•
Rs.
2,500
1,500
1,300
27TH JUNE 1895, No. 407, REVENUE.
3
incurred on account of the payment of exchange compensation allowances, the
purchase of agricultural implements, and on account of the increased cost of chemicals
caused by the low rate of exchange, which prevailed during the year:—
Exchange compensation allowances
Cost of tools
Additional charge on chemicals through fall in exchange
Total
5,400
In accordance with paragraph 5 of G.O., No. 481, dated the 6th July 1894,
Revenue, every effort was made to make the expenditure keep within the receipts, and
the following statement shows how far this has been done:—
R e ceipts
Expenditure
Excess of income over the expenditure
RS.
79,144
78,311
832
A.
0
1
15
P.
11
8
3
III. GENERAL CONDITION—(a) Dodabetta.—This estate, under the superinten-
dence of Mr. H. V. Ryan, whose zeal and assiduity in every branch of his work
cannot be sufficiently praised, has greatly improved; and the estimated annual out-put
of bark, viz., 100,000 lb., is double the quantity harvested in former years. This
satisfactory result is to be attributed to deep trenching, deep digging and heavy
manuring. Where the soil is poor, weeds have been sown and manured, and these
weeds being dug in every year have greatly decreased the poverty of the soil; and
the cinchona trees on these lands have responded gratefully to this generous treat
-ment. Fifty-one thousand pounds of dried crown bark were taken from this estate
during the year, an amount which could easily have been doubled had the extra quantity
been required. The several plots, known as the "Picnic ground" and consisting of
about forty acres, have not now been barked for many years; the trees upon it are
very fine, very healthy, and are of a uniform variety. All other varieties or species
have been uprooted, and it is from the best trees in the centre of this ground that all
seed is taken which is required for the several estates; this means that a pure strain of
the very best sort of the crown barks is ensured. The plants raised from this seed are
undoubtedly more vigorous in their growth than those raised from hybrids, the latter
having greatly deteriorated during the last twelve years. Nevertheless it cannot be
affirmed that the plants raised even from these carefully nursed trees are nearly so
vigorous or long lasting as those raised from seed taken from the same trees twelve or
fifteen years ago, and it would therefore be very desirable if Government could procure
a fresh supply of seed from South America.
(b) "'Nedivattam.— This, the most difficult of all the estates to deal with, owing
to the great mixture of varieties which were originally planted out upon it, is not doing
so well as had been hoped for, though for no fault or want of care on the part of the
Superintendent. All the new plantations have been deeply trenched, deeply dug and
heavily manured and yet in many plots the trees do not show the same satisfactory
growth as is visible on the Dodabetta estate. This appears attributable to two
causes—First, most of the new plantings consisted of crown hybrids raised from
Dodabetta seed (and these, as has been said above, have much deteriorated); secondly,
the land on which the trees have been planted was second-hand land, so to speak, that
is to say, it was land upon which cinchona had been grown before. The plan adopted
now on this estate is as follows:
—
When a plot is cleared the trees are cut down but not uprooted and the ground
is not meddled with for two or three years; by this time the stools of the trees have
thrown up shoots three or four feet in height and the ground_is also covered w i t h
a
dense growth of weeds. The land is then pitted, but the weeds surrounding the pits
are not disturbed. The shoots afford shade and shelter to the young plants and the
weeds conserve and add to the nutritious properties of the soil. If the weeds are
entirely removed and the whole land kept perfectly clean, what little organic matter is
left on the surface of the soil is burnt up during the hot weather, and the nitrogenou
s