394 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTUHI8T. [December i, 1891, 
Isyan stations were not suffioient. For railway 
sleepers the red dun (not only native but 
peouliar to Ceylon) is the favourite j but other 
timbers are being tried ; and, with Ool. Olarke wa 
believe strongly in the value of the ubiquitous 
and otteo gigantio kimbuk. Mr. Brown states : — 
Iiistr lotions were eeut to the foilowing Provincns 
to saw '.‘(X) experimental sleepers of esoh of tbs follow 
ing kind.i 
\V. PaoviNOB, — A.lubo, etaberibaliya, bakmi, and 
dawata. 
K. PnoviNOS. — 'Purnpalai, kon, naval, palai, ohomel- 
panicho, kokatiys. 
N.-W. PnovtucE.— Timbiri, kinkon, tammana, go- 
d.apara. 
Amongst these and others, we cannot doubt that 
excellent wool lor railway and other purposes oan 
be found. 
The famous ebony of Ceylon being a purely 
cabinet or ornamental wood, it may be inti resting 
to notice the proportion in which other limbers are 
in demand i aalinwood, which is both a cabinet 
and a etruotural wood and others which are whoMy 
or almost wholly devoted to useful purposes ns 
distinguished from ornamental. Until rcoently the 
run, both for home use an I for export has been 
on HalmilU, Satinwood, Palu or Pollai, Milla, Na, 
Banl or Weweranai, Bun, and a few others. But 
the value of other timbers, such as Kumbuk, 
Alubo, Dawata, Kon, Tammana, Codapara, dru., is 
gradually being appreciated The properiionaio 
demand indicated in the felling operations of the 
Forest Department in 1890, is thus shewn 
PiX 2 
n » □ 
Vkrnacular anu 
POI’IILaR NAMh.S. 
as A 
2 » 3 
^ H 
x ^ *1 
p H Ui 
'A 
4.MO 
OJ 
2.010 
MafROida uiul llulaii- 
Jjli 
hik (itoth allied to 
!Jit‘ Tcod) ... 
l/'27 
68 
Nadun aud Ubriya 
ooa 
(i aMuet woodo)' ... 
52 
462 
Jttk ... 
41 
Plhimbiya 
uO 
418 
Mihiriya 
2.> 
8?4 
Hal 
20 
•JHl 
Mi aud Wanami 
17 
Other species* 
3,263 
Total ... 
15,8>0 
U7 
— 
144 
VERNAClILAn AMI) 
Popular Namhr. 
HaltuilU 
Stbt>n*woo(l ... 
Palai or I’alu 
Milla 
Ma (irou wood) 
Ranai or Wewtjraoai 
Duu 
MentiO'a and Tum- 
pfclai 
Kina aud Domba ... 
Kumbuk “• 
Domba and Nara\ 
(th« latter tholMdba* 
dan of the Sinha< 
leFe) 
of °whioh 8,292 were' dry and 7.394 green trees. 
Our readers will, of course, note that the above 
tiguree refer only to legitimate fellirgs by the 
forest olUcera. Mioit Kllings and fulling of trcee 
on private pcopertiis aie lelt cut of view, and we 
should suppose a goad deal of the original and 
coppice growths out for luel, boih in Croverii' 
meat and private forests. Far mure jak and 
some other trees grown around native houses or 
in private or village cbenas are u.iiized than the 
quantities shown by the loroet deparlmont. The 
palmira trees out down, chitlly for export to 
• On an uujiistidalily ci ravugaut nse or rather 
niieuee of the fine uabieet wood nttfaw, we quoie a 
naraeraph from Mr. Bcouu’a report At Ramapura 
a new post office, the design uf Mr. Spwmr. u being 
built entirely of neduu timi e ■. It fleeina to I e a gro.it 
pity to use neduo. wlnai i» a raoM y. bnible c.biaet 
weidaiid is daily b. eomh.g vcarcer. fb ■ qu ai.ii 
ia wtio sanotiouert Mr. Sp-'Cnm a cxpa.sive wht.e f 
The two together onght to be made <o pay -he d.ffor- 
enoe between llio cost of neciin and good orilin.ry 
timber. — Mr. Bitun’s remark that ue 1«ii is beoi'miog 
eoarce reminds ua that ecainmaudor’ wood (kaiu- 
mediriya), a neir reiaiive of ebony but much more 
beautiiul i a almost extinct, Ooght not nurseries aud 
plantations of suoh valnable trees to be formed ? 
