302 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892, 
the  N<  rtb-Central  Province  it  seeded  freely  towards 
the  end  of  the  year. 
Satinwood  ( Chloroxylon  Sicietenia).  During  my  in- 
spection of  the  Eastern  Province  in  May  last  the  forests 
were  white  with  the  blossom  of  satinwood,  the  trees  of 
which  could  thus  be  recognised  miles  awey.  A plentiful 
supply  of  seed  and  a very  fair  crop  of  seedlings  fol- 
lowed. The  seed  appears  to  have  been  plentiful  and 
reproduction  fair  in  the  dry  forests  of  the  Central, 
Norlhfrn,  North-Western  aDd  North-Central  Pro- 
vinces, and  in  the  KoloDna  and  Atakalan  korales  of 
Sabaragamuwa. 
Nedun  (Pericopsis  Mooniana).  Seed  crop  large  along 
the  banks  of  the  Hangomuwa  and  Kuruwiti  gangas  in 
Sabaragamuwa. 
Kumbuk  (Terminalia  glabra).  This  magnificent  tree 
wbioh  grows  in  abundance  along  the  banks  of  most 
streams  and  tanks  in  the  dry  zone,  generally  seeded 
in  profusion.  A large  proportion  of  the  seed  is  oarried 
out  to  the  sea  during  floods:  portion  is  stranded  on  the 
banks  and  germinates,  and  it  depends  on  the  moisture 
which  the  young  plant  gets  during  its  first  year  whether 
it  lives. 
Palu  or  Palai  ( Mimusops  hexandra).  This  tree  seeded 
profusely  in  the  North'  rn,  Eastern,  and  North-Western 
Provinces,  and  fairly  well  in  the  Central  aud  North- 
Central  Provinces.  There  is  a general  oomplaint  as  to 
the  way  palu  trees  are  mutilated  for  the  sake  of  their 
fruit.  It  is  a pity  that  the  custom  oannotbe  restricted 
to  the  scrub  palu  which  grows  in  the  low  forests  near 
the  sea,  as  not  ODly  are  the  trees  themselves  ruined, 
but  the  chances  of  natural  reproduction  are  very 
much  impaired.  A glance  at  the  table  furnished  by 
the  Assistant  Conservator,  Northern  Province,  and 
given  in  paragraph  24  above,  shows  that  of  all  valu- 
able species  palu  is  the  one  which  shows  the 
smallest  number  of  seedlings. 
Ebony  ( Diospyros  ebenum).  Reports  from  the  North- 
ern, North-Western,  and  Sabaragamuwa  Provinces 
show  a fairly  good  crop  of  seed,  but  only  little  is 
said  about  a natural  reproduction.  This  species  re- 
quire a careful  study. 
Milla  ( Vitex  altissima).  There  was  a moderate  fall 
of  seed  in  Matale,  North-Central  Province,  and  the 
Assistant  Conservator,  North-Western  Province,  re- 
ports that  a large  number  of  seedlings  have  sprung 
up  in  the  Kalugalla  forest,  where  the  palu  fellings 
have  been  made. 
Wewerana  (Ranai  or  Yawarana),  Persea  semicarpi- 
folia.  Good  falls  of  seed  are  reported  from  the  Central 
and  Eastern  Provinces,  and  fair  crops  from  the  North- 
ern and  North-Central  Provinces. 
Observations  made  in  the  forest  tend  to  show 
that  for  na,  kina,  dun,  hora,  mendora,  tumpalai,  hal- 
milla,  and  domba,  moderate  fellings  are  sufficient  to 
eneourge  natural  production,  while  satin,  palu,  ebony, 
milla,  andwewarana  require  fairly  heavy  preparatory 
fellings,  either  by  the  removal  or  girdling  of  trees  of  in- 
ferior species  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  seed  bearers. 
Artificial  Reproduction.— During  the  year  475'5 
acres  were  added.  Form  No.  5.  in  the  appendix  will 
show  that  the  increase  is  due  chiefly  to  the  starting  of 
railway  fuel  plantations  at  Galboda. 
Western  Province.— No  change, 
Central  Province. — Plots  Nos.  14  to  22,  amounting 
to  15  acres,  were  planted  with  Eucalyptus  robusta, 
citriodora,  amygdalina,  &n&  diversicolor,  and  with  Acacia 
melanoxylon  and  decurrens.  These  plantations  of  the 
year  are  very  successful.  The  plots  planted  in  1890, 
were  supplied  with  the  same  species  as  mentioned 
above,  and  are  now  doing  well,  and  those  planted 
during  1889,  and  which  had  to  be  largely  supplied  during 
1890,  are  now  showing  up,  some  of  the  trees  being  14  to 
15  ft.  in  height  and  15  in.  in  girth,  at  breast  height. 
The  number  of  standards  left  standing  on  the  strips 
varies  a great  deal,  and  is  much  greater  in  the  earlier 
coupes.  It  will  now  be  interesting  to  see  how  Aus- 
tralian trees  behave  with  different  degrees  of  shelter.  At 
Nuwara  Eliya  the  plants  now  show  above  the  young 
trees  of  spontaneous  growth  which  had  been  left 
when  the  clearing  was  made ; a number  of  young 
trees  of  worthless  species  and  with  low  spreading 
crowns  had  however  been  left  standing,  and  were 
impeding  the  growth  of  many  young  Eucalypti.  It 
became  necessary  therefore  to  remove  these,  which 
was  done  but  after  the  close  of  the  year. 
