888 
Supplement h> the " Troj/icul AgiifoUuiht.'* [Svag. 1, 1899. 
Tliis tieu known as thii Iii<Jiaii Kino Tie^ and in 
Ceylon as Gfuninnki has of late co;ne into some 
prominedce owing to its peculiar and imicli-ud- 
mired wood. It i.s closely related to tlie Indian 
tree which yields the well-kuowji I'adiik wood 
(P. Indicus). 
Dr. Watt thus describes the wood: " Sapwood 
small ; lieartwood brown with diirknr streaks, very 
liard, durable, seisons well, and take< a fine 
polish, it is full of red gum resiti an<l stains 
yellow wiien damp ; weight 47 Ibi. to 52 lbs. [ler 
cubic foot. It is much used for door and window 
frames, posts and beams, furniture, agricultural 
implements, cart and boat building; an<l has also 
been employed for sleejiers. Tweniy-five sleep^TS 
which had been laid down seven to eight years on 
the Mysore State Railway were found to comprise 
nine good, eleven still serviceable, and five bid; 
sleepers of this timlier have also been n«ed on the 
Holkar and Neemuch and other lines ((lamble). 
Dr. Trimen in his Flora refers to the tree tlius: 
" Lowcountry, cliiefly in the dry and inter- 
mediate regions up to 3,0U0 ft., rather common : in 
the moist region on ojien grassy land, rtirer; 
common about Nawalapitiy a. Flowers Julj' to 
September, brigh.t yell(Jw. A dark red gum-resin 
exudes from the biick, and is used as a medicine 
and for outward a])plication. Affords a fine 
timber, very hard, heavy, dark reddish brown, 
durable, containing a red re?in." 
The leaves are pronounced an e.xcellent ifodder,' 
and are in great|request| among cattle-keepers in 
India. 
The gum yielded by this speciesi is the Kino of 
European Materia Medica. 
Dr. Morris referring to Gammalu in his list of 
Ceylon Plants says : A large and beautiful tree 
■when in flower. It is widely diffused and yields 
one of the most abundant and useful timbers, 
also a valuable gum kino. 
The Indian Forester in a reference to a list of 
timber trees of the Central Province of Ceylon 
says : " Our old friend ' Bijasal ' reappears under 
the Ceylon name of ' Gammalu,' with the curious 
remark that Mr. E. M, Hay of Nawalapitiya is 
the only planter in the Central Province [that 
knows its value." 
Since then the wood of Gammalu has been 
much sought after, and we learn that Sir J. J. 
Grinlinton took some blocks of it to Chicago 
where it was much admired. 
COCONUT OIL AND COPRA. 
The section devoted to Coconuts in the Kelani 
Valley Commissionen's report contains without 
doubt some valuable information on the subject, 
but our attention has been drawn to certain 
averages which are apparently contradictory, e.g., 
that 1,000 nuts is a safe average of the 
number required to produce one candy (560 lbs. or 
6 cwt.) of copra, and copra contains f oil 
and ^ poonac ; while 36 nuts is a safe average to 
calculate for a gallon of oil. And further 
that according to the usual calculation 2 
nuts = l lb. copra. Now adopting these figures, 
as our correspondents points out, we rrive 
at curious results.^ On the basis that 1,000 nuts 
will give a ciudy of copiu, we find lh»t y,0(XJ nuK 
should give 15 cwt. copra, and that this ought to 
produce 10 cwt. oil and 5 cwt. poousic. Lat Iheu 
15 cwt. copra — 1,6S0 lbs., which, at two nuts to 
tUe lb. would require 3,a00 nuts for it.s productioti- 
Agaiu, if 3tj nuis aie required for one gallon oil, 
the number required for 10 cwts. (125 galloa*) 
would be 4,500 nuts. So that we thus have as • 
result of the calculation based on the above 
averages the unsaii-factory ret-ult that lO cwt. of 
oil would require 3,000, or 3,:160, or 4,fiO0 
nuts oil. 
Another calcul ition gives an acre yielding 3,000 
nuts as producing only 6 cwt. oil and 8 cwt. 
poonac, which i^ put down as equivalent to 
(not 9 cwt. but! 14i to 15 cwt. copra. But 
how is the diflfereace accounted for' I'utting 
aside these f)gures for the present, ne sliould like 
to know what test is adoptel in the trade for 
a.scertaining the percentage of oil in purchased 
copra, oris it merely judged " by tiie e^-ef " 
Turning to Mr. Cochran's Manual of Chemical 
Analysis, we find th.it the percentage of oil in 
copra may vary from 63 to 70 per cent, and the 
moisture from 2 to 7 per cent. If there is no 
means of judging of these voriations in a practical 
way, and if copra is bought by weight, there is 
fcur-ly ample opportunity for finessing on the part 
of sellers. 
VILLEBRUNIA INTEGRl FOLIA : A RIVAL 
TO RllJ-J.V 
Tills tree, which has apparently no vernacular 
name, is described by Dr. Trimen as occurring in 
the moist region, 2 —5,000 ft., as being rather com- 
mon in Hantane, Alagallu, Nitre-Cave District and 
Haputale. It flowers in Januarj' and September. 
In India the tree is known as Ban Rhea or wild 
Rhea, and has of late come under notice as pro- 
ducing an e.\:ceiient fibre. It h/is previously been 
treated of in the Agricultural Ledger, No. 15 of 
18P8, but is the subject of a special bulletin just 
issued by the Indian Government. 
The bulletin contains a valuable report on the 
fibre by Prof. Wyndham Dunstane, r.a-s., which 
confirms the exceedingly favourable views already 
e.vpres.-ed regarding Villebrunia us a commercial 
fibre. " Its superiority over Rhea," says Dr. Watt, 
both in regard to strength and texture, as 
well as compo^rition, cannot but be considered as 
a most important result, and one which should 
commend it to the favourable attention of all 
persons interested in Rhea cultivation. As a 
catch crop to the tea industry it has perhaps no 
rival, certainly no equal. The fact that this fibre 
can be cleaned simply by retting the ribbons of 
bark (after the fashion of jute) ia perhaps of even 
more intere•^t than its exceptionally high merit as 
a te.\;tile. E.tpen-ive decorticating and gumming 
machinery are thereby rendered unnecessary. 
It is thus possi ble that the fibre could be turned 
out at a price that would not only undersell 
Rhea, but, for certain purposes, compete with 
flax, if not with jute it;elf. At all events the 
cultivation and separation of a crudely cleaned 
fibre of great merit might easily enough be accom- 
plished by even the poorest agriculturist. While 
Rhea must of necessity command capital and 
enterprise, Ban Rhea can be developed by the 
peasant." 
