832 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, F883. 



and can be supplied in shocks delivered at the Colombo 

 Railway Station at Rl-30 each (without nails.) 

 or made up (with nails) at R140 each. 



Achestrequiresabout70to80wireuail.s(llb.=about380iiails.) 

 „ 6 lb. tea lead. 



„ 3 oz. solder, 



not quite h lb. hoop iron, 

 about 70 rose nails for fastening do. (1 



lb.=about 660 nails.) 



Now, provided the hal wood tea chest turns out 

 to be good and serviceable, — and we can affirm that 

 it looks the right thing, while the Company's Man- 

 ager says the chests made of hcil are good and com- 

 pare most favourably with Indian tea boxes, of which 

 a large number has passed through his liands, — we 

 have here a box of superior capacity at a lower 

 price than those previously quoted (made up with 

 nails K1'40 each) and constructed on such scientific 

 priinciples as to size that ten such boxes make up 

 exactly the measurement ton of 50 cubic feet by 

 which freight on tea is charged. If, in addition, the 

 Company could manage so that each box should 

 weigh exactly the same, so as so save the injurious 

 necessity of bulking in the Loudon Customs, they 

 would deserve to be regarded as special benefactors 

 to the tea iuterest of Ceylon. Perfectly seasoned 

 wood, if not exposed to wet, ought not to alter ap- 

 preciably in weight, and the weight of nails, tea lead, 

 solder and hoop iron should be uniform. We surely 

 are within hailing distance of the time when the 

 quantity of tea of each kind in boxes can be so 

 entirely relied upon, even by men so accustomed to 

 the shady side of human nature as customs officers, 

 that there may be no occasion to open boxes before 

 sales, except for the purpose of taking samples. 



If tea planters are grateful for having the above 

 information placed prominently before them, the best 

 way in -H^hich they can make a return is by supply- 

 ing us, for the benefit of those interested in the new 

 industry, with information as to the kinds of forest 

 trees, in the lowcountry and at high elevations, 

 which have hitherto been found best suited for the 

 boxes, the prevalence of such timbers, and the com- 

 parative cost at which they can be felled, sawn, 

 seasoned, and worked up on estates. It is of much 

 importance that the use of tea driers will save 

 the necessity of converting some of the best tim- 

 ber on estates into charcoal, because such timber 

 can now be utilized for tea boxes or other pur- 

 poses With railway extension, indeed, it is 

 possible that coke may be found a cheaper and 

 better fuel for the tea driers than firewood, the 

 smoke from which might be objectionable. As the 

 supply of really good timber in the hill forests of 

 Ceylon is, after all, very scanty, information regard- 

 ing the best trees to grow at \arious elevations will 

 be N'aluable. We ilo not forget the lists of low and 

 high elevation trees issued by the late Dr. Thwaites, 

 but they were prepared without any reference to the 

 question now being discussed. We fear the Innu- 

 medilla is specially a lowcountry plant, but prob- 

 ably trials will show that this and other suitable 

 plants have a pretty extensive range as regards 

 altitude. 



Our present enquiries were started by the receipt 

 of a letter from Mr. J. ■ . Gamble, whom we had 

 the i)leasure of meeting in British Sikhim in 1876, 

 and who is now at the head of the Madras Govern- 

 ment Forest Department 1 o the Indian and bot- 

 anical names furnished by Mr. Gamble, Mr. W. Fer- 

 guson has, at our request, added notes indicating 

 whether the trees are indigenous to or to be found 

 in Ceylon. Here are the letter and the notes : — 

 M:.dias 3rd April 1^83. 



SSiR, — At p. 720 of your March No. o the Tropi- 

 cal Ayrkulturist yoB take me tatftsk for not giving 



the scientific names of the trees which I enumerated 

 by their vernacular ones, ss producing woods fit for 

 tea boxes. So I send you the list with thp native 

 names perfectly corrected as to spelling. The mis- 

 prints were chiefly made by the Indian Forester, I see. 

 For 'Chota Kagpur' please read "Chota Nagpur.'^ 

 Yours, J. S. Gamble. 



Indian Names. Botanical Names. 



