to take some steps, "in order to propagate in this country the Cinchona succirubra, indigenous to Ecuador, in particular; and perhaps, also, the Cinchona lancifolia, of southern New Granada; also, a species from Jonbabuon, northern Ecuador." (Letter of Commissioner Newton, April 23, 1864.)

Mr. Buckalew describes the C. condaminea as growing in southern Ecuador, in the vicinity of Loxa, on the eastern slopes of one of the chains of the Andes, which reach northerly to Cuencas, where there had been a factory for obtaining the alkaloids from this species. The area of growth of this species is very considerable, and it bears cold better than the C. succirubra, but he states that it requires more careful manipulation to domesticate it near a sea level, on account of the great change in atmospheric pressure and summer temperature to which it would be subjected.

In 1864 Dr. Jamieson forwarded to Mr. Buckalew some seeds of a species of cinchona found in southern New Granada near Pasto, in a region of forests, which package was forwarded to Washington, but the seeds failed to germinate here. Some seeds of the same species which were forwarded to India also failed-perhaps imperfect seeds or badly preserved. The tree itself has been spoken highly of by Mr. Cross, who found it growing on the slopes north of the volcano Purare in the central Cordillera of New Granada. It furnishes the Pitaya bark, and belongs to C. condaminea. Mr. Cross thinks this the most valuable species of tree for transplantation, since the bark grows very rapidly. In his most recent travels in the Andes he found this cinchona at Pitaya only on dry slopes and never on cool grounds, with a temperature varying between two ranges, thus: Lower limit-day up to 59° to 60°; night, 46 to 48°. Upper limit-day up to 40° to 48°; night, 35° to 36°. At the lower limit the night temperature at times ran down to freezing. Mr. Buckalew states also that it can bear occasional frosts better than any other species, and Prof. Jamieson, of Quito, analyzed the bark and found it to contain 3.2 per cent. of quinine when six years old; large trees yield 4 per cent., and the roots yield 5 per cent. This bark goes chiefly to France, and this is the region where the trees are so recklessly destroyed. For these several reasons, rapid growth, abundance of alkaloid, and capability of bearing colder climate, this species (Pitaya) would seem to be that which it would be most desirable to secure for trial growth within the United States. In New Granada and Colombia it is more esteemed than any Peruvian bark. Having a habitat further north and upon elevated mountains it would appear likely to bear transplantation and suffer less from acclimatization than other varieties or other species.

The opinion of one who, like Senator Buckalew, has made himself acquainted with the species in their native habitat, should carry much weight with it; while he recommends the cultivation of both C. succirubra and C. condaminea, he considers that the attempt, especially with the latter variety, will require great care and attention, since a rapid change of climate by hasty transplanting will only result in failure. On this account the Pitaya variety deserves attention.

Of the seeds of the C. succirubra, C. condaminea, and the species found near Pasto, New Granada, (Pitaya,) forwarded by our minister, only the second named germinated. Mr. William Saunders, superintendent of the propagating garden of the Department of Agriculture, in a letter to Mr. Buckalew, dated July 13, 1865, describes the Cinchona condaminea plants as flourishing and looking very well. Since then it has been found difficult to raise them under conditions so very different from that to which the species is subject. The proximity to sea level and the vicissitudes of climate in this district render it almost impossible to keep the plants healthy. As regards the soil, when selecting a locality for a plantation, it should be borne in mind that the cinchonas need a rich, fresh land, a fine chocolate loam from two to three feet deep, with an open subsoil and slight slope in the beds to allow of drainage-stagnant water about the roots being very prejudicial to growth. The growing plants are tender and need a site sheltered

from the prevalent strong winds, which may break or injure the limbs or twist the plants. In the northern hemisphere a northwesterly aspect, being a moist one, is preferable; a certain temperature is desirable, which ought not to descend below 50° Fahrenheit, nor have a range greater than 20°, an equable climate in every sense; a moderate amount of rain in showers, not less than fifty inches, if possible, nor yet too much, for excess of rain or drought is injurious. The rain should fall at the proper season; in the season of wood growth, they need an abundant supply of moisture, and in the time of ripening the capsules, dry weather and clear sunshine are equally needed.

