June i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



953 



of place here to say that trees ehouUi be rung, or have a 

 large ring of bark aud aap wooil removed, near the ground, 

 some mouths, or even years, before they are reciuired. 

 Failure to season the wood in this way often iilduces dry 

 rot. It is also better to season the stem standing, and 

 before it is felled and cut up, as it is then much less liable 

 to warp. 



This rule of ringing timbers applies to all those having 

 so-called heai't wood ; with softer wood it is not always 

 possible : there are some that actually seem to rot ere 

 they can dry. 



Most of the woods in the above list are cross in grain, 

 and difficult to work, requiring all tools to be both strong 

 and sharp; the Sopas being the easiest and straightest 

 of grain. 



Jai-k is .seldom found, in the plains at least, very straight. 

 It is usually more or less carved, aud with large branches, 

 comparatively low down, and if grown for timber, these 

 should be removed when young. There are said to be 2 or 

 3 kinds of jack, but the difference in the woods is not 

 very great. Jack is a good wood for the tables of rolling 

 macliines, being tolerably tough and dense. 



It stands weathering out of doors better than many other 

 woods on this list. 



Nalior, if well grown, is a fine wood ; at times it is seen 

 10 to 12 feet in girth, and straight clean shaft for 45 and 50 

 feet. As a rule in the plains the straighter ones are young, 

 and the old ones more or less crooked. The forest if pro- 

 perly studied, often yields information of peculiar kind : 

 thus the above gives a clue to the density of population 

 compared to what wo see now. These large old and 

 crooked branching Nahors clearly indicate that when 

 yoimg, the cciiiifry (now forest,) was then open. They 

 are often along the sides of old buuds in dense forest, aud 

 evidently planted, and from the seed the surrounding 

 Nahor forest has sprung up, and it is generally as straight 

 as the old trees are the revei-se. As a tree the Nahor is 

 Tory ornamental : the young foliage out in March is a 

 bright crimson, and the tree if in the open, a cone of foliage, 

 aud later in the year, about Rlay, the blossoms out in pro- 

 fusion are like large white wild roses, often in bunehes, and 

 perfume the air all around. The immense bunch of 

 stamens in each flower are a deep golden colour, and con- 

 trast beautifully witli the large white petals. No wonder 

 the tree was a favourite iu old times. It was mainly on 

 this account that it was planted about. As a w'ood Nahor 

 is hard and cross ; it is also fairly heavy, and the " heart " 

 lasts well in the ground as posts, going for 16 to 20 years 

 or .so. For indoor and li;^ liter work Nahor is a very secontl- 

 ratewood, on account of being comparatively difficult to 

 work : there are so many much better. Its main use is for 

 posts, in tea estates at least, or where strength is needed. 



Ajai' (called iu Cachar Jai'ul) has also a handsome purple 

 blossom or .'^pilce of blossoms. It is at times a large tree, 

 8 aud 9 feet in girth, and perhaps 40 to 50 iu the shaft ; 

 and if iu the open, is very handsome when in flower. 



For lasting iu the ground, or water, it has a reiDutation 

 quite equal to Nahor ; and the heart, it large, can be relied 

 on for 12 or 14 years. The wood is rather lighter and 

 more easily worked than Nahor, which it somewhat re- 

 sembles, in other characters, of strength and toughness : it 

 is a first-class useful wood. — S. E. P. 



PLANTING IN THE HILL-COUNTRY OF 

 CEYLON: GENERAL REPORT. 



Kancly, 1st May 1SS3. 