Cedrela Toona, microcarpa or glabra (a) 

 Buabanga sonueratioides (b) 

 Bombax malabaricum (tf) 

 Cauarium bengalense (d) 

 Anthocaphalus C'adamba (c) 

 Acrocarpus fraxiuifolias (/) 

 Tetrameles uudiflora (g} 

 Sterr.ulia villosa (l>ad) (h) 

 Acer (.'ampbellii or lEevigatum (/) 

 Engelhardtia spicata (_;') 

 Echinocarpu.M da-sycarpus (A) 

 Nyssa sessiliflora (/) 

 Machilus edulis (mj 

 Beilschmiedia Roxburgliiana (n) 

 Boswellia thurifera (0) 



Mr. W. Feeouson's Notes:— (a) Not a native of Ceylon . Intro- 

 duced in Pcradeuiya. (i) Not in Ceylon, (c) Katu-Imbul. Red 

 llowered silk-cotton tree, (rf) Not in Ceylon, (e) Common Ceylon 

 tree. (/) Not in Ceylon. Legnminosese. {ff) In Ceylon bills rare. 

 Detiscacese. (hiandj)'Soi in Ceylon. (A) Not in Ceylon. Bhotan. 

 Sikkim Eastern Himalaya. (I) Sikkim 5,000-7,000 ft. Martaban, 

 .Tava. (Wi) Native of Northern India, (/i) Also Northern India. (0) 

 In northern part of Madras Presidency, and in Bengal, this and 

 No. 4 closely allied. We have in Ceylon the Ksekuna, Canarinm 

 Zeylanicum, Thwaitea. 



Mr. W. Ferguson adds detailed remarks as follows : — 



Notes on Mb. Gamble's List of Timbeb Teees Fit foe 



Tea Boxfs. 



I have put notes opposite to Mr. Gamble's list and I 

 sliall here refer to the nos. only, as there is no use in 

 repeating the native and botanic names: — 



1 - — Inti'oduced to Ceylon and in the Peradeuiya Gardens. 

 iSame family, Mehaceie, as the Lunu-midella. 



2. — Not yet in Ceylon. D. moluccana, in the Peradeniya 

 gardens. See Mon-is's Kst. It is of the same f.imily as the 

 Lagersti'ceniia flos-reginje, the Murutii. 



3. — The red flowered silk cotton tiee, Kattu-Imbul. Wood 

 too weak and perishable, I should think. 



4. — The family that produce the aromatic gums of tlie 

 Bible. We have one in Ceylon, the Kajkuna. C. zeyla- 

 nicimr, Thwaites See No. 1.') of same family. I don't 

 think the timber of the.se would be good for tea boxes. 



0. — Ceylon tree, large and a quick grower. I know it 

 well, but don't know much about its tunber. It is so close 

 an ally of the Bak-mi, which injured some Ceylon Com- 

 pany's tea, and about which Mr. Horsfall wrote to 

 Olisermr, that they used to be in the same genus, 

 Rubiaceae. 



6. — Not in Ceylon. An Indian tree. Don't know much 

 about it. A large ti'ee. 



7. — A Ceylon tree. The only one of the order Datiscejb. 

 I have never seen the true, and failed to get a specimen 

 of it. 



S. — Not in Ceylon. Several of the fanvily in Ceylon. I 

 do not think any of them will be good for tea boxes. 



9. — None of this genus in Ceylon. 



10. — Not yet in Ceylon. 



11. — Not in Ceylon. Allied to the Weralus. Bhotan, 

 Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya. 



12. — Not in Ceylon. An obscm'e family. This ti-ee 60 

 feet high ; Sikliim at .5,000-7,0(10 feet. Martaban, Java. 



13. — One of the laurels. Native of Northern India. 

 Kudu-Dawulu, a fiimous timber ti'ee on estates in Diinbula 

 and elsewhere, a close ally, l)ut some of them are likely 

 to have aromatic woods. The famous 3V;yvv//', Aseo- 

 daphne semicarpifoha, of the Eastern Pro^•ince. A good 

 wood. Same family, cinnamon, camphor, &c. 



14. — Not in Ceylon. Northern India. Same family as 

 No. 13. 



1.5. — Not in Ceylon. In northern part of the Madi'as Presid- 

 ency and Bengal. See my note on No. 4. 



See No. 13, p. o3, " Tea Cultivation in S. India and 

 Ceylon," &c., and W. F.'s "Timber Trees." 

 As lightness combined with just sufficient strength 

 to cai'ry home a load of tea safely are the desiderata 

 for tea-box timber, it is quite possible that experi 