Wherever these conditions are attainable a cinchona plantation may be formed; and then, the greater the elevation above sea level the more successful will be the growth and thicker the bark. At high altitudes the occurrence of night frosts after warm days is to be avoided. Hence it is that the trees will not flourish in Ceylon, above 5,000 feet, while on the Neilgherry mountains they succeed from 4,500 to 6,750 feet above sea level.

A few botanists have expressed a belief that the climate of Texas is suitable for cinchona cultivation. Dr. J. M. Bigelow, of Detroit, considers western Texas and Arizona as a fitting region for the experiment. Mr. R. Spruce, in a letter to Mr. Buckalew some years since, expressed a belief that Texas or Cuba would furnish a suitable climate. Personal experience of Texas leads me to hold a very different opinion. The rain-fall of western Texas and eastern Arizona does not exceed twelve inches per annum, and the reduction of temperature in winter is considerable and very sudden. On these accounts I would by no means recommend trials in these districts, nor, indeed, anywhere in the United States outside of California. I would recommend the experiment of a plantation in that State at some distance from the coast between San Luis Obispo and San Diego counties. A tolerable acquaintance with California climate enables me to state that such a district would be suitable.

The following statement of mean temperature of the district at the base of the Sierra Nevada from 40° to 32° north latitude, will serve to contrast that locality with the stations in the East Indies: Spring, 55° to 65°-range, 10°; summer, 70° to 80°-range, 10°; autumn, 60° to 70°-range, 10°; winter, 45° to 52°-range 7°. Yearly mean range from 45° to 80°.

The rain-fall during the same seasons was

Higher up the slopes of the range of course the temperature would be lower, and the rain-fall greater; hence it would not be difficult to select there a station which would combine the necessary moisture and warmth. The equability which exists below we have no reason to suppose would be altered above, and this is the chief condition favorable to the growth of the trees.

Indeed, there is the most remarkable equability of climate along the mountain ranges of California from San Diego to San Francisco. The line of equal temperature runs along the Sierra Nevada; and at San Diego, for six years, the temperatures for January differ only 3° 6', and for December 4° S'; at San Francisco, 5° 5′ and 6° 6' for similar months; at Benicia, 6° 9' for January and 3° 5' for December, for the same period of years. The sea breezes temper the summer of the country south of Monterey, while in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties the proximity of the high mountain chain reduces the temperature of winter to that of the country north of San Francisco. Upon San Bernardino mountain the snows of winter remain for some months, and a temper

ature near to the freezing point at times might be obtained on the elevated plains at the foot of Kikal Mungo and San Bernardino mountains.

These temperatures may be contrasted with those on the Neilgherries. Ootacamuned is in the centre of a plateau, by no means a flat surface. The rains come in the southwest monsoon from May to September from the west, and at other times it receives the rain of the northeast monsoon. The total rain-fall is from sixtyfive to seventy inches. The mean temperatures range from 42° to 58°. At a station lower down on the range, (Coonoor,) the mean range is from 52° to 71°. Any where between 34° and 37° in the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada a temperature similar to that of India may be obtained by ascending the range to from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above its base.

Three feet of rain yearly is sufficient for the tree if it gains what is necessary during the early period of growth. It does not need rain, but sunshine, when flowering and fruiting.

