396 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURI87 
[December i, 1891 
Ag regards the forests set apart for tho railway fuel 
supply between Mirigama aud Ambepaesa, the eurveye, 
are still being made, but there has bom unaoooautaMe 
delay in starling the cheuai. I hear that a block of 
land, some 300 acres in extent, Ims be.n subdivided 
into a nnmbor of plots, and hope that this year at last 
the work will be taken in hand. 
The opening and keeping open of boundaries 
involves, as may well bo supposed, much difficulty, 
the total length already being no less than 1,180 miles, 
Mr. Broun desiderates straight boundaries for re- 
served forests. Enumeration surveys, that is tho as- 
oertainiog of the numbers of trees of different sizes, dtc. 
in forest areas, aro needed. We have already alluded 
to the disappointing results obtained from a small 
operation by Mr. Huddleston, and Mr. Broun thus 
comments on tlio astonishing figures ; — 
If the enumeratioos are a good sample of the Trinco- 
nialee forests, these are extremely poor, for first 
olasd trees (sound aud uDsouud), whioh from the 
majority of the exploitable stock, do not amount to 
1 l-Sth tree per acre. In epite of tbie small number of 
exploitable trees those of smaller clsssoti are also ex- 
ceedingly Boaroe, the number of fourth class poles 
beiug most scanty. The report speaks of oee or two 
“ favoured nooke|where there is some good stock, ebony 
being found fairly abundantly in one patch, while palai 
forms an almost gregarious forest about one square 
mile in extent at a iffaoe not far from Kantalai. 
Tbia shows that the Trinoomalee feresta have been 
most severely overworked in former times, and that 
(bey should be now dealt with with great care and 
caution. 
Alluding to proteotion of forests Mr, Broun 
states : — 
Hcadmeu of villages are still supposed to carry out 
tho protective duties over the Government forests. 
They carry out their work well or fairly well iu some 
places, but on the whole I think that the employment 
of unpaid headmen as forest police ia a mistake, and 
that paid forest aubordioales should gradually replace 
them as the forests become resoivod. From my own 
experience 1 can say that 1 have come across both 
good and bad, several of the latter having so little 
knowledge of the forests they were supposed to guard 
that they had to keep villagers by .them to show the 
way through the forest. 
It ia somewhat sensational to find the European 
owners of estates charged with annexing Govern- 
ment forest. The report states : — 
One case deserves special meutiou, being one of 
considerable eueroaohment on Crown land by the 
proprieluts of Barra estate near Rakwana. Although 
the boundary was old aud hard to follow, the land had 
remained in the same hands from the time of purohase 
from the OcowD,aud the proprietor could not plead 
ignorance. After a preliminary inquiry* in tho Rak- 
wana Court tho case was settled by compositioo, 
the sum paid being Htillt. Farther encroachments 
are being made by certain estate proprietors, and 
there is now one case under report in the Kegalla 
District which, if proved, deserves severe punishment. 
It is added : — 
Several oases were made very diftteult to prove owing 
to the recent deoision of the Supremo Court, that it 
must be proved that wood removed illioitly has been 
removed from Crown laud. The decision appears to go 
against the spirit of the Ordiauucc , for in section T3 
it is statkl that the onus of the proof lies with the 
accused. This is not dee to an aceidental oversight 
on tho part of legislators, who motcly fallowed the 
example set in Oontinsutal Forest and Hunting Laws. 
Iu these, owing to tho facilities with which an offender 
can escape on accoant of the exteut of the forest and 
the sequestered position of the plaoe where the offeuoe 
has been committed, it has been laid down that the 
proof lies wiih tho acoused. 
The prevention of wasteful ohena cultivation re- 
quites vigilant attention. Direct encouragement, 
as we noticed, has been given to suoh cultivation 
4 J the abolition of the tax, the paragraph referring 
to the matter being as follows : — 
The Assistant Oouservator, Eabaragamuwa, complaius 
that owing to the abolition of the tax on dry gram 
a new impetus has been giveu to eheua cultivaiiou, 
aud that this abolition removes the oviileuou oi Crown 
right to the land, as no lax receipts will in future be 
issued. Ho suggests therefore that uo land be granted 
by the Crown for chons oultivation without the oulli- 
vator beiug bound to drain it and to put a boundary 
drain round it. This would not only presorvo the 
evidence of Qovernmeut right, but tave ihe land from 
losing all its top soil. Tho suggestion of the Assist- 
ant Conservator is, I think, a good one, but a laud 
cettlemont allotting chenaa to esoh village would bo 
muoh more satisfactory. 
Several officers complain that prosecutions against 
illicit chena cultivation are being far too leniently 
dealt with by magistrates, and that they and lUeir 
subordinates are being disheartened by ibis treatment. 
There is no doubt that a fine of SO cents for illicit 
cutting and burning of Governmeot forest is a farce, 
and that it would be mueb better to dismiss a oaee 
than to give the aocused a distmot encouragement to 
go and do more damsge. 
There are interesting details regarding the natural 
remodnotion of forest trees, too long to quote in 
full. The reterenoe to the Southern Frovinoe is, 
however, of special interest ; — 
The Assistant Conservator oomplaius of the reokless 
destrnction of young growth by villagers, who out 
everything, regardless of speoies, tor fence sticks and for 
sale to Indian dealers. 
That valuable plants should be cat down for fence 
etiohs is bad enough, but to devastate the forests 
to supply Indian dealers is a matter whioh re- 
quires stringent intervention, Mr. Broun is em- 
pbatio in the enunoiation of the principle that 
the proper treatment of existing forest with re- 
ference to natural reproduction is the first 
duty of his department, and not the formation 
of plantations of exotic or seecial native trees. 
He adds: — 
Wherever plantations are desirable they should, to 
my mind, be made of considorabla extent. Small 
plantations should be avoided, excepting for experimeu- 
tal purposes, for the cost of labour, supsivbiou, aud 
proteotion is much larger per acre tbau on a largo 
plantation. 
The only plantations of any considorabla extent now 
existing aro the teak obcuas of the Battioaloa district 
These covered at tho end of 1889 639 acres ; but no- 
thing was added during the year under report owing 
to the careless way with which grantees treated the 
plantations under their charge. They have now been 
ordered to take greater care of the seedliogs and to 
inake nurseries to supply vacancies. The Aseistaut 
Consc^ator has seut iu a number of measurements 
taken in )tho ohonas of Tumpalanoholai, Divilaue. and 
Falugauawa. ^ The resnlts aro interesting, inasmu is 
the average girth of the samplea measured is as . li 
as that of trees measured in Indian aud Burman tplaa- 
tatioDS. "OtnjDg is said, however, as to whether tho 
poles measured belong to the average class or whether 
they were dominant or suppressed, nor is anything 
mentioned about the height of the trees nor about 
tho number pet acre. This is important as the poles 
measured may have been standing isolated, and may 
have become developed in girth and in orowu and 
i will be noticed (see table, appendix 
A)tbat the plants measured show rspid growth up to 
about four or five years of age, and that they suddenly 
tall off m moBu annual inoremeut. The cause of 
this IB probably the iluk grass which sptings up 
abundantly as soon as tho oheuaa are aboudoaed. In 
theoBSO oMhe Oivilane plantalions, where tho growth 
appears to be luore vigorous, the growth again improves 
between the eighth aud tenth years, probably owing 
to tho tornmtion of leaf canopy nod oonsequent sup- 
pression of tho grass. i i 
In the Western Province the jak gardens near Miri. 
gama have not yet been extended, but a blook of 200 
aeros has been taken up and divided into plots to be 
