THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892. 
300 
purchased  by  Government  for  a depfit  and  site  for  the 
Assistant  Conservator’s  buDgalow. 
In  the  Central  Province  two  wire  eboots,  each  a quar- 
ter of  a mile  long,  were  purchased  at  a cost  of  a R330 
for  the  railway  fuel  operations  at  Nanu-oya.  New  sling 
carts  were  obtained  for  the  North-Oentrsl  Province 
and  North-Western  Province,  which,  it  is  expected 
will  considerably  reduce  the  cost  of  transport. 
The  Pasweli-oya  in  the  Barawa  forest  in  the  Western 
Province  vyas  cleared  of  snags  and  overhangiug  trees 
at  a cost  of  R2,363'92.  Of  the  wood  obtained  in  this 
manner 541  cubic  yards  were  sent  to  Kelnoiya  depot 
and  500  are  lying  in  the  forest  awaiting  a public  sale. 
The  veiy  wet  weather  which  has  prevailed  during  the 
year  has  greatly  impeded  operations,  and  much  stock 
which  should  have  been  brought  out  of  the  forest  had  to 
bekept.  Cholera, which  appeared  during  the  year,  had 
also  its  effect  in  scaring  away  sawyers  in  the  Central 
and  Eastern  Provinces  especially.  The  resnlt  has  been 
that  a large  unexpected  balanoe  of  funds  had  to  lapse 
to  revenue  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  total  value  of  timber  and  other  produce  sold 
dnring  the  year  amounted  to  R377.562  77,  against 
R371, 215-03  in  1890  and  R337,120'84  during  1889, 
As  we  read  what  follows  about  timber  for  sleepers 
and  telegraph  posts,  we  feel  inclined  to  ask  if 
much  of  the  failure  of  certain  limbers  was  not  due 
to  imperfect  seasoning  ? 
Sleeper  Operations  — The  Railway  Extension  De- 
partment indented  for  5,700  railway  sleepers,  which 
were  to  be  supplied  at  Hatton,  Matale,  and  Polgaha- 
wela  respectively.  Of  these,  the  Assistant  Conserva- 
tor, Sabaragamuwa,  dolivrred  1,906  sleepers  at  Hatton, 
the  Assistant  Conservator,  Central  Province,  644 
sleepers  at  Wattegama  and  Matale,  an  1 the  A-6istaut 
Conservator,  North  Western  Province,  568  sleepers  at 
Polgahawela.  The  Assistant  Conservator,  Cential 
Proviece,  attrit  utes  his  delay  to  cholera,  which  caused 
his  sawyers  to  bolt.  . 
Experimental  sleepers  of  alubo  [Eugenia  Sylveslres) 
etaheraliya  ( Kurrimia  zeylanica) , and  dawata  ( Carllia 
inteqerrima) , were  supplied  to  the  Railway  by  the  As- 
sistant Conservator  of  Forests,  Western  Province, 
during  the  year,  but, excepting  the  alubo,  which  stood 
fairly  well,  the  sleepers  mode  no  stand  against  damp, 
and  rotted  away  quickly.  Dawata  had  the  additional 
fault  of  being  liable  to  attacks  of  whito-ants.  No  re- 
ports have  been  as  yet  received  as  to  the  behaviour  of 
other  Island  sleepers,  although  the  low.conntry  dun 
sleepers  supplied  to  the  Kalutara-Bentota  extension 
do  not  appear  to  have  done  very  well. 
Telegraph  Posts. — The  pandikasa  posts  supplied 
from  the  North- Western  Province  have  not  done  well 
at  all  : a large  proportion  rotted  flisli  with  the  ground 
and  broke  down,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  year  the 
Postmaster-General  applied  to  have  them  renewed  by 
the  Department.  Instructions  for  a new  fupply  of 
posts  made  of  good  wood  were  issued  shortly  alter  the 
close  of  the  year.  I have  informed  the  Postuaaster- 
General  that  in  futuie  no  speoies  would  be  guaran- 
teed,  and  that  if  he  wanted  posts  made  of  the  cheapt  r 
woods  ho  must  take  the  risk  of  premature  dec  ay  him- 
self. If  attempts  are  made  to  do  a large  quantity  of 
work  for  a small  outlay,  accident  must  b allowed  for. 
The  Postmaster-General  attempted  to  obtain  posts  for 
the  TaDgalla-Hsmbantuta  extension  at  so  low  a price 
that  neither  the  Southern  Province  nor  Sabaragamuwa 
were  able  to  undertake  the  job. 
How  white-snts  could  find  a lodgement  in  sleepers 
subject  to  the  reverberations  of  several  trains  daily, 
puzzles  us.  But  perhaps  the  sleepers  were  merely 
buried  in  earth.  Could  net  what  are  called  in- 
ferior timbers,  such  as  hora,  he  profitably  utilized 
by  beiDg  subjected  to  some  cheap  preservutory  pro- 
cess, such  as  the  application  of  kerosene  which 
renders  naturally  poor  pioewood  so  useful  ? As 
regards  satinwood,  we  are  told  that 
The  demand  for  this  timber  in  tho  log  has  mcreised 
largely  durin°-  the  year,  and  inquiries  have  been  ma  la 
by  several  firms  Cor  large  quantities  for  export  to  India 
and  Europe;  and  if  the  Central  Depot  can  be  kept 
supplied  by  the  Provinces  at  a fairly  regular  rate,  a 
steady  trade  can  be  made  in  this  timber. 
