DECEMBER i, 1891.] the tropical AGRICULTURIST. 
^95 
useful timlir, halmiila, (vuluod in India for 
nun carriagoa and timnar purposoe) 1,651 
logs wore I'sported. Pitces of ;eiik tu the 
“ number " Of S,30d are included in the 
exports. Of cncouut 1 itbs and rafters 100 pack 
ages and 2,2u7 “ number " were euleted fur ex- 
port, with laths and rafters of timbeis nut 
desoribsd T.l.uS packages and 1,593 “ nuuibur,” 
Finally we bare the “ ridioulua mua " of 9 kitul 
laths and rafters. As our forests are demarcated, 
reserved and scieutifioaliy treated, being permeated 
by roads and paths to facilitate not only inspec- 
tion but the easy transit of timber divided into logs, 
deals and scantlings by means of steam saws, theie 
will be supplies of good limber and fuel, suOi- 
cient for all local wants and export demands, 
whioh are certain to expand. Mr. Broun, by 
the way, anticipates the early ability of his de- 
partment to meet all the demands of the railway 
tor luel, leaving private forests available for 
private demands. Tuis will be good news for 
householders in our ouies and for the owners 
and workers of plaotationa and tea factories. 
And this r. minds us of an apparent omission 
from Mr. Braun’s report of any reference to the 
large and urgent fuel demands of the tea planters 
and the best means of supplying them. This must 
be due to inadvertence, eqnally with the diflerent 
modes of spelling the name of one of oar most 
valuable forest trees, — palu and palai. Which is 
it to be 7 Thera are the Tamil names of places, 
Patcbelaipallai (the green home of the pilai tree?) 
and Palai, derived, no doubt, from the tree. Tet 
the general for n io books aud reports, of spelling 
the name of this valuable tree is as certainly palu, 
the Sinhalese form. But as the tree is chiefly prevalent 
in the Tamil distiiots, the Tamil name ought to pre- 
vail. Mr. Bronn, like all bis predecessors, protests 
against the oarelesa and to the tree, as a source 
of timber, most injurious practice of the natives 
of breaking the branches of this valuable tree 
in order to obtain the fruits. 
Now that Mr, Brouu has beeome Uonservator of 
Fotests, wo suppose the olHoo of Deputy Conser- 
vator disappears from the list. The esiabliahment 
then, consisted at the beginuing of 1891 of 
1 Oonsorvator. 
9 Assistant Oonaervators. 
1 Superintendoat railway fuel. 
4 Foresters. 
4 Probationers at Debra Dun. 
The latter have ail, wo believe, returned to the 
island; and wo suppose there will be a reorganization 
of tbe department, in aooordauoa with Mr, Broun’s 
views, whioh seem to be that an Assistant Con- 
servator for each of the nine Provinoes is not re- 
quired, and that the superior staff ean well be rednood 
aud the money saved applied to the provision of 
better remuneration for the subordinate oflioers. 
although large help from the Surveyor-General’s 
Department is graiefnlly acknowledged, Mr. Broun, 
like every one else, feels the want of a cadastral 
survey of the island. If we are to have a land 
tax in lieu of the grain rent and duties, such a 
survey will become au urgent ueoossity; but unless 
the .Survey stall is inoroased at least four-fold, 
the work will not have been much more than 
begun at the end ol this century, and will require 
the next ior its completion. The report states : — 
Of the surveys undertaken by the Survey De- 
partment the most important are those of the pro- 
posed railway fuel reserves, near Mirigama and Ambe- 
pusaa, which are now approaching completion ; those 
of Pallekelo in the North-Western province, Pallo- 
watta and Yagirala in the Kalutara District, and 
the extension of surveys in liilimalo and the survey 
of the Ixelaui Yaliey iu the Potoviuce of Sabaoia' 
The area of completed surveys amounts this year 
to 72,1.53 acres, or nearly 113 square niilus, including 
villages in the Peak wilderness aud in Pallekele. 
