192 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Sept. i, 1886, 



ranges of Ceylon. On the road from Awisawella 

 to Ratnapura, and around Katnapuva itself, there 

 are small groves of the tree. From Mr. W. 

 Ferguson's notes on Mendis's list of timber trees 

 ol Ceylon, we quote as follows : — 



Ka-Gaha, Measua ferrea, Lin. Fl. Brit. Ind. I. 277. 

 Under this name this work includes several supposed 

 species of this famous tree. Our Ceylon tree is re- 

 markable as an ornamental flower tree, grown invari- 

 ably in the vicinity of Buddhist temples, and for 

 having brilliant red leaves when young. The timber 

 of this tree is the Iron-wood par excellence, and must 

 not be confounded with that of Palu, No. 65. It is the 

 best wood in the Island for piles and for the con- 

 struction of bridges, and is very durable under water. 

 It is straight grained, bard and difficult to work. 

 A cubic foot of it when seasoned weighs about 7;')-7t> 

 lb. The result of trials with 9 pieces 1 inch in 

 diameter, and 12 inches in length gave the following:— 

 Lowest breaking weight 791 lb., highest 1,239 lb„ 

 mean 1,049 lb., deflection -1^. Valuable for all pur- 

 poses requiring strength and durability. The timber 

 often breaks short and without warning. 



Turning to Gamble's Manual of Indian Timber 

 trees, we find amongst the native names, Xahor, 

 Assamese ; Nannal and Malluy naiipal, Tamil ; 

 Naga-kesara, Telugu ; Na and deya-na, Sinhalese. 

 Gamble's discription is : — 



A large evergreen tree ; bark J inch thick, reddish 

 brown, falling off in flat thin flakes, leaving a slightly 

 roughened surface. Heartvvood dark red, extremely 

 hard. Pores moderate-sized, often in groups, scanty, 

 often filled with yellow resin. Medullary rays ex- 

 tremely fine, uniform, equidistant, very numerous. 

 Numerous fine, wavy, concentric lines of light-coloured 

 tissue. 



Eastern Bengal from the Monas eastward (though 

 traces of its having formerly been found west of that 

 river occur sometimes in the names of places, r.ij., 

 Nageshwarbari, or Naksarbari, a town in tho bikkim 

 Terai on the Nepal frontier), Assam, South India, 

 Ceylon, Burma and the Andamans, often cultivated. 



The weight and transverse strength have been deter- 

 mined lay the following experiments : — 



Weight. Value of P. 



A. Mendis Ceylon No. 59, with bare 



2' >< 1" 1" X found 72 lb. 



Burma No. 18, 1802 69 „ 



Andamans No. 4, 1872 70 

 ( Assam (4 specimens), 1878 67-5, , 



■^ Kanarafl ., ), „ 62 „ 

 (Burma (6 „ ), ., 70 „ 

 Several of our specimens, however, reached 74 to 

 76 lb., per cubic foot in weight. It is very durable. 

 It has been found to answer for sleepers equally well 

 with Pynhado, but the cost of cutting the hard wood, 

 its weight, and the freight from the Teuasserim 

 forests to Calcutta prevent its being much used, as 

 the total cost is scarcely covered by the price (115} 

 per broad-gauge sleeper. It is used for building, 

 for bridges, guustocks and tool handles; but its more 

 general use is prevented by its groat hardness, weight 

 and the difficulty of working it. In Ceylon an oil 

 ia obtained from the nut, and the tree is often planted 

 for the sake of its handsome flowers. 

