A Manual of Cinchona Cultivation in India

Abstract

THIS manual is another contribution to the numerous books, papers, and articles that have appeared of late years on the subject of cinchona. Varied as these contributions have been, and valuable each one in itself, this manual brings together much that is useful, not only on the scientific aspect of the subject, but also on the harvesting of the bark crop in India, as well as on the commercial value of the Indian cinchona plantations. The manual will probably find its largest circulation amongst owners of land who have embarked in the cultivation of cinchona as a commercial enterprise, or those who intend doing so, Chapter iv. being devoted entirely to cultivation: and this part of the subject is treated of very fully; the author giving the various details of suitability of climate, temperature, rainfall, elevation, soil, drainage, &c., together with the more practical operations of preparing the ground, sowing seeds, propagation, planting, and other matters of a similar character, which, from the nature of Dr. King's position as superintendent of the Government cinchona plantatio., must be trustworthy, if not from his own practical experience, certainly from the fact of his being able to command the opinions of the best men in this important branch. The same may be said of Chapter v., on the “mode of harvesting the bark crop.” Turning to Chapter vii. on the “local manufacture of a cinchona febrifuge,” we come to what is interesting and important to the whole community, namely, some of the practical results of the cinchona introduction into India, in the production of a cheap but efficient febrifuge. This preparation, which Mr. Broughton, the Government quinologist calls amorphous quinine, 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,” we are told, “has been accepted by the medical profession in the Madras Presidency, as a remedy in malarious fevers, scarcely, if at all, inferior to quinine.” About 600 Ibs. of this substance was produced in the Neilgherry factory up the end of the year 1872–73, but the process of manufacture was found too costly, and the factory was accordingly closed. A more simple process was commenced in Sikkim, by Mr. Wood, who arrived in India in 1873, and by this process at the present time, about a ton per week of dry red bark is being worked up. The baik, 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 be yielded. It has been calculated that of this efficient febrifuge there can soon be yielded from three to four tons annually, at a cost of rather less than one rupee per ounce.

A Manual of Cinchona Cultivation in India.

By George King, Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta, and of Cinchona Cultivation in Bengal. (Calcutta, 1876.)