402 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
'Dfc. i, 1894. 
in 1893-94 yielding R20,016. Mr. Smythies 
adds : — 
There is no doubt that well seasoned Simul is a 
favourite material among the tea planters for 
boxes, and as the tree is very fast growing, there 
is not much chance of the supply being exhausted 
just yet, though the contractors have to go further 
and farther from the miles every year. 
Mr. Fordyee, another Forest Officer, reports : — 
The following are some of the woods I have seen 
used : — Simul ( Bamft&x Mtilabaricum ), Kaghoo 
(Anthoc.ejihuliis ('adumba ), Sontiana (Alstonia xcholnris ), 
Hollong (Dljiterocar/ms piloBUs) &c, cVc. Hollong is 
one of the woods that, if not thoroughly seawned, 
has an acid reaction on the lead, forming a white 
• precipitate, and ultimately entirely destroying it. 
The chief wood used in the biggest saw-mill was 
Simul. For the Sissi mills contractors fell chiefly 
Simul ; it is cut along the bank of the 
Brahmaputra river, and thrown into the water, 
where it is made up into rafts and floated 
down to the mills. Here the timber lies in the water 
until required for cutting up. It is then taken straight 
into the mills and cut up into shooks of the required 
size. These shooks are then taken off to a long 
thatched drying or seasoning shed, where the; are 
packed carefully with spaces between each shook, so 
as to allow the air to circulate freeh bi \ V) 1 B the 
boards. If the weather is fine these Bn'ooksare often 
taken out and stood on end in threes orfbure in the 
open air. After the shooks have undergone this pro- 
cess for a certain time, they are put into bundles tied 
round with cane, and despatched to tlieir destina tion. On 
arriving at their destination some plan-tera, I believe, 
open out the bundles, others leave them as they 
arrive, until required for making into tea boxes. 
Again he adds respecting the Andamans where 
he now is, — 
In the Andamans we use what is said to be 
"Bomhax insigne" for cutting up into boxes for the 
local tea garden. The logs we use have been in 
depot for two years or more, Chester having used 
them for floating down " Lar/erstrccmia hypoleuca" 
and " Pterocarpus Indicus." The^e logs are not sound 
anJ ever since they have been in depot, they have 
been constantly submerged at high tide. We take 
these logs over to the mill, floating them over, cut 
them up at once into shooks and let them season, 
as a rule, for about three weeks under cover. 
Drawing my conclusions from the above facts I 
should say : 
1st — That water seasoning, either before or after 
sawing Simul, is not necessary. 
2nd — That if water seasoning is done it should be 
done in the log. 
3rd — That after Simul has been cut up into planks 
or shooks, 3 to 5 weeks in a covered drying shed is 
sufficient seasoning for all practical purposes, for 
the making of tea boxes. 
4th — In dry, fine weather the drying and season- 
ing process can be greatly helped by standing the 
shooks on end in the open. 
The Editor adds,— 
In the Darjeeling Terai, it used to be the custom 
for planters who used Simul wood, or other soft 
woods like Anthocephalus cadamba, Canarium benr/a- 
lense, and Duabangn sonneratioidcn to cut them up into 
planking immediately after felling, stack them on 
snd for a while, and then make them up into boxes. 
In Dehra Dun there is too great a prejudice against 
Simul wood, to allow of its use, if it were to oe re- 
gularly used it would be advisable to plant, for there 
are many areas of land which will not grow Sal, but 
which would grow Simul excellently. As regards the 
colour and quality of the wood, we believe that season- 
ing, either in water or not, is a mistake, as it has the 
effect of discolouring the wood. To keep it white, we 
believe, it ought to be cut up at once after felling. 
Regarding the cotton tree in Ceylon we quote as 
follows from Trimen's " Ceylon Flora" : — 
B. malabaricum, D.C. Prod. i. 47!) (1824). Katu- 
imbul, S. Parutti, T. 
A tall, deciduous tree, with a straight, erect, but 
tressed trunk and Wide-spreading branches, bark 
smooth, whitish, set with broad-based, conical, hard 
sharp prickles, young parts glabrous. 