This brings the grand total of completed forest surveys 
.to 194,473 acres, or nearly 303,87 miles. 
'The addition of nearly 113 square miles to the 188 
square miles already surveyed is very satisfactory, 
but still, considering that there are several thousand 
acres to survey and settle, it does appear as if more 
extended operations should be taken in hand, other- 
wise the Forest Department will for long years not 
bo on a settled basis. 
Area reaervid since 1885. — Forest Settlement Ofdcers 
have been somewhat more busy during the year 
under report than before, and a few tinal Proclama- 
tions have been made, chieliy in the Province of 
Babaragamuwa, where Bambarabotuwa, Wellankanda, 
Kaduwalakauatla, 'Talawitiya, Hunnwala aud Hnp- 
pitiya forests, covering iu the aggregate an area of 
over 22,0lKJ acres, have been finally proclaimed as 
reserved forests. But much remains to bo done, and 
the Survey Department complains that unless the 
work of reservation is carried ou somewhat quicker 
the survey lines will soon become obliterated, and 
much expeuse will be incurred in making fresh ones. 
At present the area of reserved forests is as follows : — 
Up to 1890. During 1890. Total. 
Acres. 
Acres, 
Acres. 
Central Province . 
. 852» 
s • — 
862 
North-Western Pro- 
vinca 
,. 132 
. . 892 
1,024 
Province of Uva . 
. 710 
e 1 — 
710 
Province of Babam- 
gamuwa 
,. 715 
..22,.197t 
23,212 
Total 
2,409 
23,389 
25,798 
Surveys of forests and the 
reserve ol such forests 
are two very different things, as the repoit in- 
dicates : — 
The names of two forests in the Oentrsl Ptovinoe, 
the prelimiuary notidcatious of which appeared iu 1890, 
had already appeared in the OovtriunetU Gazette iu 
1888, but tbe lorest eettlemcut uiadu by the theu 
Forest Settlement UQicor was so little in aocordauco 
with instruciioue laid down iu the Forest OrOinauue 
that it was set aside by Uoverameut. They are the 
forests of Kandapolle, Site iHliya, and I’edruauroudu- 
oya, near Nuwara Eliya. 
The fotorts in the Province of Babaragamuwa, the 
completiou of the resetvatioa of nhtch is still being 
awaited, iuolude oerlaiu forests in tbe Kugaila Uistriot 
aud also the Gidimale forest, a block ul forest of 
over 17,000 acres. In the Bouthecn Province tbe 
forests of the Matara Dislcict argeutiy require reser- 
vation, but although a few prelimiuary uotiheatioua 
have been issued no further steps have been taken. 
Tbe proposed reserves in the North-Western Province 
ere in the (Jbtiaw and Puttalam Districts. 
In Uva the Government Agent has gianlod a site 
in the Usputale reserved lorest to the Uapotale Hall- 
way Extension Department for the purpose or bunding 
bouses for subordiuates. According to the Forest 
Ordinance a prorUiuation should lirst have been pub- 
lished in the Government Gaeette declaring that por- 
tion of the forest to be no longer reserved. Kowever, 
nothing has as yet been done. 
The Couborvator complains that while the zealous 
Government Agent of the Province of Babara- 
gamuwa is obtaining village Bcttlements out of money 
voted for the Forest Department, the reserve of such 
valuable blocks of forest as that of Pallekele in the 
North-Wesluru Province should be delayed. Pre- 
liminary notidcatious of the reserve of 23 forests 
had been published, without the reserves being 
haally proclaimed. 'To quote the report : — 
No working plan has as yet been made, but the 
Nanuoya forests wore worked on the system meuiioued 
in paragraphs 21 aud 22 of the last annual report. 
sjauu ivusumjaioii uruiiiailoe, but doe 
elude Walapane which is not yet smveyod. ° “““ 
t Escluajve of Uunuwala forest, not yet surveyed. 