The  nursery  and  small  plantation  near  Gall- 
wey’s  land  were  extended  by  about  4 acres.  The 
nursery  has  been  used  for  rearing  plants  for  all  the 
plantations  in  the  Central  Province.  The  system 
appears  costly,  and  I do  not  much  approve  of  if,  but 
it  had  the  advantage  of  constant  supervision  on  the 
part  of  the  Forester.  It  appears  also  that  some  of  the 
6pecies  spring  up  more  readily  at  Nuwara  Eliya  than 
in  local  nurseries.  At  Galboda  four  fields  of  patana 
land,  known  as  Blackwater,  Dekinda,  Mapakanda,  and 
Penhros,  were  taken  in  hand.  It  was  intended  te 
plant  600  acres,  but,  as  is  usual  in  the  first  year,  ther 
were  a great  many  difficulties  to  overoome,  the  chief 
of  which  were  an  uncertain  and  irregular  snpply  of 
labcur,  an  unusually  wet  and  destructive  rainy  season 
and  the  want  of  surveys  showing  the  actual  boundaries 
of  our  laud.  As  a result  only  320  aort-s  were 
planted.  Of  the  four  fields  the  Blackwater  field, 
situated  close  to  Blackwater  estate,  has  been  the 
least  successful.  The  laud  is  exposed  to  the  full 
force  of  both  monsoons,  and  tho  soil  i<  gravefiy 
and  poor.  In  the  most  exposed  places  only  Acacia 
melanoxylon  seems  to  be  able  to  stand  the  strong  wind, 
and  Casuarina  also  does  fairly  well.  Eucalyptus 
robusta  does  well  in  sheltered  places,  but  I noticed 
that  some  had  been  attacked  by  white-ants,  musk 
rats,  and  by  pigs.  Grevillea  looked  sickly  on  Black- 
water, as  it  could  not  stand  the  wind  properly ; it 
was  moreover  much  attacked  by  a locust  which  nipped 
the  head  of  many  tender  seedlings. 
In  the  other  fields  the  results  are  far  more  promis- 
ing, although  the  violent  rain  which  came  on  steadily 
through  the  greater  part  of  the  year  washed  a lot  of 
the  top  soil  off  and  caused  immense  quantities  of 
weed  to  spring  up.  Eucalyptus  marginata.  amygdaliua, 
and  citriodora  are  doing  fairly  well,  and  hal  and  bora 
are  doing  well  near  the  streams  at  the  bottom  of  the 
slopes.  Jak  also  did  well  at  the  lower  elevations,  but 
was  rooted  up  by  pigs.  Grecillea  has  been  slow.  It 
seemed  to  get  too  much  wet.  The  plants  which  did 
best  had  their  roots  dipped  in  liquid  manure  just 
before  they  were  put  in.  The  plantations  were  at  first 
under  the  direct  supervision  of  an  overseer,  then  on 
his  return  from  the  Dehra  Dun  Forest  School.  The 
latter  officer,  however,  soon  after  exchanged  duties 
with  Mr.  Hansard,  about  whose  work  the  Assistant 
Conservator  reports  very  favourably. 
Northern  Province. — Nothing  has  as  yet  been  done 
towards  starting  palmirah  plantations.  In  ex- 
isting palmirah  lorests  it  will,  however,  I think  be 
sufficient  lo  olo=e  them  to  grazing  to  ensure  abundant 
natural  reproduction. 
Eastern  Province. — A clearing  was  town  at  stake 
with  teak  seed,  behiud  the  Tumplancholai  resthouse, 
but  it  failed.  The  Acting  Assistant  Conservator  advices 
to  fallow  the  plan  which  has  been  successful  at  Put- 
talam,  of  making  Dnrseries  dose  to  the  plantations. 
The  growth  in  the  teak  chenas  has  progressed 
favourably,  and  a table  showing  measurements  corres- 
ponding to  those  shown  in  appendix  A of  last  year’s 
report  are  now  shown  in  appendix  B. 
It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  mean  annual  incre- 
ment has  considerably  improved  in  all  the  Paulu- 
kanawa  plantations,  while  it  has  fallen  off  in  all  but 
the  youngest  plantations  of  Divilane. 
Mr.  Tatham  reports  that  in  some  of  the  chenas  he 
saw  natural  seedlings  from  five-year  old  trees. 
A plantation  started  at  Divilane  in  1890-91,  con- 
sisting of  satin,  halmilla,  and  teak,  is  doing  well. 
North-Western  Province. — The  plantations  in  the 
North-Western  Province  give  great  satisfaction,  and 
are  quite  a success.  The  Puttalam  teak  plantation, 
which  was  started  in  1879,  consists  now  of  99  acres 
fully  planted  with  teak,  56  acres  having  been  added 
during  the  year.  Of  these  56  acres,  8 were  planted 
on  the  old  system,  the  plants  being  put  in  5 ft.  by 
5 fr. , and  were  a sucoese.  The  remainder  were 
planted  on  a new  system  which  was  advocated  by  Sir 
D.  Brandis  when  Inspeotor-General  of  Forests  in 
India.  It  consists  in  parallel  strips  J chain  long  being 
cut  through  the  jungle,  leaving  belts  of  standing 
juDgle  1 chain  broad  standing  in  between  ; each  strip 
