Se?t, I, i8b6.j 



THs TROPICAL A<kmcijt'rvnmf, 



m 



stopped. He wrote:—" The supply oi na sleepers 

 will, in any case, be small. With so much sap- 

 v.ood in ua trees it appears a wasteful way of 

 utilizing the timber, even if its durability is e3ta,b- 

 lishcd."' Pale sapwood, on the other hand, he said, 

 was as hard as' the heart. From Mr. Vincent's 

 report we quote as follows : — 



Failure of' na sUcjiJciti ^^iqipliijil from the Xortheni 

 Provbice. — fii 1879 a considerable number of na* 

 sleepers were sent to Colombo from the Northern 

 Province. They v/erc cut in a small temple grove 

 in the MuUaittivu District, and having a good deal 

 of sapwood were quite unsuited to the purpose. 

 They were thought so bad that they were laid down 

 only on an unused siding in Colombo, and are now 

 nothing but touchwood. Na trees have always so 

 much sapwood, that it is extremely doubtful vvhether 

 they would ever give good sleepers; certainly not, 

 if grown in the forest of the dry zone, where they 

 are quite exotics. 



Mr. S. E.Peal, of Assam, thus describes ihe Nahor 

 (identical with our Na-gaha) : — 



JS\ihor, if well grown, is a fine wood ; at times it is 

 seen 10 to 12 feet in girth, and straight clean shfcft 

 for 45 and 50 feet. As a rule, in the Plains, the 

 straighter ones are young, and the o'd ones more or 

 leas crooked. The forest, if properly studit^d, often 

 yields information of a peculiar kiud : thus, the rvljove 

 gives a clue to the density of population compired to 

 what we see now. These l;irge old and crooked- 

 branching Nahors clearly indicate that, when young, 

 the country (now forest,) was then open. They are 

 often along the sides of old bunds, in dense forest, 

 and CTidently planted ; and from the seed, the sur- 

 rounding Nahor forest has sprung up, and it is gener- 

 ally as straight as the old trees are the reverse. As 

 a tree, the Nahor is very ornamental : the young 

 foliage, out in March, is a bright crimson, and the 

 tree, in the open, a cone of foliage ; and later in the 

 year, about May, the blossoms, out in profusion, are 

 like large white wild-roses, often in bunches, and 

 perfume the air all around. The immense bunch of 

 stamens in each flower are a deep golden colour, and 

 contrast beautifully with the large white petals. No 

 wonder the tree was a favourite in old times. It was 

 mainly on this account that it was planted about. As 

 a wood, Nahor is hard and cross ; it is also fairly heavy, 

 and the "heart" lasts well in the ground as posts, 

 going for 16 to 26 years or so. For indoor and lighter 

 work, Nahor is a very second-rate wood, on account of 

 being comparatively diflBcult to work: there are so 

 many much better. Its main use is for posts, in tea- 

 estates at least, or where strength is needed. 

 Our readers will thus see that the chief value cf 

 the beautiful ironwood tree is for yielding posts 

 to be lut into the ground and for similar pur- 

 poses. Au an ornamental tree it can scarcely be 

 surpassed. Palu or Pale, on the other hand is a 

 specially valuable timber tree. 



The Palu is indicated by Mr. Vincent as Mim- 

 iisops Indica, and besides the large export of this 

 wood he shows that railway-sleepers of the timber 

 laid djAvn on tfce Matale railway were very largely 

 a sucess. In Mr. W. Ferguson's notes this iorm 

 of " Iron-wood" is botanically indicated as BJiiu- 

 iigoj)^ Hexaiidra. The description is as follows : — 



This is tbe Pali of the Tamils, a common and 

 abund-int tree in the Eastern and Northern Provinces, 

 and the timber much used for piles in bridges, &c. 

 "Thii wood is very heavy, weighing 84 to 92 lb., per 

 cubi'- foot when unseasoned. Its specific gravity is 

 1-120. It is close and even-grained, hard, compact 

 and durable, of a purplish cokr when fresh turning 

 to reduish-brown, and susceptible of a very high 

 polis'). It is used by natives for oil presses, building 



* Owing to a confusion of names these have been 

 called p blu, and the latter wood has been needlessly 

 condemn ^d. A Sinhalese carpenter calls any hard- 

 wood wh ch he cannot recomize, palu, and some na 

 Iog8 were recently sold in Colombo as palu. 

