397 
given up for cultivation and rearing of forest trees 
with the crops. Thia matter has been so much delayed 
thht thtre is great fear of the villagers losing all in- 
terest in it. 
Ouly about five seres were added during the year, 
beiog land along the bank of the Pusselioya in the 
Barawa foreeta. R254 was spent in clearing dead and 
worthless wood, in cutting it up into firewood, and 
putting in hal seed. The sale of the firewood will go 
a long way towards covering the cost of clearing and 
planting. 
In the Ocmtral Province tho strip clearings were 
extended, ten more squares being cleared and planted. 
The plantation of 1889 has been a failure and has 
had to be practically replanted. On the report 
of the Assistant Conservator, Central Province, 
I visited the plantations of 1890 in October 
last, and found that the work had been most care- 
lessly done, Mr. Armitage having left too much of 
the supervision to inexperienced subordinates. This 
year the plants put in were E. ylobulus and robusta, 
Acacia decm vens, and Cryptoineria japonioa. Seeds of 
Finns longifolia, Cedrus Deodora, and Acacia dcccurrens 
were also dibbled in in situ, and were reported to 
have germinated freely. The _cryptomeria and blue 
gum plantations behind the Assistant Agent's house 
are doing well. Blanks were supplied and over- 
hanging branches [qvA. Sambhar and pig are still 
doing damage by barking and rooting up young 
trees and trampling on tender seedlings. Near the 
nm'sery and by the Public Works Department lineiS 
on the Nuwara Eliya and Nanu-oya road small patches 
of waste land were cleared and planted with E. 
(jlohultis and robusta, Acacia decmrens, Frenela, and 
Cn/ptomeria, and seeds put in of Finns lomjifolia and 
deodar. At the end of the year a large percentage 
was thriving. 
Early in October the Assistant Conservator and I 
inspected waste lands in the neighbourhood of 
Gampola, Nawalapitiya, and Galboda, with a view to 
recommending the reservation of a certain number of 
them for Railway fuel plantations. Most of the 
blocks of land were favourably reported iipon, and 
before the end of the year 200 acres of patana ^rass 
were cleared and ready for lining. Ju.dging from 
similar plantations in the hills, it is probable that 
these will yield from 100 to 190 yards per acre during 
the next fifteen years, and they will thus not only 
keep up a regular stipply for the Railway, but will 
more than pay their way. It is very desirable that 
this land be reserved under the iForest Ordinance, 
as it is only plantations in [reserved forests which 
obtain the special protection of the law. The defini- 
tion of the boundaries on the ground is very desirable. 
lu Uva the youag plauta on Judge's Hill, at Badulla, 
are coming on well, especially where the land has 
been kept free of weeds. The plants put in in Decem- 
ber, 1888, are up to nearly twenty feet in height and 
twelve inches in girth, the average being about twelve 
to thirteen feet in height and seven to eight inches 
in girth. The plantation consists of eapu, grevillea, 
ingasamao, oasuarina, and flamboyants, and all are 
doiug fairly well, but no more flamboyants ate to be 
planted. The plants put in in 1889 are also doing 
w«ll, being generally about four to five feet in height 
and two to three inches in girth. Three acres of 
steep and rocky land have been excluded from the 
plantation. 
The EUadftUuws clearing of thirteen acres, started 
in December, 1889, is doing well. The plants put in 
were sapu, grevillea, Innumidella, jak, ingasaman, 
milla, and iion bark. The lunuinidella, as usual, has 
taken the lead, being on an average 9 ft. 3 in. in height 
and 6i in. in girth, ootoe troes having reachd a height of 
14i ft. and a girth of 10 in. On the whole the growih has 
been somewhat more rapid than that on Judge's Hill. 
About six acres of patana land near Bandarawela 
were holed and got ready for planting with Finns lomji- 
folia, but owing to tome delay in the despatch of the 
seeds a largo percentage turned out to be bad. A few 
bells of Eucalyptus robusta have been put in as a 
protootion. 
