THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March i, 1898. 
59 ^ 
niafijnesia, makes it often an excellent mannre, 
tlic writer under review refuses to admit that 
it has been piovecl to be a universal panacea. 
Experiment is the sole and linal test to which 
all sufjf'estions, whether emanating from a 
“scientific” or a “practical” source, must be 
referred; and in every ca“e of “sovereign re- 
medies” a trial is ])ossible, by manuring a 
strip of a field, and leaving an_ adjoining 
stri;) unmanured. A few months will enable a 
coiiiparis<ui to be made by the eye and also 
by the weight or quantity of croji protluced, 
and then a decision can be arrived at appli- 
cable to a large acreage. 

150I1EU11ESIST11SG WOODS, KANAI, 
JARKAH, &c. 
The Harbour Engineer, Mr. Rostock. _hns been 
expressing his opinion on the value of timber for 
the Ilmlamr Works, and makes special refer- 
ence to the durability of Australian Jarrali 
(Eucalyptus margiuata) and the Ceylon wood 
known as Ramie. We give below some further 
information on this subject : — 
EvNAioi-YavarauaifTamil) isthe Singhalese Wewa- 
rani; Alseodaphne (Pcrsea) semecarpifoliu, a tree 
belonging to the order Lanraceae (the cinna- 
mon family). Dr. Triinen thus refers to it in his 
Flora: — “Forests of the dry region, common. One of 
our best timber trees. The wood is exported from 
Trincomalee ; it is heavy, durable, straight grained, 
p rle grevish-orange, and can be obtained of large size. 
W. Ferg'uson in his “Ceylon TimberTrees” makes men- 
tion of the tree referring to it as Ranee or grain wood 
and draws attention to the reports on the timbers 
of the Wanni and Batticaloa in yealy Dutch 0am- 
pondmm for 1789 “This though long known as a 
valuable timber tree in various parts of the island, 
his only lately become of importance as a timber 
S3nt from Trincomalee to the Commissariat at Colombo. 
It is a common and gigantic forest tree near Batti- 
cdoa and Trincomalee, and is likely to become of 
c msiderabie importance as a Ceylon timber tree of 
value for building and other economical purposes. 
It is of a light yellow color and said not to be liable 
to warp. Some spiecimeus of it that I worked 
noon had the grain much confused; but in general 
it*" has a free straight grain and is easily worked. 
Logs of large dimensions of it can be procured from 
Trincomalee, it has been exported for some years 
past under its native name of Yaverne. Mr. C. A. 
Krickenbeek, who was stationed for some years at 
Batticaloa, informs me that the wood of the Raue 
resist the attacks of the teredo and wood-boring in- 
sects, and that it is consequently much used in that 
district in the construction of boats, etc. I beg to 
offer my best thanks to Messrs. Morris and Saunders, 
Government Agent and A.ssistant, and to Captain 
Watson, of the Commisariat Department at Trinco- 
malee, and to Messrs. Grinlintou and Birch of 
Batticaloa, for the very obliging manner in which 
they supplied me with specimens both in flower and 
fruit of this tree, besides useful facts, and which en- 
abled me to thus identify the plant botanically. I 
am fortunate in having Mendis Mudaliyar’s original 
dried specimen of this plant No. 95. ‘ Wea Waene ’ 
from the Central Province and called “ Crataeva 
Roxburgliii ” and thongli not in flower, I have no 
doubt of its being identical with the tree now 
described. \i'ood used for house building and 
pestles, Mendis. Excellent wood and much used 
at Tri'noomaiee as a substitute for deal — Wright.” 
Mr Alexander, late of the P’orest Department, says 
in his Timber Trees of the Central Province that 
the tree affords most excellent useful wood, which 
weighs 52 lb. per cubic foot. Another late member 
of the Forest Department, writing of tlie timbers of 
the Nortliern Province, speaks of Ranai as ‘ a 
common and frequently a very large tree in this 
province, and has a reputation of being a very 
valuable timber on account (amongst other qualities) 
of its resisting the attacks of the teredo and wood- 
boring insects; bowever, this may be in other parts, 
it certainly is not true of it in this province as 
regards the attacks of wood-boring insects, as my 
OW'D experience here is that the tree is very subject 
to such attacks. Only last month (October 1891) in 
felling telegraph posts, I found in 27 trees, 18 of 
them utterly useless ou account of their being 
riddled with wood-borers. It is true that these 
trees were more or less suppressed trees, and perhaps, 
under more favourable circnmstauces they escape 
the attacks of insects. I have seen felled trees of 
5 feet girth without defects. It is a good timber 
and extensively used for various purposes.’ 
In the “ Ceylon Forester ” for February 1895 
occurs the following note about Ranai It attains 
a height of .50 feet and seldom branches under 18 
or 20 feet. Logs of 30 feet in length are not 
uncommon. It does not attain a very great girth, 
seldom if ever exceeding 8 feet in circumference. . . . 
The wood is a light brown, is much used iu house 
building, and also for bridge planks. It realizes 
90 cents to R1T2 per cubic foot. There is a large 
supply available for future use. Unfortunately it is 
very liable to be attacked when growing, by a 
beetle, the kniuminiya, of the Sinhalese, wliicb 
bores holes in it, and trees apparently sound are 
often found full of these holes.” 
In the Kew Bulletin (Nos. 82-83 of 1893) is pub- 
lished some correspondence with reference to the 
use of .Tarral'i timber for paving carriage ways 
and public streets. Among other letters is one 
from the Borough Engineer and Surveyor, St. 
Pancras, to the Royal Gardens, Kew, iu which the 
writer refers to the experiments made by the 
Engineer-in-Chief of the Natal Harbour, which 
showed that the “ Jarrah, Greenheart, and other 
limbers have all been more or less severely attacked 
by the worm, while the Madagascar timbers have 
been practically untouched.” The Engineer of St. 
Pancras Borough, himself speaks to the destruction 
of Jarrah by borers, in his letter. Unfortunately 
the names of the Madagascar timbers referred to 
are not given. 
It will be seen, therefore, that there is a want 
of unanimity among the authorities as regards both 
I Ranai and Jarrah, the merits ot which are being at 
present discussed. 
What of Palu (Mimusops hexaudra) of which 
Mr, Broun, the Conservator of Forests, says: — 
“ Pain is very strong and exceedingly durable. 
I was informed that some ipiles put in at Mannar 
during the time of the Dutch, were taken out some 
six years ago, and were almost as good as when 
they were put in. The hardness of the wood, and 
possibly some essential oil which it contains, protect 
it from the attacks of the teredo.” 
I am sending specimens of Ranai and Pain wood.” 
[But, is not the latter timber (Palu) getting very 
scarce ?— Ed. T.A.] 

JAMAICA SORREL {“ HIBISCUS 
SABDARIFFA.”) 
[This grows well in Ceylon. — Ed. T.A,] 
(From the Florida Agriculturist.) 
The fact that my sorrel is hlocmiug freely reminds 
me of a promise to say, through the columns of the 
Agriculturist, something of the methods of using it. 
In the first place then, the edible portion is the fleshy 
calyx that surrounds the seed ball. The pod itself is 
of no value and should not be cooked, but only the 
brilliant red husk that surrounds it. It is ready for 
use at any time after the flower has dropped a week 
until it begins to dry up as the seed ripens. After it 
is picked or cut from the hush take the pod, fruit or 
berry, or whatever you please to call it, between the 
thumb and finger of your left hand, stem end up, 
and with a knife cut off the stem and a little of the 
boll with it. This will enable you to easily remove 
