28TH JUNE 1893, Nos. 576, 576A, 576B, 576C, REVENUE.
that, when they were dry, they were not sufficient for analysis and a sample was thereupon
taken from the thicker quilled roots. The results of the two analyses are thus compared:—
Rootlets from
rich soil.
Small roots
from poor soil.
Alkaloids . . .
1.53
2.50
Tannin and cinchona red . . .
14.34
8.84
Sugar and organic acid . . .
2.34
14.98
Fibre
.
.
.
56.49
35.69
Ash
.
.
.
9.25
5.51
Water
.
.
.
9.19
13.24
The alkaloids were composed as under:—
Q uinine
. . .
.38
Cinchonidine . . .
.44
Quinidine
. . .
.24
.32
Cinchonine
. . .
.37
.60
Amorphous
. . .
.92
.76
Total . . .
1.53
2.50
Although these analyses are not correctly comparable, the samples not having been taken
from similar portions of the roots, yet they show that manure and fertilizing agents do not
have the property of increasing the alkaloids in the rootlets. It would seem that, as a larger
quantity of food is supplied to the tree by the additional rootlets, an increase of alkaloids must
result from the elaboration of its sap. The absence of quinine in the rootlets and its gradual
appearance and increase as the root thickens is one of the peculiarities of alkaloid distribution
in the plant. The other peculiarities are (1) the large proportion of cinchonine in the root of
the officinalis compared with the very small proportion that exists in the stem, and (2) the
presence of a notable quantity of quinidine in the root of the succirubra compared with the
traces of this alkaloid that are present in the natural stem bark.
6. Manures.—The manures suitable for cinchona cultivation must contain nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, lime and potash, and, when a manure contains all these four constituents, it is
more valuable than a substance deficient in one of them. The natural fertilizers available in
Southern India are cattle manure, bones, fish and poonac. Cattle manure is well known and
is more used than anything else by planters. Bones are not very suitable, unless mixed with
other ingredients; they are poor in nitrogen, destitute of potash, and are applicable only for
soils requiring phosphoric acid and lime. Fish is a valuable manure for cinchona, and its
application to the trees is always attended with an invigorating growth and an increase of
alkaloids. Some small fish, about the size of sardines, are supplied by merchants on the
Western Coast; the fish are simply dried in the sun on the sand. A sample of fish of this
description ( Sardinella Neohowii) that we have been using on the plantations was beaten up
into a paste and analysed with the following results:—
W ater
.
.
.
15.30
Organic matter * . . .
55.98
Lime
.
.
.
6.93
Phosphoric acid . . .
5.80
Alkaline salts, &c. . . .
11.67
Sand
.
.
.
4.32
Total . . .
100.00
* Containing nitrogen 6.02 (equal to ammonia 7.31).
Poonac is a name given to the cake left after the expression of oil from certain oleaginous
seeds. Poonac is often rich in nitrogen and the ash contains a large proportion of phosphoric
acid and potash with smaller quantities of lime. Samples of seed-cakes, however, vary in
composition according to the seeds that are employed, and the samples of cakes prepared
from one kind of seed are not always identical because of varying quantities of oil, water, and
sand retained in them. The following remarks are made on some samples of poonacs obtain-
able in Southern India that have passed through my hands. They are arranged according to
their value
: —
Castor poonac.—This is obtained from the seeds of the well-known castor-oil plant, The
cake contains from 5 to 7.5 per cent. of nitrogen and 7 to 12 per cent. of mineral matter. It
is one of the richest poonacs and in some parts of the country it is one of the most
a b u n d a n t .
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