Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

IN THE CINCHONA FORESTS 299
straight line, but there is no road unless by way of
Guaranda, which would take four days. I therefore
followed a route already taken by Dr. Taylor,
namely, along the path
to Guaranda as far as the
first ridge, and thence down to some cane-farms on
the Rio de Tablas. From this point Dr. Taylor
with an Indian had opened a track. I remained at
Tabacal from the i4th to the 28th of September,
collecting seeds as the capsules ripened and drying
them carefully before packing.
I had now gathered about 2500 well -grown
capsules (without enumerating many smaller ones),
namely, 2000 from ten trees at Limon, and 500
from five trees at San Antonio. Good capsules
contain 40 seeds each in some I have counted 42
so that I calculated I had (in round numbers) at
least 100,000 well -ripened and well -dried seeds.
Some small turgid (almost globose) capsules contained
only from two to four seeds, as large and
ripe as any in the largest capsules,
while other
capsules of the ordinary length, but slender, proved
to contain only abortive seeds and were accordingly
rejected in the drying. Had the month of July
been as sunny as it is said usually to be, many more
capsules would doubtless have ripened ;
as it was,
only about one flower in ten produced ripe seeds.
I had scarcely finished drying my seeds at
Tabacal, when I received the welcome intelligence
that the army of General Flores had obtained possession
of Guayaquil, and that the communication
between the coast and the interior was reopened.
I therefore resolved to proceed to Guayaquil and
dispatch from thence a portion of my seeds by the
first opportunity.