A saw-mill has been started at Saninga by a Hamburg company. 
The demand at Zanzibar for planks and beams is so great that the 
supply is inadequate, A few sleepers are also cut and sent to 
Mombasa for use on the Uganda Railway. 
The regulations issued for the preservation of the woods in the 
Usambara Hills have done much to prevent the needless felling of 
valuable timber. Oaks, firs, and other European trees are now 
being planted under the auspices of the Woods and Forests Com- 
mission. Similar regulations will shortly be issued for other parts 
of the colony. In the meantime a ranger has been placed in 
charge of the customs at Moa, and non-commissioned officers, who 
have a knowledge of forestry, have been selected for duty at most 
of the stations in the interior. 
PLANTING AND SCIENCE IN CEYLON. 
In his address at the opening of the Legislative Council on the 
1 8th instant, the Governor of Ceylon, the Right Hon ble Sir JOHN 
West Ridgeway, remarked: — 
Air. Willis, the very able and energetic Director, reports that 
the scientific sub-department has been fully organised, and a large 
amount of work has been carried out by it. The chief desideratum 
in organization is now the further division of the sub-department 
of gardens into the Botanic Gardens proper, and an Experimental 
Garden, where large "experiments may be tried with staples, or with 
plants that may become staples, leaving experiments on the minor 
plants and the cultivation of ornamental plants to the Botanic 
Gardens. By the purchase of Gangaroowa estate, facing the Pera- 
deniya Gardens, an unrivalled site for experimental work has been 
secured, and in future all work with tea, coffee, coco-nuts, cam- 
phor, cinchona, tobacco, fibres, fruits, etc., will be carried on upon 
this site on a scale sufficient for the practical commercial testing 
of the results and products for the information of all interested in 
agricultural enterprise in the Colony. With the Experimental Gar- 
den it is proposed to combine the training of a few students, and 
thus supply the place of the Agricultural School in Colombo now 
closed. The training will be of a strictly practical character, and 
almost entirely out of doors, the garden being worked like an estate. 
The general condition of the crops of the Island in regard to 
diseases is distinctly better than usual. Tins is partly due to the 
work of the Mycologist and Entomologist, who have done much to 
spread a knowledge of the principles of sanitation and of treatment 
of disease in its early stages among planters and others. They 
have reported, mainly by letter, on over 75° cases of disease during 
the year, and have travelled over a large area giving advice and 
help." They have also carried out a large amount of scientific inves- 
tigation into the life histories of insects and fungi, especially those 
which are or may become harmful. Mr. Green has also devoted a 
good deal of attention to the question of mosquitoes and malaria, 
with a view to the discovery of preventive measures against this 
scourge. 