The strip of forest cleared of worthless timber in the 
Haputulu £oie8t in iSsy, and jeplautea witb Mm^l/i't''''^ 
TO usta and Acacia Melanoxijlon, has come on splendidly 
and there is not one vacancy on it. Xbe average heiaht 
of the saplings is from 10 ft. to 13 ft. and the avecLo 
girth over 6 in., the E. robusta being of the two speoiea 
by far the most vigorous grower. All the land cleared 
during the year has been planted with E. robusta, with 
soma acacia and some Finns excelsa seeJ. This 'seed 
however, had been kept too long and did not germinate' 
In Sabaragamuwa, besides the block of 15 acres for 
Para rubber mentioned below, a site tor a nursery was 
selected in the Gabbilamukalana, about five miles froua 
Batoapura, and teak seed from Burma put into care- 
fully-prepared beds, A good deal of the seed turned 
out to be bad, and the plants in the nursery do not 
appear to be very healthy. About thirty acres have btea 
cleared of underwood, and teak seed and about 2 000 
jak plants have been put in at a distance of 20 ft.' by 
20 ft. The Assistant Conservator is very eager to 
start planting a valuable reserve of teak,jAk, na, hal, 
&o., as soon as sufficient funds can be obtained by 
Governmeut. I have little doubt that a large planta- 
tion of this sort, situated in a convenient locality 
as regards export, will in the long run pay very well. 
In the North-Western Province two small planta- 
tions were started in the Kurunegala District during 
the year. The first is called Kumbalipala, and ia 
situated about four miles from Kurnnegala and near 
the Negombo road. About ten acres were planted up 
with teak, jak, kumbuk, and halmills. The plants 
suffered a good deal from drought, but since the rains 
they appear to have recovered, and the proportion of 
failures is not 15 pe? cent. Since this land was 
cleared, thousands ol lunumidella plants have sprung 
up naturally, some of them running up to 6 ft. in 
height in the last five months. The second planta- 
tion ia in the Snndapola proposed reserve. About 
eight acres have been planted with jak, teak, satin, 
na, and mahogany. About 25 per cent. o£ the jak 
plants have been destroyed by cattle and about 15 
per cent, of the other species have succumbed to 
drought. 
The Assistant Conservator reports that the teak 
plantation at Puttaiam still continues to be a greit 
succesj. During the year it baa however been subjected 
to a good deal of ill-treatment. The Forester for the 
time being did some serious damage by thinning out 
every alternate line ol teak poles in the plantation of 
1886, against the distinct orders of the Assistant Con- 
servator and of the Conservator. Such a " rule-of- 
thunflb " procedure is not Forestry, and does not do 
credit to the oflBcer in question. 
A number of teak, jak, satin, and mahogany were 
planted during the year, but the drought was very 
severe ; the water supply ran out and a large percentage 
of plants died. 
The Assistant Conservator, Sabaragamuwa, cleared a 
block of 15 acres of land at Edangoda on the right bank 
of the Kalu-ganga for the planting of Para rubber. The 
holes were made 12 ft. apart and filled with plants which 
had been first raised in supply baskets. When the 
floods came every plant below thejwater-line was des- 
troyed. This was rather disappointing, as it was con- 
sidereJ that occasional flooding was good for this plant, 
and for this reason alow-lying land had boen chosen. 
Haies did considerable damage to the remaining planta 
when they were about six inchea high. Thus there are 
only 1,872 well-established plants remaining. Theoe, 
however, are doing well. It was the intention ot the 
Assistant Conservator to fill in vacancies wiih stumLs 
irom Henaragods, but the rains of November and 
December having failed he was obliged to put them off 
until this year, 
Seed of Cedrus deodara, Fimis excelsa, and Finns 
longifolia was supplied through the courtesy of the 
Conservator of Forests, School Circle, North- Western 
Provinces and Oudh. The deodar seed and most of 
the pine seed went to the Nuwara Eliya District, while 
a couple of pounds of pine seed went to the Aasis- 
tant Conaervator, Uva, to try on Uva patanas. The 
Pinus longifolia seed has come np beautifully almost 
everywhere, whether in the Nuwara Eliya nursery cr 
m the Nanu.oya clearings, but not bo well on the 
patan»3 aw fiaa^atAweis. Xbe degdar has not ootae 
