No. 350, REVENUE, 23RD JULY 1896. 25
there are on the four Government estates only about 27,952 red barks and 663,323 hybrids,
as against 1,031,005 crown barks. Of this policy I entirely approve, and I would recommend
its continuance until the estates contain nothing but crown barks. With the object, however,
of keeping up the strain of the latter which appears to have slightly deteriorated of recent
years, I would support the recommendation made to Government by the Director to the effect
that arrangements should he made for the importation from the natural home of the crown
bark in the forests of Loxa in the province of Ecuador of a few pounds of good fresh seed of
that species.
3. From the preceding remarks it will appear that the Dodabetta plantation is the most
valuable of the four and that the Hooker plantation ranks next in value. The Nedivattam
plantation has, from the preponderance upon it of hybrid and red barks, a considerably less
value at present; but, if the policy be carried out of replacing these by crown barks, it may
soon become equally valuable with the two previously mentioned. And at present it is of great
importance from the presence on it of the Quinine and Febrifuge Factory. The Wood planta-
tion is, both as regards extent and composition, the least valuable of all four. It consists at
present of a small patch (27 acres) of hybrid bark trees ; it is inconveniently separated from
the other three by the Pykara stream ; and in fact the chief argument for its retention appears
to be that there is on it a bungalow fit for a European superintendent to live in, whereas on
the Hooker estate there is no such accommodation. The patch of cinchona on the Wood
estate is so small, and so exposed to the ravages of game that I would root it up and abandon
it. I shall, however, refer to this matter more fully in a subsequent paragraph.
4. Management and mode of working the plantations.— Up to the dates of my previous visits
(1871 and. 1878) the only method of taking the bark crop which had received anything like a
fair trial was that of stripping and. renewal under either moss Or grass. Coppicing had hardly
been tried. In my memorandum submitted to the Cinchona, Committee in 1878 (pages 33 and.
35) I recommended that coppicing should be resorted to in conjunction with stripping and moss
ing. Since Mr. Lawson became Director of the Estates, the system of coppice after stripping
and mossing; has been regularly followed, and the result has been successful. It has been
proved that trees which had been reduced to a weak and unhealthy condition from repeated
decortication send up from their stools, when coppiced, healthy and vigorous shoots which in
turn yield bark of quite as good quality as the original stems. The scheme of working followed
by the present Director has been to allow the coppice shoots to acquire sufficient size to afford
shade to the soil ; and, when this has been secured, either to till up vacancies or to replant
entirely with seedling crown barks, removing the coppice when the seedlings have grown large
enough to afford shade to each other. This plan is, in my opinion, an excellent one. It is
founded on the principle that, in growing cinchonas on these hills, the surface of the soil must
be protected both from the direct rays of the sun and from the wash that is the inevitable result
of heavy rain fall on bare soil. Another prominent feature in the mode of cultivation which
has of late years been followed is the cultivation of weeds and their utilization as green manure.
During my visit to these plantations in 1878 I was struck, as was also Dr. Bidie, by the
absolute freedom from weeds in certain parts of the plantation, and by the consequent denudation
of the superficial soil by the wash of heavy showers ; and I called attention to the matter in my
evidence before the Committee (page 31). The same facts had evidently impressed Mr. Lawson
for the soil of the Dodabetta plantation which used to be conspicuously bare is now well
covered with a fair crop of surface-rooting weeds. The plantations at Nedivattam and the
Hooker estate are all fairly well covered with weeds of a good type, with the exception of a few
barren patches which are now under treatment. Mr. Lawson has also carried out extensively
the system of digging trenches near the trees which serve as receptacles for any soil which may
be washed into them by the rain, also for surface soil which may be scraped into them, and for
green weeds which may be buried in them. The results of this system of pitting or trenching
appears to have been excellent. The manure of all cattle living in the estates has also for
years been carefully conserved and spread on the patches most in want of nutriment. A con
siderable quantity of bazaar manure has also been carted from Ootacamund for the Dodabetta
plantation.
5. Working expenditure on the plantation.— The cost of European establishment is high in
proportion to the annual disbursement on cooly labour. This is due to three causes
(1) to the fact that the plantations are broken up into so many detached pieces ;
(2) to the entertainment of a whole-time officer as Quinologist ;
(3) to the fact that the plantation is, from unavoidable causes, worked below its full
producing power. The latter cause would be remo v ed by any successful endeavour to increase
the demand for quinine and febrifuge. The rapid spread of the sale of quinine in small doses
at Post offices and other public offices appears to offer a new outlet for an indefinite amount of
the former drug. The cooly labour does not appear to me to be costly and I can suggest no way
in which rates might be reduced.
6. Factory—The factory is organised on the same lines as that of the Bengal Government,
the process of extraction of quinine depending on the use of fusel-oil and of kerosine. The
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