1 5'5
29'0
33-5
17-0
5'0
parts
»
D
100 parts
“ Thus this mixed prepai’ation is of known composition, and is chiefly constituted of
three alkaloids, the antiperiodic powers of which have already been more or less auchorita-
tively determined. On the receipt of the mixed alkaloids it was resolved to adopt the solu-
tion recommended by Mr. Wood : —
R.
Alkaloid ... ... ... ... ... 2 ozs.
Acid: Sulph : dil. (Ph.B.)... ... ... ... 2| „
Water to make ... ... ... ... ... 20 ,,
to be divided into thirty-two doses, giving half a drachm of the alkaloid for each dose for
an adult. It was also arranged that, in all cases where there might be any uncertainty as
to the nature of the fever in which the alkaloid was to be tried, the antiperiodic treatment
was to be postponed until the diagnosis could be made free from fallacy or error. Prior to
this having been accomplished, the same preliminary measures were adopted, wherever they
were indicated as necessary, as are frequently employed to pave the way for the administra-
tion of Quinine. Among these may be mentioned the exhibition of mild aperients, refrigerants,
&c., with easily digestible articles of food. When in this manner the system had been pre-
pared for the speediest possible absorption of the drug, and the diagnosis had been accurately
pronounced, full doses of the mixed alkaloid in solution were given during or near the
termination of the sweating stage of intermittents when practicable, or, where this period
had passed, during the intermission, to forestall and prevent a recurrence of the paroxysm.
It may further be premised that the utmost care was taken never to have the mixed alkaloid
administered in any case where Quinine or any other antiperiodic remedy had been previously
used, so that it might be shewn conclusively whether the results obtained were fairly attribu-
table to the power of the mixed alkaloid and no other drug. I think after careful trial,3
there is good reason for believing that the mixed alkaloid, which has been furnished by
Mr. Wood, Government Quinologist at Rungbee, is an excellent antiperiodic. The
preparation is an elegant one and so soluble that it can always be given in a convenient
quantity in solution. It is tolerated with considerable ease by the stomach, becomes rapidly
absorbed, and, when given in large doses, speedily produces all the symptoms of einchonism.
Unlike its representative in Madras, its composition, as given at the commencement of this
report, ean, I am informed by Mr. Wood, always be guaranteed with certainty. I have done
my best, in conversation with Mr. Wood, to impress upon him the absolute necessity of his
being able always to provide a drug of a standard composition, and I am glad to find that he
is fully alive to the necessity of affording such a guarantee to the medical profession in India.
With such a guarantee, I am confident that the demand for the mixed alkaloid in India will.
1 In this calculation I omit the case of the boy, and also that of the man who took 117 grains, his being one
of rather exceptional severity. Consequently ten alkaloid cases are placed in comparison with six Quina cases.
2 An extract from the Annual Report of the Presidency General Hospital for the year 1874.
3 Vide cases in the Annual Report.
APPENDICES.
79
for a long time to come, far exceed the supply. In half-drachm doses the mixed alkaloid is an
efficient and safe antiperiodic, and only, in my opinion, second to Quinine.
“ The best time to be seized for its administration in intermittent fever is during some part
of the sweating stage. Failing this, ten-grain doses three times a day, during the intermission,
answer admirably in a large proportion of cases. In five-grain doses, three times a day, it forms
a good bitter tonic, sharpening the appetite, improving the digestion, and expediting the com-
pletion of intestinal digestion and the primary process of assimilation. I shall endeavour to
introduce it into the practice of the General Hospital, both among the in-and out-door patients,
as I feel convinced that a preponderating majority of cases of malarious fever will be found to
be perfectly manageable under treatment with the mixed Cinchona alkaloid.”
Dr. Robert Bird. — 11 Mixed Cinchona alkaloid. — This remedy has been successfully used by Dr. Bird’s
me in the cure of intermittent and remittent fevers. report.
“ Intermittent Fever. — In the ordinary fever and ague, five grains of the alkaloid adminis-
tered thrice daily, during the intermissions, has, in most instances in my hands, proved suffi-
cient to break the disease and restore the patient.