The Sierra Nevada region is remarkable for the great excess of heat for the altitude of the region. An inspection of the charts of Blodgett shows that the isotherms continue running in a uniform direction, not across, but along the whole region for several degrees of latitude. On the western slopes of these ranges the heat is intense as you emerge from the valleys, but as the ascent is continued cooler air prevails, and at elevations below the point where ice forms during many months of the year a temperature suitable could doubtless be found. These observations apply to that portion of the Sierra south of San Francisco, or even of Monterey, and preferably at a parallel extended from Point Conception to within thirty miles of San Diego. A personal experience and examination of the southern counties of California, I think, justify the assertion that on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, in Tulare county, or on the mountain ranges in Santa Barbara county, may be found all the essentials of climate needed for the vigorous growth of the cinchona. Dr. Thomas M. Logan, of Sacramento, California, in his paper on the "Medical Topography and Epidemics of California," published in the Transactions of the American Medical Association, 1865, states that below Meno lake and the headwaters of the San Joaquin the forest trees creep up the sides of the Sierra to a height unexampled in other Alpine situ ations as far as 11,000 feet.

Dr. Logan also refers to an account of Professor Brewer's geological explorations, as showing that good pasturage reaches from 5,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level, and even higher, up to the very crests of the peaks. On the east slope, at 3,500 feet above sea level, the dense forests begin, commencing with the sugar and yellow pine, the Douglas spruce, fir, and bastard cedar. On the west, at an altitude of 5,000 to 7,000 feet, the "big trees" or the giant sequoia are abundant, "not merely occurring," Dr. Logan says, "in isolated groves, but scattered abundantly in common with the timber for a distance of at least twenty five miles along the tributaries of Kings, Kaeveah, and Kern rivers. Larger trees are met here than in the celebrated Calaveras and Mariposa groves. The largest reported is almost forty feet in its greatest diameter."

Immediately below this sequoia region in altitude, I believe, could be found all the conditions of climate which would support the cinchona. This portion of California has a climate peculiar to itself; possessing a mountain range eighty miles deep, and cut up into vast chasms or cañons; having streams constantly flowing, and having an altitude over 15,000 feet for many miles, constituting the highest mountain range in our territory, of which the noble mountain of San Bernardino is the southwestern outline; having snow for many weeks of the year on their summits, they are not subject to that intense aridity of climate which is the general characteristic of California, while they do possess that other peculiarity of the Pacific States, namely, a greater equability of temperature through the year. The thermometer registry of San Diego, at the southern foot of this range, shows this equability of climate exceedingly well. Its altitude is only 150 feet

above sea level, and through an average of six years it gives the following

ranges:

Hottest mean day, 74°; coldest mean day, 52°; range, 22°.

Mean temperature of year, 62°.

Fall of rain and snow, 10 inches.

As the sierra 40 miles north of San Diego is much more elevated than at that parallel, it is much better watered; and as the snows remain during winter, its supply is more equally distributed. I do not consider San Diego as a suitable point, but give its temperatures, as it has been an army post and recorded faithfully for many years. As the latitude increases along the coast, the difference between summer and winter temperature diminishes, so that at Monterey, in latitude 36° 36′ N, by observations of six years

Hottest mean day, 59°; coldest mean day, 50°; range, 9o.

Mean temperature of year, 55°.

Fall of rain and snow, 12.20 inches.

A critical and discriminating inquiry for the most appropriate district for establishing an American plantation will, I am fully convinced, result in the selection of the Pacific coast, as near to the Mexican frontier as a suitable elevation can be obtained.

Scarcely seven years have passed since the first plants were introduced into India, and there are now nearly a million and three-quarters of trees scattered over the hill ranges of Ceylon and India, from Hakgalle to the Himalayas of Bengal, flourishing everywhere, except in those secluded hollows where the night-frosts kill them.

The oldest plants set out in August, 1862, were, at Markham's last visit to the Neilgherry at the close of 1865, from 8 to 12 feet high, and from 7 to 13 inches in girth, at 6 inches from the ground, well furnished with lateral branches, and in every respect quite healthy. Planted 10 to 12 feet apart, the branches of the neighboring trees touch, the bark is of considerable thickness, and the lichens and mosses being fully developed, the characteristic markings of the best barks are becoming apparent.