 '^5 



and a variety of other purposes ; it is excellent for 

 rulers, handles of instruments, and all articles of 

 turnery, and for cabinet purposes." Beddome. 

 Economically, therefore, the beautiful-foliaged and 

 blossomed 7(rt tree, is far inferior to the pahi. The 

 )ia, howev •. is valuable as posts for telegraph 

 wires and like purposes. 



* 



DETERIOEATION OF CEYLON TEAS. 

 Oeylon tea is beginning to be placed in the Home 

 Market, and already complaints are heard that it is 

 of inlerior quality. A distinction is sought to be made 

 between the produce of old and of i>ew estates, and 

 in the case of the former, it is contended that no de- 

 terioration is noticeable, but on the contrary that the 

 average quality is maintained, and in instances ad- 

 vanced. The brokers' unfavourable remarks are ad- 

 mitted to apply to young estates and new marks, and 

 the inferiority of the teas is variously accounted for — 

 want of experience, inferior or inadequate machinery, 

 shortness of labor, or all combined. It must be borne 

 in mind that the tea industry of Ceylon is iu an in- 

 cipient stage ; the number of years since it grew to be a 

 factor iu the trade, can be counted on one's fingers; hence, 

 the planters have all their experience to gain aud all their 

 hardships to encounter and surmount. Au Indian 

 planter who has been engaged in tea for sometime 

 writes us : — "Tea cultivation and manufacture are not 

 thoroughly grasped in a short time. I have been at 

 it thirteen years, and every day almost, experience 

 teaches something new." The unsatisfactory outturn 

 in the Spicy island, is obviously the work of tyros, full 

 of hope, laboring in the wrong direction. Everything 

 was favorable up to the point of manufacture. Ceylon 

 possesses a happy climate, a sufficient rainfall and suit- 

 able elevation, a combination of advantages, which sent 

 up the hopes of the planters, and made them careless 

 about the one thing needful, that is, manipulation aud 

 manufacture. The planters of Ceylon are, as a whole, 

 mon of energy and application, quick to seize upon 

 points of vantage, indefatigable, and more than all, 

 inured to reverses, and capable of overcoming them. 

 "With antecedents so distinguished it will be a sur- 

 prise if the complaints so loud against the produce of 

 their gardens continue to be made. If the causes of 

 the inferiority of the Ceylon teas, now thrown into the 

 London maik'^t are correctly stated, thej are remedial, 

 and the enterprising body of men engaged in this 

 cultivation will not permit them to remain operative 

 much longer. But we fear the evil is in another 

 direction, and one not quite within the power of the 

 plauter to grapple with. The bulk of the large area 

 under tea is used-up coffee land, land in process of 

 abandonment as unprofitable, and about to be left to 

 the recuperative influences of nature. Many years of 

 constant cropping have deprived it of all tlie consti- 

 tuents of plant food, and it has consequently ceased 

 to be capable of remunerative cultivation. L'ponsoil 

 of this descriptinn tea has been almost universally 

 planted. The shelter which the standing coffee afforded 

 helped to establish the bush and impart a vigor 

 promi'iug great things. Appearances gave encourage- 

 ment, aud more desireable country was takeu up day 

 by day, until Oeylon can boast of a tea tract, twenty 

 times larger than Southern India, brought under cultiv- 

 a'ion in one-fourth the time. The planter 's knowledge 

 and experience have not kept pace with his physical 

 efforts. He has moreover not had time to ascertain 

 the effects of an uncougenial subsoil, into which the 

 roots of the young tea are onlj' now finding their way, 

 with the results we fear that have already be en noticed. 

 Tills same subsoil has done in Ceylon for ci nchona aud 

 cherry, what it is now perhaps doiag for tea. Indian 

 planters of experience who have lately vi.sit ed Ce3'lou, 

 are of opinion that much of the land put under tea 

 is quite unsuitable, and that progress i.^ too rapid. 

 Their adverse opiHions, it is obligingly sag ge.ftedare 

 the result of jealousy of rivalry ; we hardly think so. 

 The Indian tea plauter is flesh and blood of his Cey- 

 lon brother, and au Englishman is incapable of feel- 

 ing animosity against a competitor, Fair play is a jewel 



