28TH JUNE 1893, Nos. 576, 576A, 576B, 576C, REVENUE.
paid to him by the treasury at Dehra Dun, in the North-Western Provinces; and it
is not known yet if this charge is to be finally borne by this department or not; at
present, under the instructions of the Accountant-General, the Rs. 1,500 have been
debited to the Government of the North-Western Provinces. The expenditure has,
therefore, been Rs. 4,677–10–6 in excess of the receipts, or, taking in Mr. Hooper's
three months' salary, Rs. 6,177–10–6. The reduction in the actual expenditure was
due to a desire to bring, if possible, the latter to the level of the receipts, but this
unfortunately was not found practicable.
Had the price of quinine remained the same as it was the year before, Rupees
4,050–12–6 would have been added to the receipts, and the difference between them
and the expenditure would then have been only Rs. 626–14–0, that is, taking the
expenditure at Rs. 78,885-11-8.
III. GENERAL CONDITION—( a) Dodabetta.—Everything on this estate is in good
order; all the less thriving trees were cut down, and it is from these that the greater
part of the bark was harvested during the past year. This necessarily means that the
crop taken was of inferior alkaloidal value, but it was considered that it would be
better to take the crop from these poorer trees now than to let them run on till they
grew worse and keep the better trees for future years. The grub is still most destructive
to young plants, and the manuring of the pits with quick-lime seems to have had no
beneficial effect whatever.
(b) Nedivattam.—Five acres of succirubras were coppiced and the renewed and
mossed barks only were taken, the natural bark on the upper parts of the trees being
too poor to make it worth while harvesting. This plot will eventually be planted
with Cinchona officinalis, and the coppiced shoots of the succirubras will be cut down,
after they have done their duty by affording shelter to the young plants.
A fire broke out near the Chinamen's lines, and spread through a shola, which
was filled with dead strobi-lanth, till it reached a grove of frenelas, which had been
planted on a ridge between two fields of cinchona as a shelter-belt. The frenelas took fire
and burnt like straw, but no further damage than this was done to the estate. it may
be remarked that, owing to their very inflammable nature during the dry season, these
frenclas are dangerous trees to have in any large numbers. The plants put out in the
early part of the season suffered severely from the prolonged monsoon, but those that
did not succumb to the inclemency of the weather are now two feet or more in height
and hardy vigorously growing plants without a branch.
(c) Pykara—Hooker and Wood.—Nothing particular has to be noticed regard-
-ing either of these plantations.
IV. UPKEEP.—The usual work connected with upkeep has been duly attended to,
and all buildings, roads, drains, bridges, &c., have been well maintained during the
past year.
V. MANURE.—Very little manure has been put out during the past year, but
large quantities of stable and cattle manure have been stored on all the estates, which
will be utilised during the present season.
VI. NURSERIES.—The plants in all the nurseries, with the exception of those on
the Dodabetta estate, have greatly improved. The demand from planters for plants
and seed during the past year has been almost nil.
VII. CROP.—The quantity of bark harvested during the past year was 119,483 lb.
detailed thus:—
Dodabetta.
LB.
LB.
Crown bark . . . 99,890
99,890
Nedivattam.
Crown bark
. . .
4,266
R ed bark
. . . 11,820
16,086
Pykara.
C rown bark
. . .
2,182
Red bark
. . .
1,325
3,507
119,483
3