“ Suppressed Intermittent Fever. — This condition is very common here in Bengal, and it
apparently differs from the ordinary type of the disease in not coming to the surface. There
may be a sense of cold about the spine for a little, but there is no ague; and the daily increase
in the temperature is perceptible about the back and belly, rather than on the extremities and
head, and is often so slight, that, if not specially looked for, it may escape observation alto-
gether. The patient is listless and irritable for an hour or two daily, but at other times he
seems fairly well. His relatives cannot say he is sick, yet they admit he is not well ; and he
daily grows weaker and thinner, until it is suddenly discovered that the spleen and liver are
enlarged, and the blood much wanting in red corpuscles. Quinine, as a rule, fails to check the
return of the febrile symptons, or to alleviate the general sickness : it is not so, however, with
the Cinchona alkaloid. In two cases of this condition, when Quinine, Arsenic, Cinchona, aud even
Warburgh's Fever Tincture had failed to exercise a beneficial influence, I achieved a cure through
the administration of the Cinchona alkaloid. Further experience of the drug will probably shew
that, in the cure of this most intractable disease, it is the most powerful remedy we at present
possess.
“ Remittent Fever. — In the management of this disease, I have found the drug useful in
lengthening the remissions, and I also think in lowering the temperature. But, to bring about
these results, it is necessary to give the remedy in large doses — in doses say of 30 to 40 grains —
and these induce such grave nervous symptoms, that the physician is scarcely warranted
in administering them, while he has at hand remedies which are more efficacious in a
pleasanter way.
“ Hemicrania. — In the cure or alleviation of this disease, the drug in my hands has proved
almost valueless, and in efficiency infinitely inferior to Bromide of Potassium.
“ Physiological Action. — In most instances the drug at first causes nausea, occasionally
ending in vomiting and vertigo. These symptoms are produced by doses of five to seven grains.
When doses of 30 or 40 grains are administered, the heart's action becomes slower and weaker,
and the temperature of the skin is lowered. Even in remittent fever, perspiration is promoted,
and semi-stupor is induced.
“ Conclusion. — The drug is not so easily borne by the stomach as is Quinine: it cannot
therefore altogether take the place of Quinine. In the cure of cases of ordinary fever and
ague, its virtue is equal, or nearly equal, to that of Quinine. In the cure of cases of suppressed
fever, it is superior to Quinine, and, judging from a limited experience, I am inclined to say
it is superior to any drug known to me. It is to be feared that its disagreeable action on the
stomach excludes it from the list of useful tonics. The experiment was made on four cases of
remittent fever, 27 of intermittent fever, four of suppressed intermittent fever, aud four of
hemicrania, — and these were mostly all of a typical character.”
Dr. French. — “ Owing to some mistake or oversight, the medicine did not reach me Dr. French’s
until the beginning of January, at a time when the fever season in Burdwan was coming reP°rt-
to an end, and admissions from severe malarious fever were rarely met with. Some of the
drug I brought to the Police Hospital in order to try it under my own dye, and the remainder
I divided out among the most active and intelligent of my assistant surgeons and native
doctors, with the object of having it carefully tested.
“ In order to make my report full and clear, I beg to forward abstracts1 of the twenty-one
cases which were treated in the Burdwan Police Hospital, and where the observations were
daily entered. The reports on these cases shew clearly that the alkaloid is an antiperiodic ;
that in most cases it is a very good substitute for Quinine; and that in some it acts just as
well, and nearly as quickly as that remedy.
“ If attention be first paid to the slate of the bowels, no gastric irritation follows its
administration in small or ordinary doses. In continued or large doses, it produces head
symptoms like Quinine. The chief of these is giddiness.
“ In mild or ordinary cases the dose ought to be about five grains eveiy two or three hours
during the intermission. For severe cases, doses of ten or fifteen grains every third or
fourth hour act best.
1 Omitted, as they are too long for publication.
80
APPENDICES.
“ Of the twenty-one cases, seven were mild quotidian ague, four were ordinary quotidian
ague, three cases were doubtful, but most probably they were fevers of malarious origin, two were
chronic quotidian, one was chrouic quartan, one mild quartan, one mild tertian, one was obstinate
chronic quartan, and one was obstinate quotidian ague. In two cases there was enlargement of
the spleen. Allowing for a few days' convalescence in hospital after the last attack, one case
was under treatment for 21 days, one for If days, one for 11 days, and the remainder for periods
varying from 3 to 9 days. Taking the 21 cases, the average number of days spent in hospital
was only 6*57, or about the time cases remain when treated by Quinine. In no case had
the drug to be discontinued and Quinine substituted, and in all it effected a cure — in some
cases very quickly, and in others after repeated doses."
Government Central Press.— No. 265, R., A,, & C.— 27-6-76.— 700,