 Pyrikado, classed above with iron wood, is Afzelia 

 l»'jngn. The heart-wood is close grained, hut 

 the weight of the timber does not seem to be 

 more than half that of the true ironwood. It is 

 described as a vahiable wood, used in the Anda- 

 mans for bridge and house building. Mr. Gamble, 

 still talking of this tree as iron wood, has several 

 references to it and its value, in his recent report 

 on the Madras forests. We quote as follows regard- 

 ing another " iron-wood ": — 



in this strip the principal tree is the ironwood 

 (Xijliit (lohthiifuniiiK), hitherto, so far as I can ascer- 

 tain, considered of no account. The ironwood tree, 

 better known perhaps under its Burmese name of 

 ' Pynkado ' and its iSIalabar name of ' Irui,' is really 

 ft most valuable tree. It has a hard, dark-red, very 

 durable wood^ in capable of b.^ing naed for nipf-pors, 



Brandis 

 Bennett 



Smj'thies 



994 



1053 



for buildmg, bridges, <Xrc., and is in some localities 

 much employed for telegraph posts. Where the sal 

 forests of the Circar Hills end, there the ironwood 

 begins — a most fortunate circumstance, though we 

 may regret that neither of the trees have hitherto 

 received sufficient attention in this Presidency. To 

 show that the ironwood supply may be utilized a« 

 a source of revenue, I would mention that from in- 

 formation afforded by the office of the Inspector- 

 General of Forests at Calcutta, 'Pynkado' or iron- 

 wood sleepers from Burma are now being sold in 

 Calcutta, r.i- steamer, at I'l 1-12-0 each for broad, and 

 111-15-0 for narrow, gauge. One of the most remark 

 able and valuable characteristics of the ironwood 

 forests of Rekapalle and Rumpa is the abundance 

 of reproduction; seedlings may be seen every where- 

 nndor dense shade and in the open, and there can 

 be little doubt that the forests can be treated in a 

 systematic manner more easily than almost any 

 other kind in India except perhaps sal. 

 Again : 



''The Conservator desires to put on record his 

 experience of the wonderful powers of reproduction 

 of the Konda Tangedu (Xylia (iolahrifonnisj in the 

 forests of the I'pperGodavari and Rumpa. Whether 

 under shade or i>i the open, seedlings are everywhere 

 most abundant where the grazing is light, and he 

 thinks that except perhaps the sal, he knows of no 

 Indian tree whose new growth can be so easily 

 obtained as tliat of the ironwood. It would be a 

 thousand pities if the immense and valuable iron- 

 wood forests of the Rumpa country were to be care- 

 lessly destroyed unless it be for permanent cult- 

 ivation." 



On turning to Xylia dolahriformis, in the Manual 

 we find that it is " the ironwood tree of Pegu 

 and Arakau." There ia no indication that it exists 

 in Ceylon, but certainly it would seem to be a 

 m-ost desirable acquisition from what is stated about it. 

 The Tamil name is Ind. It is described as follows : — 



The wood is very durable — a property it doubtless 

 owes in great measure to the resinous substance 

 contained in it. This resin is more abundant in 

 Burmese ^^ood than in wood grown in South India. 

 No. B 1451, which was brought by Dr. Wallich 

 from Tavoy in 1828, is still so full of resin that it 

 is quite sticky on the outside, and tlie resin may be 

 scraped off with a knife. The substance is partially 

 soluble in hot water, to which it imparts a reddish 

 colour. 



The wood is used for boat-building and for agri- 

 cultural implements in Burma; also for carts and 

 tool handles. In South India it is used for railway 

 sleepers, posts, boat-building and carts. In Burma 

 and Bengal it has been largely used for telegraph 

 posts, for which it has answered well The large 

 forests in Arracau, of which Dr. Schlich in his re- 

 port on the ironwood forests of Arracan, dated 1st 

 September 18(39, says that "a third of the forest 

 vegetation consists of Pynkado," produce large num- 

 bers of telegraph poles and railway sleepers. Major 

 Seaton in his report for 1876-77 said that 10,000 

 such sleepers from Arracan had then lataly been sold 

 at Calcutta at Ro each, and Mr. Ribbentrop's Report 

 states that Pynkado pieces and sleepers are brought 

 out from the forests in Pegii. It is likely, however, 

 to be found too hard, heavy and difficult to cut. 

 It is a useful wood for piles and beams of bridges. 

 It exudes a red resin, and the seeds give an oil. 

 The native name Pynkado is evidently applied to 

 the two trees. 



Turning to our own ironwood, the Kn-yaha, we find 

 that Mr. Vincent, in his Report on the Forests of 

 Ceylon, gave figures showing that out of a value 

 for timber exported from Ceylon in 1881 of R342,000, 

 ironwood contributed R78.74.J, against R1.'),40.H 

 halmilla, R2fl,7y0 satinwood, and R1.3.'i,,"i09 ebony. 

 It is possib e, however, indeed pretty certain that 

 palu was included in and perhaps constituted the 

 bulk of the export. Recommending the extended 

 use of PaK' (palu) sleepers, Mr. Vincent said that 

 the enttinf^ of Xa trees for this purpose should be 



