146 
Sujppletnent to the " Tmpical Agriculkmat." [AUg 1, 1900. 
ust be ploughed only when it contains a medium 
amount of water (about 40 percent, of that which 
the soil is capable of holding); (3) the furrows 
must be as narrow as possible, especially at the 
first ploughing ; (4) the land destined for tillage 
in spring should be exposed in roughly ploughed 
condition to the action of frosts during the winter ; 
and (5) the formation of aggregates in the soil 
should be promoted by means of proper fertilisers. 
For the latter purpose humus-forming manures 
(stable and vegetable manure) as well as calcium 
hydrate (freshly slaked lime) are especially valu- 
able. Hurtful influences, on the other hand, are 
exerted by such fertilisers as contain carbonates 
of the alkalis and soluble phosphates, inasmuch 
as these when applied in considerable quantities 
cause the soil particles to pack closely together. 
The same is true of materials rich in chlorides 
and nitrates. These salts promote the formation 
of crumbly structure while they remain in the 
soil, but when they are washed out by the rain 
water, they leave the soil in a puddled condition. 
This happens more or less with all salts which are 
not fixed by the soil. This can be corrected only 
by a careful selection and application of measures 
calculated to increase and preserve the percentage 
of humus in the soil. 
From the standpoint of the agriculturist, the 
principal property of soils in their relation to air 
is permeability, for on it depends the supply of 
oxygen required both for normal decomposition 
of organic material and for the respiration of the 
roots. The smaller and more densely packed the 
soil particles, the more limited the supply of oxy- 
gen and the greater the necessity for attempting 
to regulate the permeability. This end is best 
attained by mixing a fine-grained soil with sand 
and by inducing a crumbly structure. If too 
great humidity of the soil is responsible for the 
lack of permeability, only thorough drainage can 
correct the defect. If the soil has been deprived 
of its permeability by washing during periods of 
extraordinarily heavy precipitation, the best re- 
medies are harrowing and hoeing between the 
rows, and heaping up the soil around the plants. 
The latter is a most efficient means of increasing 
permeability of the soil. 
Excess of water, either temporary or permanent, 
is hurtful to plant growth to a greater or less 
extent. Such a condition is a result principaliy 
of heavy precipitation on soils of high water 
capacity. The damage is most marked in the 
case of basin-shaped fields on which water from 
neighbouring fields accumulates, or which have 
an impervious subsoil at such a depth that the 
soil is kept in a state of saturation. The means 
adopted to correct this state of affairs will depend 
upon whether there is a permanent or only tem- 
porary excess of water. If the excess of water 
remains permanently or for a long period, it can 
be removed only by under-draiuage or by the 
construction of ditches. The physical structure of 
the soil, more particularly its permeability and 
■water capacity, determines the amount of water 
that may be removed by this means. The effi- 
ciency of the method consequently varies widely 
in different localities. A blind adherence to 
the common rules of drainage may in some cases 
reduce the water supply in the soil to a degree 
dangerous to plant growth. This is the case (1) 
in all soils of small water capacitj' and consider- 
able permeability (coarse-grained, sandy soils); 
(2) in soils offering considerable facilities for 
evaporation (peat and bog ear^h) ; and (3) in all 
soils occupied by plants requiring considerable 
amount of moisture in the upper soil layer 
(meadows, perennial forage plants.) — RoyalAyri- 
cultural Society's Journal. 
(To be continued.') 
ON THE FORESTS AND WASTE LANDS 
OF CEYLON.* 
By a. F. Bbodn, Esq., 
Conservator of Foresti, 
The area of uncultivated Und in Ceylon ex- 
ceeds 20,000 of the 25,365 square mile* of country 
contained within the Colony. The proportion of 
good fore.«t in theie 20,000 square miles ii ua- 
foriunately pmall, the largest portion being taken 
up by scrub and by grais-covered ttretches of 
country called patanas, which find their greatMt 
deTelopemeni in the hills of the Province of Uvt. 
The scrub is partly natural, eipecially so on the 
sea coast and in tt« arid subzone, and partly the 
result of a destructive method of cultivation known 
as Chena, and which consists in clearing and burn- 
ing jungle and in raising crops for two or three 
years on the area cultivated. Now that a careful 
control is exercised over this cultivation, nothing 
but small forest ia felled ; but not many years 
ago valuable forests were ruthlessly felled, and 
their ashes were utilised as manure for the crops 
which were raised ; where such a system of culti- 
vation has been in force, it takes years for the 
forest to take again a useful charscter. Usually 
a thorny scrub grows up, or as is the- case in 
the Eastern Province, a dense growth of thick 
grass {Imperata arundinacea) springs np, as in 
the moist districts, the group gets covered up 
with Lantana, or, worie, because they are not 
soil improvers, by Hedyotis, Ochlandra stridulata 
or Gltichcnia linearis. 
* From the filth volume of Trimen'e Flora of Oejion. 
The patanas were probably at one time covered 
with tree?, such as will be described later on for 
the Park country, but fires and grazing have 
destroyed the majority of these, except in shel- 
tered placss such as gullies or ravines. The trees 
which are to be found on the patanas are, at 
higher elevations, Rhododendron arboreum, and 
from , 4,000 feet downwards, Careya arboreas 
known in Ceylcn as ' Patana Oak,' Phyllanthu, 
emblica, Terminalia belerica, T. chebula, and 
Pterocarpus marsupicum. These are, with few 
exceptions, the only trees which can stand the 
heavy grass fires ; but in the gullies, wher« they 
are more sheltered, other species, which are less 
robust and which are same as those found in 
forests at the same elevation, ard able to live 
and to produce themselves. 
Id the backward state of the survey of the 
Island it is not yet possible to state the area of 
the real forests, but they cannot much exceed 
5,000 square miles, although the larger area is, 
for the present, set aside for reservation, which 
iocludee stretches of scrub and patana •Dglobe() 
