October i, i8qo.] 
THE TROPICAL AQRICULTURI8T. 
265 
certainly encouraging with reference to the cultiva- 
tion of this valuable tree. Meantime experiments at 
Nuwara Eliya and around it prove that an allied 
tree, the red toon, grows rapidly and beautifully in 
form and vegetation. In rapidity of perpendicular 
growth it excels the cryptomeria and vies with 
the Australian Eucalypti and Acacias (“wattles ”). 
The margosa (the neem of India) is closely allied 
to this tree. 
We trust the idea of plantations of that most useful 
timber and food palm, the palmyra, which is 
rapidly becoming scarce, will be seriously taken 
up. We shall look with interest for accounts of 
the result of an experiment which is being tried 
in the arid Hambantota district. Palu, which 
combines, like the palmyra, the valuable qualities 
of food bearer and timber yielder, ought also to 
receive special attention. 
Communications and buildings are dealt with, 
and Col. Clarke shows a desire to alleviate the 
hardships to which the forest officers are 
exposed 
Foresters’ bungalows are much required in the un- 
inhabited portions of the Island, where their work takes 
them, e.g., in the southern part of the Eastern Pro- 
vuce, the Uva Bintenne, and the eastern part of the 
Southern Province. These I propose to supply by 
degrees, as it is not fair upon the officers to require 
them to endure greater hardships than are preventible 
by a reasonable outlay. A Forester’s life is not by any 
means a bed of roses. 
Under the head of “Yield and Working’’ Col. 
Clarke notices disadvantages at which the Forest 
Department is placed in being compelled to hold 
large stocks of timber to meet the requisitions 
of the Public Works Department, without the cer- 
tainty, for want of estimates, of such stocks being 
indented for. The prices paid, too, were inade- 
quate : — 
For instance, the Public Works Department in the 
Northern Province was supplied with palai at 50 cents 
per cubic foot, which would have realised Bl’12§ if 
sold to the outside public for export to India. 
It might seem to some persons that, the timber 
being the property of Government, it could not be 
of much consequence at what price it was accounted 
for. But any such loose system of accounting would 
cause confusion and worse. The Public Works 
Department would obtain undue credit for economy, 
while the Forest Department would appear to be 
conducted at a loss great in proportion. It 
is not surprising, therefore, to learn that a 
revised scale of prices has been framed. The 
report of the Committee on sleepers for the railways, 
which we some time ago reviewed and quoted from 
at great length, is adverted to. The result of the 
deliberations of that Committee was that a trial 
is to be made this year of 200 sleepers of each 
of 26 species of Ceylon timbers. Our readers 
may recollect that the two railway members of 
the Committee suggested that the trial sleepers 
should be supplied gratuitously by the Forest 
Department. This proposal Col. Clarke emphatically 
resisted, on the ground that the good quality 
of the larger proportion of the timbers was 
beyond question. Meantime 10,000 doon sleepers 
{tloon, not to be confounded with toon, being 
our hardest and best wood) were supplied for 
the Bentota extension. The details regarding 
timber supplied to other public departments and 
to the public generally are so interesting and 
calculated to be so useful to many of our readers, 
that we feel justified in making a lengthened quota- 
tion : — 
Timber of the value of R39,590-63 was sold to th® 
Chief Resident Engineer, Haputale Railway Extension’ 
for the construction of bungalows, &c. Among the 
84 
I other Public Departments the Postal is probably the 
next largest buyer, for telegraph posts, 503 of which 
were supplied during the year. Smaller quantities of 
timber were requisitioned by the Colonial Store for the 
Harbour Works, by the different Road Committees, by 
the Military authorities at Trincomalee, and by the 
Railway Department. The Railway Department ap- 
plied to us for a timber which, while equally durable 
as ]ak, should be somewhat lighter in haulage. We sup- 
plied them with “ kina,” and it is now being tried for the 
flooring of railway carriages ; but as it has been used 
vvhen green it is hardly receiving a fair trial. It would 
be worth while to try hulanhik and margosa in lieu of 
teak for the interior of railway carriages, as teak has 
gone up considerably in price. Hulanhik has a beautiful 
satin lustre, while margosa is not only a handsome 
wood, but insects will not touch it owing to the essen- 
tial oil it contains. 
The timber sold to private parties is usually for ex- 
port either in the log or converted into casks, boxes, 
&c. The woods most in demand are ebony, satin, hal- 
milla, palu, hal, andhora. 
Ebony and satin will be mentioned later, under Cen- 
tral Depot. 
Hal and hora are much used for tea boxes and plum- 
bago casks, respectively. 
The palu and satin sold for export come chiefly from 
the North-Western Province and Eastern Province. 
Halmilla is largely bought for India, and has a con- 
siderable sale in Ceylon. The Indian Government was 
supplied with 3,229 cubic feet of picked halmilla at 
R2'50 per cubic foot, realising R8,062’50. That sold local- 
ly comes from private land, frequently from temple land 
in the North-Western Province, Central Province, and 
Eastern Province, and some from Crown forests in the 
same Provinces. The supply from private sources is 
now becoming limited, and as the oil mills do not offer 
as good prices as purchasers from India, most of that 
timber is shipped for that country. A number of native 
coasting craft, which carry the paddy grown in the 
Eastern Province to India for clearing and winnowing, 
load up with timber of this and other binds, for which 
they pay remunerative rates. 
Central Depot, Colombo. — After considerable cor- 
respondence an arrangement was come to between the 
Engineer of the Harbour Works, the Railway authori- 
ties, and the Master Attendant, whereby tbe Forest 
Department was permitted the use of the southern half 
of the Breakwater yard as a timber depot, and a 
portion of the root of the Breakwater as an ebony 
stacking yard. The object of having a separate yard 
for ebony at the harbour was to avoid expenditure in the 
movement of it between shore and ship. It now remains 
on the spot to which it is brought from the interior 
of the Island until wanted for loading on board ship. 
As our occupation of the Breakwater yard is conditional, 
and has to be given up in the event of the Northern 
arm being constructed, there is an element of uncertainty 
in our tenure, and we cannot set up permanent sheds 
and saw mills. As a consequence, the tawing of timber 
at this depot was done in an irregular manner, and we 
had in the long run to ask the Government Factory 
to saw the timber for us. 
No business was done in ebony until the close of 
the year. The English market was reported con- 
tinuously throughout the year as flat, large stocks 
were still untold in the docks, and there was 
very little demand either for Europe or China. A 
small quantity was offered in the Colombo market 
collected from private land and from temple land, 
but chiefly of indifferent quality. By the middle of 
the year some 500 tons of Government ebony had 
been collected from all parts, and after shaping and 
trimming was divided into lots to suit the European 
and China markets. The highest price offered early 
in the year had been E80 per ton at Trincomalee, 
but with the approval of Government the ebonv 
was held until the close of the year, when 102 tons; 
were sold for R14.280, or an average of R140 per. 
ton for all classes, bad, good, and indifferent. 
Then follow details connected with the diffioal- 
ties of obtaining supplies of timber from distant 
parts of the island for the Coiombo depot. The 
