In 1859, the British government launched an expedition to South America with the aim of collecting seeds and plants of the quinine-producing cinchona tree for establishing plantations in British India, so as to relieve the British Government of the escalating costs and uncertainties in the supply of this valuable, and increasingly popular anti-malarial drug. Drawing on recent work on the commodities of empire, tropical acclimatization, and imperial medicine, this thesis provides a detailed study of the first British cinchona plantations established on the Nilgiri Hills of Southern India. Focused on the period between 1860 and 1900, and at the local geographic scale, the research critically examines the engagement and connections between government officials, planters, venture capitalists, labourers, plant material and ideas in the context of the cinchona plantations through a thorough study of archival and secondary sources. Contributions are also made to the study of the spaces of science and the management of the tropical environment. Cinchona is placed in a wider context of the history of botany and plantations in the Nilgiri region, and the major events in the development of cinchona plantations described. In the resulting historical geography the Nilgiri cinchona plantations emerge as a 'nodal' point in the global cinchona network that also relied upon global networks of imperial power, capital and leisure tourism. The experiment was essentially an exertion of power but one that also demonstrated the very vulnerable nature of the empire.

In recent years, the Korean government has sought to encourage rural young people to enter farming and older farmers to leave it. The government‟s tool for promoting this intergenerational change has been agricultural structural adjustment policy, which includes farm entry policy, farm exit policy, competitiveness policy, and rural development policy. However, the number of young farmers has decreased and number of old farmers has increased. This research investigates why agricultural structural adjustment policy has failed, analyzing survey data on farm entry and exit using regression analysis, and with procedures enhanced by bootstrapping. The conclusions of the research are as follows. Agricultural structural adjustment policy does not induce young people to enter farming mainly because: 1) Rural young people have as little enthusiasm for farming as their urban counterparts; and 2) Competitiveness policy cancels the effects of farm entry policy. Meanwhile, agricultural structural adjustment policy has not induced old farmers to retire mainly because: 1) Older farmers are as reluctant to leave farming as younger ones; 2) Farm exit policy does not promote farm exit; and 3) Competitiveness policy and rural development policy, as well as farming conditions and farm exit barriers, cancel the effects of farm exit policy.