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CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA. 521
deans and the Pelasgi, these portions of the ancient world had bestowed
on agriculture more than half of the treasures which she possesses. The
Indies and the Sunda Archipelago, so rich in their vegetation, are the
habitats of about one-fourth of the plants used in agriculture and manu-*
factures, and the remainder come to us almost entirely from South America, which, as regards the multitude of indigenous plants, and taking its
area into consideration, is certainly the wealthiest continent of all. There
is only one species of high importance among cultivated plants, the date-
tree, which finds its origin in Northern Africa; with regard to Australia,
New Zealand, and the United States, none of these countries have as yet
supplied to mankind any one plant of essential utility either for food or
agriculture, if we except the materials requisite for the building of houses
and ships.
It is an evident fact that men, too much the slaves of routine in their
course of cultivation, have as yet turned to account but a very small number of the plants which might be useful to them; and among those that
are cultivated with the greatest care many are species of a poisonous nature, such as opium, the betel-root, and tobacco—that odious weed the use
of which weakens the body and stupefies the mind ! To say nothing of
the various species of trees which have not hitherto been worked for building purposes, how many American plants there .are, neglected by or even
unknown to botanists, which might be useful either for the food of man
or for the cure of his maladies, either by means of their stems, their bark,
their fruits, their flowers, their germs, or their roots ! Not long back our
agriculturists made a most important acquisition in the virgin forests of
Bolivia and Peru: they have taken possession of the Peruvian bark tree
with a view of converting it into a cultivated plant. The natives, too
eager to avail themselves of its virtues, knew of no better plan than that
of cutting down the tree arM peeling off its bark; they traverse the forests in search of the cinchonas, and when they have found them, the axe
is at once laid to them; and in the course of a few hours these trees, which
might have supplied numerous crops of bark throughout a whole century, lay despoiled upon the ground. Fortunately, Clement Markham,
the traveler, was successful in taking up a few young plants; and at the
present time we have the c%7ichpna growing in cultivated forests in Ceylon, the island of Java, and on the mountain slopes of the Himalayas and
the Nilgherry hills.
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000578 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA. 521 deans and the Pelasgi, these portions of the ancient world had bestowed on agriculture more than half of the treasures which she possesses. The Indies and the Sunda Archipelago, so rich in their vegetation, are the habitats of about one-fourth of the plants used in agriculture and manu-* factures, and the remainder come to us almost entirely from South America, which, as regards the multitude of indigenous plants, and taking its area into consideration, is certainly the wealthiest continent of all. There is only one species of high importance among cultivated plants, the date- tree, which finds its origin in Northern Africa; with regard to Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, none of these countries have as yet supplied to mankind any one plant of essential utility either for food or agriculture, if we except the materials requisite for the building of houses and ships. It is an evident fact that men, too much the slaves of routine in their course of cultivation, have as yet turned to account but a very small number of the plants which might be useful to them; and among those that are cultivated with the greatest care many are species of a poisonous nature, such as opium, the betel-root, and tobacco—that odious weed the use of which weakens the body and stupefies the mind ! To say nothing of the various species of trees which have not hitherto been worked for building purposes, how many American plants there .are, neglected by or even unknown to botanists, which might be useful either for the food of man or for the cure of his maladies, either by means of their stems, their bark, their fruits, their flowers, their germs, or their roots ! Not long back our agriculturists made a most important acquisition in the virgin forests of Bolivia and Peru: they have taken possession of the Peruvian bark tree with a view of converting it into a cultivated plant. The natives, too eager to avail themselves of its virtues, knew of no better plan than that of cutting down the tree arM peeling off its bark; they traverse the forests in search of the cinchonas, and when they have found them, the axe is at once laid to them; and in the course of a few hours these trees, which might have supplied numerous crops of bark throughout a whole century, lay despoiled upon the ground. Fortunately, Clement Markham, the traveler, was successful in taking up a few young plants; and at the present time we have the c%7ichpna growing in cultivated forests in Ceylon, the island of Java, and on the mountain slopes of the Himalayas and the Nilgherry hills. |
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