November i, 1890.] 
THE TROPiC^^L AGRICULTURIST^ 
355 
planters want, even if, as Ool Beddome writes, 
the tree cun be depended on only for emaU 
firewood. He means from the suckers, no doui)t, 
as the tree grows large and probably the larger, 
original trees and those derived from them can bo 
successfully coppiced. Even small firewood of 
good caloric properties will be useful for tea 
furnaces. Besides the two wattles I have 
noticed, — A. decurrens and A. dealbata. to wit — 
A. melanoxylon has been well es'a'^lished in 
Ceylon, and 'fine, large pyramidal trees of this 
wattle are amongst the ormments of Nuwara Eliya. 
Many of them are infested by the loranthus 
parasite,* but a cooly with a sickle or knife at 
the end of a long pole cou'd easily free these 
grand trees of their enemies. In cultivated ground, 
these trees while growing well themselves, send 
up numerous suckers which speedily rival them in 
growth. This, which is reckoned their best wood in 
Australia, (quivalent to walnut or ebony, is not 
so favourably spoken of on the Nilgiris, where it 
is said to be slow of growth, which it certainly 
is not here. Even if the timber should, in this 
forcing tropical climate, not bo equal to what the 
tree yields in Australia, what we mainly want are 
quick-growing trees, to supply fuel for factory and 
radway engine furnaces and like purposes 
t There are others of the Australian acacias 
which might well be grown in Ceylon, such a«,4. 
acumi)iatci the best of the IVcst Australian luoodsfor 
charcoal, — yoocZ fence posts — fine ornamental lim'-er, 
— dark reddish brown, close-grained hard wood ; 
A. Cunniniihami, like red cedar but heavier ; 
A. exceha — beautiful cabinet wood with odour of 
viob ts. 
A. steiiophylla, called ironwood on account of its 
hard hea y t.mber; close grained, dark, beuulifully 
marked and takes a hue p' hsh. It pi; nes excel- 
lently, showing a smooth surface. Diameter 15 
to 21 inches, height 40 to 60 feet. 
Of the Eucalypts the blue gum yields a fairly good 
fuel and it coppices splendidly. Where the original 
trees looked thin and scragay, the numerous 
coppice shouts look exceedingly fres'i and fl urish- 
ing. Mr J. L. Anstruiher some time ago com- 
municated to the Ob.-erver a very int. resting 
account of his success' ul coppicing experiment with 
blue gums. “ Mr. Gass found in the Newman 
plantation, then 5 to 6 years old, an amount of 
material equal lo 152 ons per acre, and Col. Beddome 
is of opinion that the best treatment of Eucalyptus 
plantations, so as to get the greatest profit, will 
be to cut for coppice every five or six years, 
obtaining at the cuitii‘gs at least 100 tons per 
acre.” Gasiule, Manual of Indian Timbers. 
The red gum would yield excellent fu®l, were it 
not too good or such a purpose So with jarrah and 
others of the family. The eucalypts we find 
specially mentioned as good for fuel are : — E. 
i/oniocahi.r, “ when not use ' for better purposes 
it is sought for fuel E. sidero.vylon : “ It is one 
of the best fuel wood of iSew Siu'h Wales for 
domestic uses and steam engines E. longifoUa, 
“ This wood is in request for fu 1 E. macrorrhtjn- 
chn, ‘‘furnishes a fair fuel;” E paucijlora, “ excellent 
lor fuel E. punctala, ” affords a superior fuel 
E. siberiana. ‘‘ burns well even when fresh.” “It 
is geui rally considered a firslraeo firewood, by 
some even the very best ; in fact the choice lies 
here between it and A. slellulata.” It will thus be 
seen that amongst the acacias, oasuarinas and 
eucalypts of Australia, most of which flourish as 
well, in some cases better, in Ceylon than in the 
country to which they are native, are many good 
fuel-yielders, such are now wanted for cultivation 
on or in connection with tea es'ates. 
• Our Ceylon substitute for the misletoe. 
