[January i, 1B91. 
5^0 thp tropical agriculturist. 
was the exception rather than the rule for the 
drift timber which reached the very extended 
shores of that province as it was constituted 
under that able othcer’s regime^ to be ofiered for 
public sale. The autocracy of Mr. Dyke’s ideas, 
dictated his resolution to deal with these wind- 
falls from the ocean after a fashion of 
his own. It was his belief that he could effect 
a greater service by using up the material upon 
useful public works than by ofiering it to the 
biddings — at that date of a necessarily restricted 
character — of the few JaSnese who felt inclined 
to offer for the timber 1 The logs were, we are told, 
all brought to the impounding ground at JaSna 
and used by the then Government Agent for such 
purposes as seemed to him to be good I The 
fact may, and doubtless does account for the very 
free use of Moulmein teak in the public buildings 
in and around Jaffna. As an instance of such 
free use, it may be noted that the principal portions 
of the pretty little mission church at Chundikkuli 
are entirely of this valuable timber, and we have 
heard that the Missionaries of those days had 
little or no difficulty in procuring free grants of 
it for the construction or restoration of other 
mission churches or buildings. But under the 
changed oircamstances of the last twenty years, it 
is not desirable that this free hand in dealing 
with public property should be continued, if indeed 
it has been continued. Wo have no doubt, 
however, that with Mr. Dyke’s rule the system 
we have mentioned came to an end, and that 
the Imperial Treasury is now credited, as noted 
above, with the full amount realized by the sale of 
these waifs of the eea ; but how if my “ Lords of 
the Treasury” in England heard of Mr. Dyke’s 
mistaken disposal of their “ wreckage” property up 
to thirty years ago ? 

ME. WESTLAND’S BEICK TEA. 
We have submitted the cake of brick tea to Lieut, 
de Frisch, the Kutsian Consul, who has kindly given 
his opinion as follows : — “ It is not nearly so hard 
— so well pressed — as the brick-tea used in Eussia ; 
it is much smaller (a fault easily remedied) ; the 
Bussian bricks are usually ^ lb. each in weight, 
marked (like chocolate) by indentations so as to 
break off easily into six pieces ; the bricks are 
usually of a greyish colour, Mr, Westland’s is 
black. The tea of the latter is, however, very good.” 
We have no doubt that Mr. Westland would very 
quickly come up to the proper standard with his 
briok tea, if there were due encouragement, or if 
he could protect his mode of working for a few years, 
at a reasonable rate. But until our tea trade with 
Bussia more fully deveiopes and until our exorbitant 
patent fees are reduced, there is not much en- 
oouragemeut. However, as regards briok tea making, 
we hear there are locally other ” Biohmonds in the 
field.” 

BAEK AND DEUG REPOET. 
(From the Chemiit and Druggist. ) 
Lohdon, Nov. 20th. 
CiNcaosA..— At Tuesday’s auctions a fair average quantity 
of bark was oUored, the catalogues embracing. 
FacUages Packages 
Ceylon bark 
1,510 of wbloh 1,204 were sold 
Bast Indian bark 
966 
do 
789 
do 
.Java bark 
81 
do 
61 
do 
S. American bark 
2 : 3.3 
do 
do 
Total 
2,770 
‘ do 
2,051 
do 
The assortment was a poor one, and consisted very 
^rgely oi Succltubra barks from Ceylon and Southern 
India, common to medium chips and spokeshavlngs 
being particularly prominent. The highest price paid for 
manufacturer’s barks was lOd per lb., and that only 
or one or two lots. A dull tone prevailed throughout 
the auctions, and prices were generally easier, especially 
for fine druggists’ harks. The average unit may now be 
placed at lid per oz. 
The following were the quantities purchased by the 
principal buyers 
LB. 
Agents for the Mannheim and Amsterdam works 
Agents for the Frankfort o/M and Btuttgart works 
Agents for the Brunswick works 
Messrs. Howards & Sons 
Agents for the American and Italian works 
Agents for the Auerbach factory 
Mr. Thomas WhifEen 
Sundry druggists and speculators 
122,2.57 
88,829 
87,232 
69,075 
38,854 
30,102 
00,266 
60,405 
Total quantity sold ... 510,610 
Bought in or withdrawn ... 137,312 
Total quantity offered ... 647,822 
Qoinikh very quiet: the only business we hear of 
this week is 10,00u oz. second-hand German bulk at Is 
per oz. ihe nearest quotations now are l8d Per oz. 
sellers, li|d buyers, no basiness. 
»■ 
SOILS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 
We have marked for extract into the Tropical Agri- 
culturist an interesting review from ihb North British 
Agriculturist of what ia evidently a very valuable 
handbook on soils, by Dr. Fream, the historian 
of the Rothampsted experiments. A point in 
favour of the Ceylon planters seems to lie in the 
fact that the roots of tea and other perennial 
plants, Buoh as are cultivated so largely in Ceylon, 
are ever in the soil, so reduoing the loss of nitrates, 
to a minimum, probably. It is in fallow land in Europe 
that the loss of nitrates from drainage is greatest. 
On the other hand the capillarity of our mountain 
soils, at any rate, is not increased by the benefioial 
action of earth worms. We have seen the 
“ eastings” of a large species on patanas, 
but the earth-worms so common and 
so benefioially active in Europe, seem to be 
absent from, or very rare on, estates. We 
do not suppose that the existence and ac- 
tion on some lowcountry estates of white- 
ams are oonsidered in the light of oompensaiion. 
In the absence of the soil-digesting and tube- 
forming worms, tilth by means of agricultural 
implements would seem to be the more impera- 
tive. But here are several of our most ex- 
perienced tea planters asserting that they have 
seen no good results, from forking of the 
soil on their estates 1 All our preconceived 
ideas having been in favour of the mere 
stirring of the soil, even without the burying of 
pruninga or the application of manure, we are, 
we confess, unwilling to abandon them, even 
on such testimony as that of ‘‘ C, S. A.,” 
” T. 0. 0.” and other men of equal experience, 
The stiRuess of our soils, which enables 
them to so great an extent to resist wash, 
surely renders tillage the more neoessary ? As re- 
gards coffee cultivation and the good effects of 
merely opening up the soil, there is the famous 
case on reoord. A planter dug the usual boles 
for manure, which he expected the Colombo Agency 
house to deapatch. For some reason the supply 
of manure never arrived and the holes were loft 
open, except for the loose soil washed back into them. 
I'he following crop was one of the best ever gathered on 
the estate. We should like to see the question of 
forking tea soil further disoussed by such planters as 
‘‘G, A. D.,” “ T. M.,” ‘‘A. L. 0.” and others, and 
reasons given for what is undoubtedly a heresy in 
general agriculture, before we give in our adhesion to 
the now faith. What will Dr. Yoelgker.s&y to the ciis' 
