Oct. 1, im.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
267 
seedlings. As a rule, it will suffiee to cut llie 
undei Nvooci and to girdle here and there a low- 
crowned tree. B;it after the seedlings have es- 
tablished themselves it is neressary to remove 
tlie cover which is direcHy overheail, not more.. 
When the trees reach their maximum height, 
it is time to give more room to their crowns, but 
until then it is best not to let in too much 
light. It is difficult to see how the seed gets 
distributed over the soil of the forest, except 
in hilly ground, where it rolls dosvn the slopes, 
or near streams or foot {laths acting as such 
during wet weather, and yet trees are found, as 
often as not, at the top of a slope although the 
seed ia neither liglit nor apparently palatable to 
birds or mammals although it becomes a prey to 
weevils, which would be rather a factor in the 
destruction than in the distribution of the seed. 
The seed usually ripens before the North-Eastern 
monsoon, but the good seed-years are not re- 
gular nor is the seeding equally good all over 
the forests at the same time. Observations taken 
in the forests since 1890 have not recorded a 
single universally good year, but the years 1891 
and 1896 appear to have been the best while in 
1892-93 and 1897 the seeding was fair. The good 
seed-years do not appear to come in any regular 
rotation but are dependent chiefly on rainfall ac 
the right time. Occasionally, ebony seeds twice in 
the year. (Ceylon Forester). 
Kate of Growth.— There are, unfortunately, 
not yet sufiiciently reliable data to show the 
rate at which this tree grows. Several sample 
plots have been started but they contain so few 
trees, sometimes not even all girch-classes being 
represented, that it is not possible to take the 
measurements as absolutely reliable. As a rule, 
after passing 3 feet in girth, ebony is very slow 
<Trt)win^^ more so than saiinwood. From the data 
which 1 have been able to collect the rate of 
growth in the forest appears to be about the 
following, but, as I say, the figures are very 
liable to correction. The present measure- 
ments see to show that a tree reaches a girth 
of IS inches at the age of 25 years, 36 icchea at 
75 years, 54 inches at 135 years and 6 feet in 
girth at the age of 2tJ0years. On deep soil these 
figures are probably below the mark and the trees 
grow faster. . , ■ i. i 
The Timber.— The proportion of heart-wood 
to sap-wood varies a good deal. 1 1 is commonly 
considered that timber grown on deep soil con- 
tains a smaller proportion of heart-wood than 
trees growing on rocky slopes. My own ex- 
perience coincide with this theory, not only as 
regards D. Ebennm but also as regards U. 
Melanoxylon. As regards the latter, I remember 
that small trees on the stony slopes of the Gan- 
c^es division gave a far larger supply ot black- 
wood than compaiatively large trees growing on 
alluvial suil in the western i)art of the bharan- 
pur division. Recently, 15 trees of Ceylon ebony, 
varyiner in girth from 6 feet to 12 feet were 
measured carefully. The gross volume of these 
trees amouuted to 1,208 eft. while the volume 
of Blackwood was 282 eft. or less than one 
quarter of the volume, the proportion of heart- 
wood in the individual logs varying from Q-U 
to 0-35. This was in good soil and masure- 
ments have yet to be made to find out the pro- 
portion of black wood on rocky soil. As a rule, 
T do not think that the thickness of the sap- 
wood cylinder is much less than 3 inches, ihe 
largest log of ebony, which I have seen, mea- 
sm"ed 7 feet in girth after the sap-wood had 
been removed. Together with the sap-wood it 
must have been very large ; for, of the 12 feet 
logs mentioned above, one gave a measurement 
of black wood of 5 feet 3 inch while another 
measured only 4 feet in girth after peeling. The 
sap-wood is very light coloured and soft. It is 
peeled off by means of heavy felling axes. Cir- 
cular incisions are made round the log at dis- 
tances of about 2 feet apart and the portions 
between trimmed off. It is possible to get the 
wood naturally peeled by leaving the logs in the 
forest for some years, but timber mercharits do 
not like these logs and consider them to be 
dead wood. They, therefore, fetch lower prices. 
Tbe bart-wood is not necessarily black through- 
out. Un the contrary, streaks of white or pale 
brown colour are not infrequent. Some forests of 
the island produce blacker wood than others. 
For example, ebony from the western side of the 
islancl is usually less streaky than that found 
on the east. (Tcnerally speaking, the market 
favours the black ebony, if it is of as good 
dimensions as the streaky logs, the China 
mai ket especially requires the wood quite black. 
For cabinet work, however, especially for orna- 
mental beading and framing, the streaky wood 
is in request as it is used as a substitute for 
calamander. As regards the comparative value 
of the different ebonies in India and Ceylon, it is 
somewhat difficult to make a comparison. D. 
Ehenimi usually gives logs of larger dimensions 
and is on that account more valuable. In the 
local market, Indian ebony does not fetch as 
high a price as Ceylon ebony. Some years ago 
a local merchant imported a parcel of logs from 
India. The logs were of fair girth and very 
black, and yet they only fetched poor prices. 
The explanation given was, that Ceylon ebony 
takes a much better polish than that from India. 
I was not able to ascertain whether the logs 
referred to were D. Melanoxylon. If so, they 
were remarkably fine. Of the different ebonies 
which I am acquainted with, D. Ehenum 
seems to be the most close-grained. Its surface, 
when polished, feels more greasy to the touch 
than others and this, no doubt, accounts for the 
higher degree of polish which it can take. The 
weight, a3cording to Gamble, varies from 61 to 
81 lb. per cubic foot. I have weighted carefully 
six well air dried specimens from different parts 
of the island and found their weights to have 
varied from 90 lb. to 77 7 lb. per eft. the average 
being 73 9 lb. per eft. 
Matsket. — The prices realized for ebony in 
Ceylon range up usually to K180 or R1S5 per 
ton (weighed) for gooil lots. I have once known 
the price to go up to K210 per ton, but it 
rarely exceeds Kl.85. and I have never krown 
the price of first-class ebony go below R150 
to K160 per ton. Tlie piice not only depends 
on the state of the market in Europe and 
China but on freight available. If freight 
is scarce or high the price naturally goes down. 
I may add that it is by no means an easy 
matter to obtain freight for timber, especially 
when large consignments of tea are being 
sent home. 
It may be of interest to Indian readers to know 
how the sales are conducted. All ebony, ex- 
cepting branch-wood, top pieces and dead wood 
remaining from former fellings which are sold 
in the forest or at minor depots, sent is to 
Colombo, where it is sorted at the Central Timber 
Dep6t in lots, as homogeneous as possible, 