The weather keeps up wonderfully, and slight 

 dribblet blossom.s peep through the dark foliage of 

 our luxuriant coffee I 'T is true and 'tis a pity, crop 

 again seems wiosi disappointing : our hopes and fears 

 are having a lively time of it this season on the 

 Kandy sirle. The blossom of the season does not 

 seem to have profited by tine weather, and th<" result 

 I fenr will be yet another shorl year. On many 

 eet.itns the wood, which has bccu making rapid 

 g^|>^^.h litsly, is too youug to mature blossom for 

 this sea.^on. It ia nevertheless of a stronger nature 

 and more o( the " good old style ''than I have noticed 

 for some years. So let us take unto ourselves a fresh 

 stock of hope, keep expcuditure down, and our spiiits 

 120 



up, and peradventure mortgagees may bear with us 

 yet nne more year. Haputale and Uva seem 

 in lui^k nuoo more. It does one's eyes good to see 

 such fields of cofRe. Crops are not doomed in those 

 dietriots yeta-while, judging by the appearance of 

 the bushes, and the prices realized at home for brands 

 like Kelburne, 'VViharagala, Golcouda, etc., turn the 

 tables completely on former years. A whisper hn.s 

 it that B. & H.'s curing has touched up some 

 of the "sleepy hollows" of our nieruhaut princes 

 and not befora it was hadly wanted. 



What a strand thing for planters in this island that 

 the price of rice continues so moderate. We may also 

 thank our stars that " Kamasamy " is so amiably 

 disposed and content to work lour days a week, no 

 doubt, witli an eye to his " pickings " in crop time 

 au Tecoir, 



TEA AND COFFEE. 



As the Budget arrangements are to be discussed iu 

 the House of Commons next week, the tea trade, as 

 is usual, canvass the prospects of a reduction in the 

 duly. Owing to the great fall in the value of tea, 

 that charge has become proportionately far greater 

 than it used to be, and forms quite .'iO yer cent, on 

 the average wholesale price, while on some perfectly 

 sound, although common. Congous, which have been 

 selling at as little as 4id per lb., the duty is 125 per 

 cent, of the wholesale value. By tlie time the tea 

 reaches the public the burden is much greater, as the 

 wholesale and retail trade have to be paid for collect- 

 ing the revenue iu infinite detail, and the Grocers of 

 course reckon their percentage of profit O'l the retail 

 price. In consequence of the increased proportionate 

 burden upou tea, the trade certainly think the\ hiive 

 a claim upon the Government's coneideratmn as to the 

 duty. At the present moment, however, there appears 

 no prospect of the removal of this great obstacle, not 

 only to the use of tea in this C"Uiilry, but to increased 

 trade with India and China in tea and in our own 

 produce. As the revenue will apparently not bear any 

 consideiable sacrifice, euch as tlu removal ot the tea 

 duty. 



It is singular that India not cnly excels China lu 

 tea, but produces far finer cotfro than th it grown in 

 any other country. Tills may I'G partly due to the 

 virgin soil upou which most ot the southern Indi'U 

 coffee is grown aud to the cl mate, but the energy 

 and ability of our planters als < count much for iu 

 the result. The clearing ot a tropical forest and its 

 transference iutoa coffee garden aic most arduous under- 

 takings ; aud th? English pioneers, leading solitary 

 lives in fever-haunted jangles, have anything but au 

 enviable time of it. Indeed, for several years, the 

 planter's life iu a new district is one of the most 

 miserable thut can be conceived. All the more credit 

 ia therefore due to those, who, under fcuch difficulties, 

 have brought Indian nolTee into the v>"ry front rank. 

 The planters also keep themselves informed of all 

 that is going on. For instance, at the Madras Agri 

 Horticultural show, held by Government on the 24th 

 February last, samples of colf-e from no less than 

 forty-three estates in Mysore, Coorg, Wynaad, the 

 Neilgherries and Travancore were exhibited. The prize 

 med.ll was carried off by the "Cannons" Mysore 

 ctfee, wiiicli is so well known to the home trade. — 

 Produce Markets' lieview. 



An apple in perfect preservation, although niaety- 

 six years old, is in possession of a getleman in Ulster 

 County, Penu.^ylvauia. As it rounded up from the 

 blossom of the pirent stem iu ihe early summer of 

 17S7 a bottle was drawn over it and attached to the 

 branch, and after the apple had ripened the stem was 

 severed and the bottle sealed tightly. It looks as fresh 

 as when first plucked, — Home jiajier. 