[It may bo of interest to add the summary of 
the different “ Wattles,” given in the “ Treasury of 
Botany — 
Wattle. Au Australian colonial name applied to 
various species of Acacia. — , Black, Acacia decurrens ; 
a'so A. moUissima. — , Green, Acacia decurrens. — , 
Raspberry. Jam, Acacia acuminata. — , Savannah, 
Citharexy Ion quadrangularo and O. cinereum. — , Scrub, 
Acacia stipuhgera. — , Silver. Acacia mollissima. — , 
— , of Tasmania, Acacia dealbata. 
The following paragraph from a Brisbane paper 
is worth reproducing ; the questions were put at 
the instance of Mr. Kellow. They show among other 
things that his A. decurrens grew 12 feet within 
the first year ; — 
“The Wattle— H. \V. K. (Cooktown,Q ): Would 
you kind y give me through the medium of your 
va liable journal the following particulars relative to 
wattle culture: 1, age of tree before cutting; 2, 
average of bark per tree; 3, mode of harvesting; 4, 
whether shipped to Eualand or used locally ; 5, average 
rate per ton ; 6, would 12 feet in height for Acacia 
decurrens, under 12 months, be considered good growth 
for trees nised from seed? Any other information 
regarding this valuable product would be thankfully 
received. — Answers: — 1, from 6 to 10 years; 2, about 
1 cwt, though irom gigantic trees as much as § a ton 
has been collected ; 3, stripping in the ordinary way; 
4, both ; 5 in the Oo'onies about £5 per ton, in 
Ei gland it ranges from £8 to £11 per ton; 6, ves. 
Wa'fle seed can le scwu broadcast, and the trie 
flourisbos on the poorest of soils. The bark contains 
Bbi'ut 50 per cent of tannin. A ton of bark is S'id to 
be sufiScient to tan twenty-five bides.” — E d. 1\ A.'] 
ANOTHER BRIGHT BLOSSOMED JUNGLE PLANT 
— THE GOLDEN WATTLE — FINE GROWING 
WEATHER - Sin 671 ShS— THU PROCESS OP 
TEA MANCPACTHRE— THE ROLL-BREAKER — 
BULKING : A MACHINE WANTED — NO HOLIDAY 
POR CEYLON TEA PLANTERS— CROAKING PRO- 
PHECIES FALSIFIED — INSECT ENEMIES — THE 
NORTH-EAST MONSOON AT HAND— DELAY IN THE 
RAILWAY EXTENSION WORK. 
Nancoya, Oct. 7th. 
R speoting a second plant, brilliant with white 
blossoms and abounding in the forests of this re" 
gion, up to the mountain sides above Nuwara Lliya. 
in association with the one previously noticed,— 
Dr. Trim' n has been good enough to give the 
folio ing account : — 
Your plant is another Hedyotis — there are a great 
manyotih m — d. Lesseritana. It has but little of the 
beauty of its congem-r, though a stately plant when 
wtll grown in damp forests. There is a very large form 
of it in the highest elevations which might almost 
be called a tree. 
fily memory of the Acacia by the church at Nuwara 
E'iya does not q^dte serve me, but I thick it is rather 
A. dealbata. Neiiher A. decurrens nor A. 7nollissima 
I tl ink send up a crop t f suckers. I have sent a line 
as you suggested to' the Observer Office.” 
I suspected erroneous information respecting “ the 
golden wattle” so prevalent and so beautiful in 
Nuwata Eliya. I was struck by the silence of 
Baron Von Mueller and Professor Maiden, as to 
any tendency in A, decurrens to send up suckers. 
But if the two trees in Nuwara Eliya which send up 
suckers so freely are both A, dealbata, then its 
varieties are very distinct. The one which forms 
the remarkable grove near the oburoh is clean- 
stemmed, wiih very handsome, warm-tinted foliage. 
The other with silvery or ashen-ooloured foliage 
is by no means so handsome a tree. The com- 
parative value of the timbers for^fuel purposes ia 
another question. 
Nanuoya, Oof. 8th. 
I have been considerably disappointed to find so 
little information available lespeoting the beautifvil 
