Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

CINCHONA TREES IN INDIA o
the surface covering of leaves and leaf-mould. He
states that during the dry season, from June to
December, there was rain (more or less) on about ten
days in each month, and that during the whole six
months there were only thirty-one days on which
there was neither rain, mist, nor fog. This would
appear to be a very different type of climate from that
of either Sikhim or the Neilgherries, although the
mean temperature may not be very dissimilar. It
seems to me probable that the districts most nearly
approaching in climate to that of the Cinchona
forests would be the mountain slopes above 2000
feet in the Federated Malay States, or in the
Sarawak territory in Borneo, both of which have a
similar distribution of rainfall throughout the year.
The official Report of June 1907 states "the
Cinchona industry in the Neilgherry is rapidly
diminishing," and that many of the estates are
being abandoned, which can only be due to its
being not permanently profitable. Everything
therefore seems to point to the fact that the best
natural conditions for the growth of these valuable
trees has not yet been found.]