The idea of cultivating Cinchonas out of their native regions was advanced by Ruiz in 1792, and by Fée of Strassburg in 1824.[1324] Royle[1325] pointed out in 1839 that suitable localities for the purpose might be found in the Neilgherry Hills and probably in many other parts of India, and argued indefatigably in favour of the introduction of the tree.
The subject was also urged in reference to Java in 1837 by Fritze, director of medical affairs in that island; in 1846 by Miquel, and subsequently by other Dutch botanists and chemists.[1326]
Living Cinchonas had been taken to Algeria as early as 1849, by the intervention of the Jesuits of Cusco, but their cultivation met with no success.
Weddell in 1848 brought cinchona seeds from South America to France, and strenuously insisted on the importance of cultivating the plant. His seeds, especially those of C. Calisaya, germinated at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and in June 1850, living seedlings were sent to Algeria; and in April 1852, through the Dutch Government, to Java.
The first important attempts at cinchona cultivation were made by the Dutch. Under the auspices of the Colonial Minister Pahud, afterwards Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, the botanist Hasskarl was despatched to Peru for the purpose of obtaining seeds and plants. His mission was so far successful, that a collection of plants contained in 21 Wardian cases, was shipped in August 1854 from Callao, in a frigate sent expressly to receive them. Notwithstanding every care, the plants did not reach Java in good condition; and when Hasskarl resigned his appointment in 1856, he bequeathed to his successor Junghuhn only 167 young cinchonas, though 400 specimens had been shipped from South America.
An impulse to the project of cinchona-planting was given in 1852 by Royle, in a report addressed to the East India Company, in which he pointed out that the Government of India were then spending more than £7,000 a year for Cinchona bark, in addition to about £25,000 for quinine.[1327]
After some unsatisfactory endeavours on the part of the British Government to obtain plants and seeds through the intervention of H. M. Consuls in South America, Mr. Markham offered his services, which were accepted. Markham, though not a professed botanist, was well qualified for the task by a previous acquaintance with the country and people of Peru and Bolivia, and by a knowledge of the Spanish and Quichua languages,—and even more so by a rare amount of zeal, intelligence, and forethought. Being fully aware of the difficulties of the undertaking, he earnestly insisted that nothing should be neglected which could ensure success; and in particular made repeated demands for a steam-vessel to convey the young plants across the Pacific to India, which unfortunately were not complied with. He further urged the desirableness of not confining operations to a single district, but of endeavouring to procure by different collectors all the more valuable species.
The prudence of this latter suggestion was evident, and Markham was enabled to engage the services of Richard Spruce, the distinguished botanist, then resident in Ecuador, who expressed his readiness to undertake a search for the Red Bark trees (C. succirubra) in the forests of Chimborazo. He also secured the co-operation of G. J. Pritchett for the neighbourhood of Huanuco, and of two skilful gardeners, John Weir and Robert Cross. The last named was employed in 1861 to procure seeds of C. officinalis from the Sierra de Cajanuma near Loxa, and in 1868-64 those of C. pitayensis from the province of Pitayo in Ecuador.[1328]
Markham reserved for himself the border-lands of Peru and Bolivia, in order to obtain C. Calisaya; and for this purpose started from Islay in March 1860. Arriving in the middle of April by way of Arequipa and Puno, at Curcero, the capital of the province of Carabaya, he made his way to the village of Sandia, near which he met with the first specimens of Cinchona in the form of the shrubby variety of C. Calisaya, termed Josephiana. He afterwards found the better variety a. vera, and also C. ovata R. et P., C. micrantha R. et P., and C. pubescens Vahl. Of these sorts, but chiefly of the first three, 456 plants were shipped at Islay in June 1860.
In consequence of the hostile attitude of the people, and the jealousy of the Bolivian Government, lest an important monopoly should be broken up, added to the difficulties arising from insalubrious climate and the want of roads, the obstacles encountered by Markham were very great, and no attempt could be made to wait for the ripening of the seeds of the Calisaya, which takes place in the month of August.[1329]