India, as rafters and reepers, must be almost 
exclusively from private property, and wa are greatly 
eonoerued to find Mr. Broun oontomplating the 
gradual extinotiou of this moat valuable timber, 
without iudioating that the forest department 
intends to make any special effort to prevent 
what would bo a real loss to the Colony aud a 
moat serious misfortune to the poor people 
of the Norlhern Provinoo whose livelihood so largely 
dep.inda on the varied and valuable produots of the 
palmira palm. The export of palmlri laths and 
rafters seems to be diraioishing, not beoause the 
people have beoome more aliva to the duty oi 
preserving the trees as food yielders, but beoause 
oonlinued felling without oorresponding planting 
has rendered suitable trees soaroa. The export 
figures for 1889 and 1890 were ; 
1889 Palmira laths and rafters 
1890 do do 
296.484 
263,090 
Decrease 88,394 
We suppose the new induatry of preparing fibres 
from the leaves may in some measure oorapensato 
for tho islbng-off, but the whole question of 
palmira ouUure dejorves tho most earnest 
attention of the forest department and of tho 
administrative officers of the northern and 
drier portions of the island. A communiuat'on we 
recently publiehed ehewed that tho jungles in the 
pertiona of the Jaffna Peninsula adj;'ining the 
“ mainland,” aud perhaps well into the mainland, 
are full of palmira plants, which only 
require the clearing away of useless growths, 
such as inferior thorny aoaoias, and the admis- 
sion of light and air, to flourieh. Mr, Broun 
dwells on the usefulncsa of a timber which has 
been found to last ten years. Thorn are palmira 
rafters and reepers in houBPS at Jalltia and else- 
where, built in tho Dutob time, which are known to 
be considerably more than a century old and which 
are still unaffected by decay. We submit that 
the conservation and propagation of a tree 
so valuable as a eugar, fruit, root, and fibre 
yielder, and which at maturity yields a build- 
ivg material which cannot be Burpansoil, deserves 
immediate and most serious attention. It is 
unfortunate that in the Customs accounts 
only a few of tho timbers exported are distin- 
guished by their names. In 1890, no fewer than 
4,208 packages, 7,781 logs and 928,403 “ number ” 
are lumped up as “ woods of sorts.” As this is 
an important and increasing branch of our com. 
meroe, we submit that the time has onme when 
the "woods of sorts" ehould bn sorted and 
tabulated by their vernionlar or popul.ir nsnies. 
The natives generally know these, and should the 
Oustoms officers experience any difficulty, they oan 
readily obtain aid in identification from tho 
forest department, in connection with which 
a herbarium- and museum of timber specimens 
has made giod progrose. “ Timber dye- 
wood and ro; t,” of which 10 paokagee and 
l,43u U'vt. were exported in 1890, must have 
been nearly all sappan wood, and yet sappan 
wood 18 given separately at 2,774 owt. and 26 
packages Of ebony tho exports last year were 
9,709 cwt. The exports aro chiefly to China • and 
our rcatlers may reeoll^et that Ool. ('hrko re- 
slriolfd ea’cB n, order to raise the market prioo 
'P “ rnte. Mr. Broun nocniratniis 
tho telling and sale of a moJernto tinantUy 
yearly. Salinwood, the Bpecifia gr.ivity oi which 
IS not much under that of eb -ny, is, like tint 
weight, the quantity exported 
in 1899 being 300 owt., 2,179 logs and 58 "num- 
ber. Of ironwood 650 logs and 81 " number" 
were rent away. Ot our Lost aud must geuei'uUy 