Restrictive  measures  of  an  apparently  vexatious 
character  have  affected  injuriously  the 
Railway  Fuel  Supply. — Although  it  had  been 
estimated  that  about  93,000  cubic  yards  would  be 
required  by  the  Railway  Department,  this  year  only 
82,079  cubic  yards  of  Crown  and  private  wood  were 
delivered  by  the  Department.  The  cause  of  this  has 
been  the  strict  enforcement  on  the  part  of  the  Hon. 
the  Government  Agent,  Western  Province,  of  the 
system  of  passes  for  all  firewood  brought  to  the  line. 
The  contractors  complained  of  being  subjected  to 
much  hardship  owing  to  their  being  sent  about  from 
headman  to  korala  and  from  korala  to  Mudaliyar,  in 
a way  to  make  them  lose  time  and  money.  The 
Government  Agent  thought  that  it  was  merely  a 
trick  on  the  part  of  the  contractors  to  get  better 
price  out  of  Government,  but  the  system  has  had 
sufficient  effect  on  the  public  generally.  The  Director 
of  a mill  in  Colombo  informed  me  that  since  the 
enforcement  of  the  stricter  system  of  passes  the 
prices  of  firewood  for  his  mill  had  risen  from  R3  to 
R5  per  too.  Anyhow  the  supply  to  the  railway 
materially  diminished,  and  at  last  the  running  engines 
on  the  railway-  i.e.  those  which  did  not,  like  mail 
trains,  take  the  wood  supply  for  a whole  section  at 
Colombo,  but  filled  in  again  at  Henaratgoda,  Veyan- 
goda,  or  Mirigama  — had  to  give  up  wood  altogether 
and  had  to  burn  coal.  This  has  caused  a consider- 
able extra  expenditure  to  the  Railway  and  a notice- 
able failing  off  in  the  revenue  to  us. 
Of  the  82,079  cubic  yards,  26,710  came  from 
Crown  forests.  The  expenditure  on  them  was 
R29, 502  07,  or  R1T0  49-100th  per  cubic  yard. 
Then  as  to 
Fuel  Supply  to  the  Public.— Jaffna  is  the  only 
town  in  which  a large  traffic  in  firewood  goes  on. 
The  sale  of  firewood  at  Jaffna  produced  a revenue 
of  R12,676,  which  is  by  R855  larger  than  that  of 
last  year.  At  Trincomalee  an  attempt  was  made 
towards  taking  the  firewood  supply  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Department,  and  a stock  to  start  with 
was  being  collected  towards  the  end  of  the  year. 
It  is  now  time  for  Galle  and  Anuradhapura  to  begin 
to  adopt  some  system  for  the  firewood  supply.  At 
Badulla  and  Nuwara  Eliya  a good  stack  of  firewood 
is  being  kept  in  the  dep6t,  the  sales  to  private 
purchasers  at  the  latter  place  amounting  to  1,169  cubic 
yards,  worth  R2,155'75.  Kandy  is  utterly  unprovided 
for,  and  it  may  become  necessary  to  start  plantations 
for  the  fuel  supply  of  the  town. 
The  largest  sales  of  standing  timber  were  in  the 
planting  districts,  Sabaragamuwa  selling  timber  to 
the  value  of  R13,676'51,  while  the  Central  Province 
and  Uva  show  sales  amounting  to  R8,552’56  and  to 
R8,806’76  respectively.  The  Assistant  Conservator, 
Central  Province,  however,  reports  that  there  have 
been  few  extensions  of  factories,  and  that  demand 
has  consequently  been  somewhat  low.  Exclusive  of 
the  Western  Province,  for  which  no  returns  can  be 
obtained  the  sales  of  timber  on  payment  of  royalty 
amounted  to — 
Total  number  of  trees  . . . . 25,183 
Number  of  warichches 
Number  of  shingles 
Number  of  cubic  feet 
Value 
43,000 
5,200 
. 109,754 
R34, 86607 
The  Assistant  Conservator,  Northern  Province,  says 
that  the  number  of  permits  to  fell  on  payment  of 
royalty  has  increased  during  the  year,  and  repre- 
sents that  it  is  not  proper  policy,  as  w-ith  the  very 
imperfect  protection  the  forest  have  it  is  very  easy  for 
license  holders  to  commit  timber  thefts. 
Other  Produce. — Like  last  year  Uva  leads  the  list 
on  account  of  its  revenue  on  the  lease  of  gallnut 
[Terminulia  ckebula),  which  this  year  fetched  even 
higher  prices  than  usual.  There  is  no  reason  why 
the  Eastern  Province  should  not  make  almost  as  good 
a revenue  over  the  same  product. 
In  the  Northern  Province  R480-50  were  obtained 
from  licenses  to  lop  green  leaves  for  manure.  The 
Assistant  Conservator  observes  that,  notwithstanding 
his  complaints,  care  has  not  been  taken  to  restrict 