In view of what has been accomplished in India, the government of Madras is entitled to great credit for practically working out Dr. Royle's suggestion, and demonstrating that there are climates elsewhere than in the Andes which are suitable for growing the cinchona. A great step has been made in the right direction by this act alone. Whether with the growth there is present the full amount of alkaloid or not, cannot, perhaps, at once, be ascertained. The cinchona may, by transplanting, vary in its relative richness of quinine; but that it does already furnish sufficient to pay expenses of cultivation, and thus secure a supply of this most valuable drug, even at its present high rate, is abundantly evident from the preceding, for it must be remembered that the cinchonas can scarcely be said to be cultivated in South America. Under a continual increasing demand for bark they will inevitably disappear, and the question to be solved really is, not whether the price of quinine can be kept down by additional growth of trees, but whether it can be supplied at any price. If India can show, as she promises speedily to do, that she can supply her own demand, it is surely time for the American government to take steps to introduce the plantation of cinchonas into the United States, where there is little doubt that there are territorial and meteorological conditions equally, if not more suitable for the cultivation, and more nearly resembling the Andean conditions than any place in Hindoostan.

That the government should take this subject of acclimatization into serious consideration is manifest when we consider what will be the fate of the trees in South America; without cultivation and by constant destruction they must rapidly decrease, and ultimately disappear. The loxa, or brown bark, may be taken as the type indicative of the fate of the rest. It (Cinchona officinalis) is

now nearly extinct upon its native hills, and if it is to be again introduced extensively into commerce it must be from the Neilgherry plantations.

There are now comparatively few difficulties standing in the way of a successful result to such a noble enterprise as the establishment of a cinchona plantation within our own territory. Attempts have been so frequently made, that the difficulties are known beforehand and the remedy provided. The packing and transplanting may be made with comparative freedom from losses by the use of the improved wardian cases. The chief difficulty with the original wardian cases arose from their being too heavy, when planted and packed in the ordinary way, the weight of the earth, and the small number of the plants which could be accommodated. Mr. McIvor reduced the weight of the cases to one-fifth, by filling them with moss instead of earth to the depth of six inches, and the plants, in pots, are firmly fixed in the moss, secured with cross-battens, so as to prevent injury from upsetting. A moderate amount of water is supplied, the sashes screwed on, the glass of which is protected by battens, and secured by thin cloth strip from excessive sun, while admitting some light. In these, plants can be safely transported considerable distances.

Our relations with the South American states are sufficiently friendly to reder successful official negotiations for obtaining plants; but should any difficult? arise in that quarter leading to jealous refusal, then a request could be made to the English government for a supply of young plants from Jamaica, or some of their other stations, and such arrangement could meet with no objection; for since the English government established their plantations in India, not for the sake of commerce nor of government monopoly, but simply to supply that large colony with an article so needful to health, in its malarious climate, as quinine has become, then the same spirit of humanity which laid a foundation for a supply would liberally co-operate in its extension to ague-producing countries

SHIP TIMBER IN THE UNITED STATES.

BY WILLIAM W. BATES, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TIMBER adapted to the purposes of ship-building is found in great abundance and variety in most of the States of the Union. It would be singular, indeed, were this not the case in a region of the globe which produces one hundred and forty kinds of trees, and is not less remarkable for the number than the extent of its navigable waters. In the forests of the United States at least thirty varieties of woods may be found which are suitable for the construction of vessels, boats, and barges, for ocean and inland navigation; but perhaps not more than twenty are yet in common use.

THE PROPERTIES OF SHIP TIMBER.

The properties of wood required in ship timber depend much upon the place, purpose, and use of the several pieces composing a ship; hence, as woods differ greatly in their properties, some kinds are far more generally useful than others, although it may occur that the wood of limited utility proves indispensable in building, on account of its peculiar fitness for certain parts of the work. the structure of a ship, timber is subjected to many strains and deteriorating influences not found in other combinations of wood-work. The properties in

In