Low country, up to 2,M0ft.; common, but often 
planted. Fl. Jan., Feb.; bright pinkish-red. 
Also throughout India, and in Bum*. Java and 
Sumatra. 
The well known 'cotton-tree,' very conspicuous in 
the dry season from its display of large showv flowers 
on the bare brandies and soon after strewing the 
ground followed quickly by the ripe pods. It is one 
of our few completely deciduous trees, and often 
grows to an immense size. 
The calyx separates from the receptacle by a clean 
annular scar, and carries awav with it the pet. and 
stain, in one piece. 
Lhwena included under his U. Cuba a Tropical Ame- 
rican species also, and it is to that that his name 
is now restricted by boUnirts. Hermann does nut 
seem to have noticed this tree. 
The cotton is used for stuffing cushions, <fcc The 
wood is very light and soft, whitish, with 110 heart- 
wood. 
The late Win. Ferguson lias the following i" 
Ins " rimber Trees" :— 
" Salmalia Malabarica." ffiirn itafmUim S. KUummt- 
)««/•«„,, Tarn. The red-flowered Silk Cotton trec- 
W ood white, light and spongy ; used for small boats 
floats and models. 
"Alstonia Scholaris," It. U r . 193. BmekaUmma, fc> 
Common up to 3,<XX> feet. The light wood of this 
t ( ree '" employed for making coffins, packing cases, 
&c Thwiutes, Mendis. Wood white, compact and 
valuable for the turning lathe. Dr. Gibson. 
And from the "Treasury of Botany" we quote 
for the latter:— 
A. srl.,,1,,,^. called Devil-tree or Pali-mara about 
Bombay, is a widely-diffused plant in India and the 
-Moluccas. It is a tree of fifty to eighty feet, with 
a furrowed trunk ; oblong stalked leave*, three to 
six inches long, and two to four wide, disposed in 
whorls of four to six round the stem, their upper 
surface glossy, the under white, and marked with 
nerves running at right angles to the midrib It 
has a powerfully bitter bark, which is used by the 
natives in India in bowel complaints, and its light 
wood is used m Ceylon for making coffins. The wood 
taken from near the root of what appears to be the 
same species in Borneo, is of a white colour, very light 
and used for floats for nets, and household utensils' 
as trenchers, corks. &c. The genus bears the name 
of Alston, once Professor of Botany at Edinburgh 
A very fine specimen of Alstonia' scholar* is to 
be seen on the side of Turret Road near the 
gate of "Canella Villa " in Colombo. 
TEA AXD THE TRANSIT DUTY IX X4TAI 
In placing tea on the 5 per cent, transit list, we 
think the Government has acted opportunelv and in 
the best interests of the Colony. The annual ship- 
ment of foreign tea will soon be here, and had the 
duty of Gd. per lb. not been removed the whole of 
the shipment intended for inland consumption would 
assuredly have been imported ria DelagoaBay instead 
of this port, with a consequent loss of both 'the Cus- 
toms duty and the railway carriage. With tea now 
on the 5 per cent, list the piobabilitv is that the 
miand supplies will be landed here, 'i'he tea-growers 
may not appreciate the action of the Government 
but we cannot see that thev are affected in the very 
slightest. The only effect of the 6d. per lb rate was 
to compel up-country merchants to import their foreign 
teas by another port. It did not compel inland con- 
sumer to take another pound of Natal tea The 
competition against Natal teas in the Transvaal will 
not be an iota greater if the whole cf the foreign 
article passes through this Coiony than it would be 
if it v/ere all forced to go round via Delagoa Bav 
Inerefore, while the lowering of the duty to the 
ordmary transit rate does the tea-growers no harm 
as they have still local protection, the chances are 
that the Colony will benefit by regaining the bulk of 
the transit trade in tea. In fact, the reduction can 
, m , no ,, one aud m03t likelv *fll benefit many 
— JSatal Mercury. J ' 
