3^4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December r, 1888. 
three months, August, September, October, respective- 
ly, indicate, with mild winds and gentle temperature, 
most desirable weather. Similar weather to the end 
of the year seems probable. 
HIGH ALTITUDES AND RE-AEFORESTING — AUSTRALIAN 
EUCALYPTS AND ACACIAS — TOONS AND CRYPl'OMERIAS 
NATIVE IB0N SMELTING IN FORMER DAYS AT 
NUWARA ELIYA. 
Colombo, Nov. 6th. 
As this matter has been delayed, I add a few 
words about high altitudes, 
In the course of a trip to Nuwara Eliya, I noticed 
that several patches on the edge of the forest on 
the right-hand-going up, which had been largely 
denuded for timber and firewood purposes, had 
been fully cleared, doubtless by the Forest Department 
and evidently with a view to re- afforesting. This is 
a process which, I suppose, will go on. It will be 
interesting to notice what species of trees will 
be chosen to replace the natural jungle. If fire- 
wood alone is in view we have Dr. Trimen's 
decided opinion, founded on experience at Hakgala, 
that no better or quicker growing trees for the 
purpose can be chosen than the Australian 
acacias, known popularly as " wattles," of which 
four are well established in Ceylon: A. mela- 
noxylon (good for timber as well as firewood), 
A. dealbata, A. pycnantha, and A. deeurrens. 
All these have the habit of profusely throwing 
up subsidiary plants from their lateral roots, the 
scraping away of the top soil encouraging this 
tendency to an extraordinary degree. A few trees 
can thus, in a short period, be the parents of a 
dense grove, which can be regularly thinned by 
the coppicing process. If there be any intention to 
grow superior timber trees, then the Australian 
ucalypts, — the blue and red gums, the jarrah, 
E. robusta stringy and iron barks and others included 
in Baron von Mueller's Eiicalyptographia offer a wide 
range of choice. Again, to see the growth of a timber 
tree of first rate quality, common to India and 
Australia (the "red cedar" of Queensland and New 
Guinea--the Cedrela Toona of India), the forest officers 
ought to visit the leally striking grove of these 
closely-planted, straight-stemmed, branchless trees, 
with their crown of luxuriant, red-coloured foliage, 
on a 10-acre block of land near the Lake Bund at 
Nuwara Bliya. 'J his is my own experiment, and as 
yet it is a marvellous success, one of the trees 
only just ovar two years in the field measuring 22J 
feet in height. This is at an elevation of 6,400 
feet above sea-level. I mentioned on a previous 
occasion that at this elevation and even at 4,700 
on Abbotsford. no insect has ever attacked trees 
which in the latter place are eight years old. The 
toons, too, unlike the Japan cryptomerias inter- 
spersed amongst them, are exempt from attacks 
by hares or rats, to which the tender succulent tops 
of the pines seem so acceptable. Dr. Trimen has ex- 
pressed the apprehension that for this fine tree 
Oryptomeria japonica, the climate, with 100 inches 
of rain, may be found too moist. But the climate 
is certainly favourable to the rapid and luxu- 
riant growth of the plants. Those not topped 
by animals shoot upwards beautifully, as do those 
which have been attacked, when they got beyond 
reach of their enemies. Straight and upward 
growth can, in the case of these pines, be 
encouraged by pruning off the lateral branches, 
by means of which the tree can be propa- 
gated. We find that the toon, also, coppices freely 
and can be easily reproduced by cuttings, 
but seed both of toon and cryptomeria can 
be so easily obtainod that cuttings need not be 
resorted to. A few specimens of Firms sinensis, 
obtained from the Hakgala Gardens, are also doing 
well in the same locality. The beautiful and line 
timbered Pinus longifolia of the Himalayas, I was 
sorry to notice, had not made equal progress ; 
but as it has grown well at Hakgala, its compara- 
tive failure with us must be owing to causes which 
are capable of cure. I submit to the head of the 
Forest Department that Cedrela Toona, as one 0 f the 
best possible timber trees, ought to receive special 
attention in the high altitudes around Nuwara Eliya 
where it is now pretty evident, the succulent ends 
of the branches are exempt from those attacks 
by little boring beetles which have given such 
a disreputable appearance to a toon I saw in 
the Peradeniya Gardens. But even there the 
stem and well-grown branches were in no ways 
affected. In India the tree flourishes at high 
altitudes : at Darjiling at 7,000 feet above sea- 
level, equivalent to nearly 10,000 in Ceylon ; 
on the Dehra Doon at somewhat over 2,000 
feet ; but the latter altitude in about 30° north, 
is quite equivalent to 5,000 in Ceylon. I am 
not likely to forget the intense cold of a drive 
to and over a tea plantation on the Doon (the 
down place as compared with Mussooree, LaDdour, 
and the snow-covered Himalayan peaks above) 
in the month of February. The mention of the 
Doon and the recollection of its beautiful planta- 
tions of sal trees, leads me to ask if nothing 
can be done to introduce this fine timber tree, 
Shorea robusta, into Ceylon ? Once, in reply to a 
request for seeds, we were told that the seeds of 
this tree cannot retain their vitality for any appreci- 
able period, but surely they could be packed in 
earth, so germinating in transit ? The matter 
cannot have escaped the attention of Dr. Trimen. 
The soil in which the toons are flourish- 
ing at Nuwara Eliya is excellent. — a fact 
the more remarkable from the prevalence of 
rock fragments so rich in iron, that half-a-dozen 
native smelting furnaces were found on the place, 
one of which we have preserved as a memento of 
the times when the abundance and cheapness of 
iron and steel imported from Britain had not 
annihilated the native manufacture. Now that the 
jungle undergrowth has been cleared away, a great 
heap of charcoal and slag debris has been revealed, 
which doubtless will prove to have a manurial 
value. Many pieces of the slag, however, are worthy 
of being preserved as curiosities and ornaments. In 
some cases the formation is fluted with a polished 
and occasionally an iridescent surface. The re- 
semblance in some instances to the products of 
volcanic fires is so close, that we could not wonder 
at the existence of pieces of the slag resulting from 
the old native iron-smelting furnaces being ad- 
duced to us as proof of former volcanic activity in 
Ceylon. 
♦ 
China Tea has of late been so persistently 
run down, says the L. <£ C. Express, that it has been 
somewhat jocularly queried at times, " Well, is 
China Tea to be wiped out?" The general reply, 
and one in which we fully concur, is that there 
will always remain a demand for China Tea. It 
will not be as large as it has been in the past 
perhaps. At all events there is no prospect of 
such being the case for some time to come, though 
possibly the popular taste, aided by medical opinion, 
may again pronounce in its favour. There are 
certain qualities— not to mention aroma— in 
China Tea which do not exist in the importations 
from other countries, and as long as this remains 
so the demand will exist. For quality it certainly 
maintains its place ; it is only low common grades 
which have given way so disastrously. Anything 
like wiping out China Tea is for the nonce too 
absurd to be seriously discussed, as it does not 
enter into the realm of practical politics. 
