394 
THE TROPICAL AQRiCULTURIST. [OeCember i, iS^i, 
layan etationa were not suffloient. For railway 
sleepers the red dm (not only native but 
peculiar to Ceylon) ia the favourite ; but other 
timbers are being tried ; and, with Col. Clarke we 
believe strongly in the value of the ubiquitous 
and oftea gigantic humhuh. Mr. Brown states :-• 
luetnctiona were sent to the following Provinous 
to saw '.iOO experimeatal sleepers of each of the follow 
ing kinilg ; — i • j 
W. PaoviNCB.— Alubo, etaheribeliya, bakrai, and 
dawata. , , . , , 
E. Peovinob.— Tumpalai, kon, naval, palai, ehemel- 
paniche, kokatiya. 
Ivf_.\V, Pbovinoe,— Timbiri, kirikon, tammana, go- 
Amongst these and others, we cannot doubt that 
excellent wood for railway and other purposes can 
be found. , ^ , , . , 
The famous ebony of Ceylon being a purely 
cabinet or ornamental wood, it may be interesting 
to notice the proportion in which other timbers are 
io demand ; satin wood, whioh is both a cabinet 
and a structural wood and others which are wholly 
or almost wholly devoted to useful purposes as 
distinguished from ornamental. Until recently the 
run, both for home use anl for export has been 
on Halmilla, Satinwood, Palu or Pdllai, MiUa, Na, 
Bani or Weweranai, Dun, and & few others. But 
the value of other timbers, suoh as Kumbuk, 
Alubo, Dawata, Kon, Tammana, Godapara, &c., is 
gradually being appreciated The proporiionate 
demand indicated in the felling operations of the 
Forest Department in 1890, is thus shewn :— 
^ & 
o . ti 
VERNACULAR AND g g « VERNACULAR AND | g ^ 
POPULAR Namks. g S Popular Names. « g g 
3 5 S P H 
K !^ 
Halmilla ••• 4>5'0 Hnra ... 60 
Sat.n-wood ... 2,916 Mar^osa and Hulan- 
PalaiorPalu ... 1.712 h.k (ooUi allied to 
MiUa - l.""-!7 ""^ ^"O'^* - 
Na (iron wood) ... 619 Nadun and Ubriya 
Kanai or Weweranai 562 (Labmet wood»)« .., b2 
■pv ... 4,62 Jak ... 41 
Mendora and Turn- ^,"'3'^ - f- 
f.alai ... 418 Mihiriya ... 
KFnaaudDomba ... 324 Hal . ... 20 
Knmlmk ... 281 MiandWanami ... 17 
Domba and Nava'. Other species ... _2^53 
(the latter thfclMaha- 
dan o£ the Sinha- Total ... Ibfikb 
leee) ••■ 1« 
ofThich 8,292 were dry and 7,394 green trees. 
Our readers will, of course, note that the above 
fiaures refer only to legitimate felhngs by the 
forest oflieers. Illicit filings and feilmg of trees 
on private ptoperties ate left out of view, ami we 
should suppose a good deal of the original and 
coppice growths cut for fuel, both in U-overn- 
ment and private forests. Far more ]ak and 
some other trees grown around native houses or 
in private or village chenus are u.uized than the 
Quantities shown by the forest dep^rtmeut. The 
palmira trees out down, ohitfly for export to 
• On an unjustifiably cx;ravagant use or rather 
tniBuee of the fine cabinet wood neO-un, we quoie a 
paraeraph from Mr. Broun's report :-" At Kainapura 
tt uew post office, tho .lesigi. of Mr. Spooutr, u being 
built entirely of neJu.. tiuile-. It seems to lea yieit 
pity to ude nedun, wliiuli i.s a mostv-biaole cahinet 
wooJ and is daily b. commg scarcer," Tn • qu.sU.ii 
i« wlio Bivnotioned Mr. Rp on&i's expensive wliim 
The two toKether ought to be nanUo to pay the d.lter- 
euce betwocii Ll.o coht of tictiun aiul j;uod ordinary 
timber —Mr. P>tcuii's rcmarl; that ne Iwn i.s buoomiug 
scarce reminds ub that " calamander " wood (kalu- 
locdiriyai, a ne^r relaiivo of ebouy but much more, 
beautiful is almobt extinct. Ought not uurBencs and 
plftutatiQua of Buoh valuable trees to be formed ? 
India, as rafters and reepers, must be almos*' 
exclusively from private property, and we are greatly 
concerned to fiad Mr. Broun oontemplating the 
gradual extinction of this most valuable timber, 
without indicating that the forest department 
intends to make any special effort to prevent 
what would be a real loss to the Colony and a 
most serious misfortune to the poor people 
of the Norlhern Province whose livelihood so largely 
depends on the varied and valuable products of the 
palmira palm. The export of palmira laths and 
rafters seems to be diminishing, not because tho 
people have become more alive to the duty of 
preserving the trees as food yieldera, but because 
continued felling without oorrespondin? planting 
has rendered suitable trees scarce. The export 
figures for 1889 and 1890 were : 
1889 Palmira laths and ratters ... 296,484 
1890 do do ... 263,090 
Decrease 33..'?94 
We suppose tho new industry of preparing fibres 
from the leaves may in some measure compensate 
for the frtlling-off, bat the whole question of 
palmira culture deserves the most earnest 
attention of the forest department and of the 
administrative officers of the northern and 
drier portions of the island. A communication we 
recently published shewed tbat the jungles in the 
pDriions of the Jaffna Peninsula adjoining the 
" mainland," and perhaps well into the mainland, 
are full of palmira plants, which only 
require the clearing away of useless growths, 
such as inferior thorny acacias, and the admis- 
sion of light and air, to flourish. Mr. Broun 
dwells on the usefulness of a timber which has 
been found to last ten years. There are palmira 
rafters and reepers in houses at Jaffna and else- 
where, built in the Dutoh time, which are known to 
be considerably more than a century old and which 
are still unaffected by decay. We submit that 
the conservation and propagation of a tree 
so valuable as a sugar, frui-, root, and fibre 
yielder, and which at maturity yields a build- 
irg material which cannot be surpassed, deserves 
immediate and most serious attention. It is 
unfortunate that in the Customs accounts 
only a few of the timbers exported are distin- 
guished by their names. In 1890, no fewer than 
4,208 packages, 7,781 logs and 928,403 " number " 
are lumped up as " woods of sorts." As this is 
an important and increasing branch of our com- 
merce, we submit that the time has come when 
the " woods of sorts " should be sorted and 
tabulated by their vernacular or popular names. 
The natives generally know these, and should the 
Customs officers experience any difficulty, they can 
readily obtain aid in identification from the 
forest department, in connection with which 
a herbarium and museum of timber specimens 
has made g'^od progress. " Timber dye- 
wood aijd ro )t," of whioh 10 packages and 
1,436 cwt. were e xported in 1890, must have 
been nearly all sappan wood, and yet Eappan 
wood is given separately at 2,774 cwt. and 26 
packages. Of ebony tho exports last year were 
9,709 cwt. The exports ara chiefly to Chini ; and 
our ri^aders may recollect that Col. Clarke re- 
stricted sales 111 order to raise tho market prico 
to a remunerative rf.te. Mr. Broun rf commends 
the felling and sale of a moderate quantity 
yearly. Satinwood, tho spoeifio gravity of which 
IS n''t much under that cf ebi^ny, is, like thit 
wood, recor.ied by weight, the quantity exported 
in 1890 being 30C cwt , 2,179 logs ftiid 58 "num- 
ber." Of ironwood 656 logs and 81 " number" 
wero set't away. Ot our best and most generally 
