Evening star., 1901-09-14
All About the Little Pill That Takes
Away Fever.
PLANTATIONS PAY GREAT INCOMES
In Dutch East Indies Net 80 OF
40 Per Cent.
MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA
Copyright, 1901, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
pecial CORRESPONDENCE Of The Evening Star.

Copyright, 1901, by Frank G. carpenter)
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
BANDONG, Java.
The United States government should In
vestigate the possibilities of cinchona plan
tations in the Philippine Islands. The cli-
mate and soil there are about the same as
those of Java, and the Dutch are making
fortunes out Of the business. They began
to plant trees only a few years ago and
they are now producing more than four
ffths of all the quinine and cinchona bark
used in the world. Last years crop
amounted to more than II, co., 600 pounds
of quinine alone, and the output Is steadily
increasing. The demand Is also increasing
and the plantations promise to be more and
more profitable In years to come. At pres
ent they are paying from thirty to forty
per cent dividends and are, I am told, all
doing well.
Money I'm Quinfne.
The cinchona plantations of Java are
managed by the government, by syndicates
and by individuals. The syndicates have
the most trees. They have eighty-three
great quinine estates which are bringing
in altogether about 100000 year. The
most of these estates are on lands leased
from the government for terms of seventy
five years. The planters agree to make GER
tain developments and to pay certain rents
in lieu of taxes. and they have to carry on
their work after the rules laid down by
the government. The private plantations
are managed to some extent the same way.
They are well cared for and three of them
each yield about 100000 pounds of quinine
annually.
The government plantations are conducted
more with regard to the study of the cin-
chona tree and the extraction of the
quinine from its bark than for profit al
though l believe they pay. They are now
raising about 100000 pounds of Quinine
year and in addition to this are supplying
all the quinine needed for the Dutch army
and navy.
Where Quinine Originated.
But before l describe the government ex-
periments let me tell you something about
the tree whose bark supplies the little pill
that takes away the fever. The cinchona
tree comes originally from the eastern side
of the Andes. There is a strip of country
about hundred miles wide and over two
thousand miles long, running along the
slopes OF those mountains from Venezuela
far south lower Bolivia, which Is
spotted with quinine groves. The trees are
far In the interior and hard to reach. I
saw something Of them during my travels
in South America In 1898 The bark is cut
in the forests and hauled for many miles
on the backs of donkeyS to the rivers or
the seaports. l saw great deal Of 1t at
La PaZ, where 1t was brought to be ship
ped by stage or rail to the coast. A dom
key load weighed from one to two hundred
pounds, and S32 worth was about all one
donkey could carry One of the Bolivians
offered to sell me a forest of 500, 600 trees
for S64 600 or eight cents a tree and others
of whom I inquired told me they had ex-
perimented in working the plantations and
lost. Some years ago there was quite a
craze at La PaZ for such speculation. The
cinchona or Peruvian bark was then SELL
ing for about two cents pound, or for