February i, 1890] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
When extensions reaoh Matara southwards 
and Anuradhapura en route to the north, 
sleepers will be required in far larger num- 
bers than the 15,000 per annum which the Forest 
Department is now asked to provide, and which, we 
doubt not, it could supply many times over with ease. 
The 61 speoies of timbers deemed suitable for trial 
as hardwood sleepers, it is stated, " are found distri- 
buted, some in the dry zone and some in the wet zone, 
so that each province can contribute its quota of 
the total number required." Mr. Broun, too, with his 
praotical knowledge of forestry, goes counter to the 
popular idea that timber grown in a dry district is 
necessarily superior to the same speoies grown in 
a moist district. In Australia, we rather think, 
jarrah and karri, grown in a dry climate and on 
hard, rocky, ferruginous soil, are deemed superior 
in quality, from the conditions of soil and climate. 
On the other hand, the red gum, which yields one of 
the finest timbers for railway sleepers, street pave- 
ments and similar purposes, flourishes in damp 
soil, by the borders of rivers and lakes. But in 
all cases, we believe red-tinted timber is deemed 
superior to white, the superiority being probably due 
to the presence of gum kino. Mr. Stables in his high 
testimony to the merits of karri timber was careful 
to say that he spoke of the red variety, not the blue. 
We have never heard of a blue-coloured karri, only 
of a red (brownish red) and a white, and Mr. Davies, 
when we met him in Australia, was emphatic in 
describing the red as beyond question the superior. 
His forest in Western Australia, of which and the 
sawing establishments wo have some fine photo- 
graphs, consists entirely of the red karri. The 
white he deems unsuitable for railway sleepers, 
while he claims with good reason the highest possible 
position for the red, which alone he supplies. Mr. 
Stables, who had four years' practical experience of 
karri sleepers on Indian lines, considered them, all 
round, the best sleepers he had met with in his ex- 
perience, and at K5'10 at the ship's 6ide here a 
cheap article compared wiiii what they cost in 
India. "Karri is the finest wood for sleepers I 
have ever seen." We have not the slightest doubt 
that the result of the trial made in Ceylon will 
confirm this opinion. We have already remarked 
how closely our own red doon (which has long passed 
the experimental stage) resembles, in colour and 
consistence, the Australian karri timber. The doons, 
which are not only indigenous but peculiar to Ceylon, 
as is the fine halmillila (one of the best timbers exist- 
ing), — the doons are, no doubt, harder and more diffi 
oult to work than the karri. In theevidence given before 
the Committee we observe that much stress was laid 
on the employment for conversion into sleepers of the 
variety described as " Yakahalu." This as written 
would mean demon-like, but the terms for demon 
and tor iron in Sinhalese so closely resemble each 
other, that they may be confounded. We have 
no doubt that the proper term is "Yakadahalu": 
iron-like doon, from its hardness of texture. Of 
course, experience must decide, but next to doon, 
we should think that the ubiquitous Kumbuk (Ter- 
minalia glabra), often of enormous growth, ought 
to be one of the most prolific souroes of good 
sleeper wood. Wherever there are rivers or pools 
or tanks, there is the kumbuk with its thick, 
calcareous bark, covering trunks of five tons in 
weight, and bo large, when old, as to present 
cavities in which families might dwell and in 
whioh, we were told, bears actually make their 
abode in the northern and eastern jungles. The 
mode in which fresh timber and bark form over 
the edges of these weird tree-caves is wonderful, and 
the trees when in blosBom are sweet-soented and 
"beautiful exceedingly." Wo retain a lively recolleo- 
tion of blossoming trees scattered over the nume- 
rous rocky islets in the river below Kalawewa spill 
and of the enormous masses lining the Aruviaru, 
near the Giant's Tank. Colonel Clarke having, in 
one of his repoits, recognized the importance of this 
prevalent and gigantio tree as a source of sleeper 
supply, we cannot understand why it does not appear 
in the list attached to the Committee's Beport. It 
may be because, like doon, the timber has passed the 
stage of experiment, although this is not stated. 
Many of the witnesses put this tree forward as 
amongst the most important of sleeper-yielders. So 
long as oreosoted Baltic fir sleepers can be obtained 
at about half the oost of hard wood sleepers, of 
course the economical procedure will be to use such 
sleepers exclusively on the "straights" of our rail- 
ways and to alternate them with hard wood 
sleepers on very steep gradients and sharp curves ; 
but it is quite possible that increased demand 
for the creosoted sleepers in Europe and elsewhere 
may render it cheaper as well as more desirable 
ere long, that timber for the Ceylon railway lines 
should be supplied from the still extensive forest 
resources of the colony. With the question of the 
ability of the Forest Department to supply half the 
number of sleepers now annually required, viz. 
15,000 against an equal number of creosoted fir, 
the Committee dealt largely, exhaustively and with 
conclusions more than satisfactory. As to apportioning 
the cost of new timbers to be tried at the rate of 100 
sleepers of each species, a difference of opinion arose. 
The two railway officers, naturally enough, expressed 
the opinion that Government, by a vote (of over 
B20,000,) should supply the trial sleepers to the 
Railway Department free of cost. Col. Clarke, as 
representing the Forest Department and the interests 
of the Government, dissented, protesting against 
the idea that the success of the vast majority of 
the timbers to be supplied was at all problematical. 
Most of them had been used in the arts and 
otherwise, so as to subject them to severe exposure, 
and the trial timbers were good and substantial, 
being the pick of several hundreds, — all doubtful 
trees being excluded. We suppose, therefore, that 
the Eailway Department will have to pay at the rate 
of B3 or R3'50 for the trial sleepers. We should think, 
however, that the "split the difference" principle might 
be applied ; for there can be not the slightest doubt 
that a series of experiments calculated to establish 
the general value, and specially the fitness for 
railway sleepers, of varieties of timber not now in 
use, but abundant in our forests, will be greatly 
to the benefit of the Government of the oountry 
and the population. To put the question of a supply 
if 15,000 hardwood sleepers per annum beyond doubt, 
the Committee calculated that if only 6 out of 
the 9 provinces contributed each year, thus giving 
a total rest to each provinoe every third year ; 
and supposing there were only 8 different kinds 
of hard wood in each province suitable for sleepers, (a 
very low estimate, as the evidence showed afterwards), 
even on these moderate data less than 1,000 oubic feet 
of timber or say 25 to 30 good trees of each of the 
8 species would be required as the annual quota 
from each province, in those years it is called 
upon to contribute. There can be, therefore, 
no doubt not only that, with the vast forest areas 
available, these demands of 200 to 400 trees in all 
annua 1 ly from each province would not bring any 
strain on the forests themselves, but that the removal 
of the trees would be of advantage in many ways. 
The Committee, therefore, recommended trials of 
the 61 species of timber mentioned in the list, 
with 25 of which we have already dealt. But 
even the 01 enumerated do not exhaust our hard- 
wood resources. The question is not one of 
abundance of suitable timber, but of ability, with 
present labour supply and means of conversion and 
