ACACIA MELANOXYLON. 



on reserved Government forests, and unless we can persuade 

 him to adopt a new system of feeding his cattle, and sup- 

 plying his fuel and building requirements, he will ever look 

 fondly to those forests for supplying his wants without 

 trouble or expense. It is to be borne in mind that the ryot 

 has been for ages brought up under a reckless system of 

 mismanagement, and new habits are not learnt in a day 

 especially by a people who are the most conservative that 

 the world has seen. From sire to sou for ages, the same 

 habits, trades, occupations have been the hard and fast rule. 

 Cultivation of It would be well if the ryot, in some of the drier and 



poorer districts, were to cultivate the Palmyra more care- 

 fully the leaves would do for thatching buildings, the 

 stems for rafters, and the tree for sugar. Millions of trees 

 might be grown in places which at present produce next to 

 nothing. But the eternal laziness of the ryot prevents him 

 from ever attempting to work for his descendants. There is 

 an exception to this rule in Malabar where, on the birth of a 



Planting of Sap. daughter, a small plantation of cutch (Caesalpinia Sappan) 

 pan in Malabar. , , ^ /. , , 



is planted for her marriage portion. 



CHAPTER VI. 



ACACIA MEL1NOXYLON. 



Introducad by THIS tree was, I believe, introduced by Colonel Dun to these 

 Colonel Dun. j^ about the same time as A. Dealbata, there were a few 

 in 1845 iu his compounds and some in the club grounds. 

 They were still so rare in 1851, that I remember some just 

 planted were stolen from General Watson's ground and 

 were traced to a private gardener where they had been 

 brought as a peace-offering, and up to 1857 the Government 

 charged four annas for a plant. Last year I cut down a tree 

 in my ground that had been planted before 1845 or about 

 thirty-eight years of age. Though it had a large hole in it 

 from which a hive of bees had been cut out, it gave suflicient 

 planks to board a large room 24x15 of excellent wood, 

 indeed BO much is this wood esteemed in Australia that 



