430 SOCIETY OF ARTS CONFERENCE. [April 



THE SOCIETY OF AIITS CONFERENCE. 



THE discussion following the reading of a paper is now 

 recognised as perhaps the most prominent feature in the 

 meetings of our scientific societies. A subject such as that 

 discussed by Mr. Simraonds on the 20th of last month, before the 

 Indian section of the Society of Arts, on " The Teak Forests of India 

 and the East, and our British Imports of Teak," is better handled 

 by a multitude of experts than by a solitary essayist. Practical 

 points are brought out from personal experience, -which no amount 

 of careful compilation can elucidate. For this reason alone, we 

 meanwhile pass by Mr. Simmonds' valuable array of closely- 

 compacted facts, taking up the discussion before the paper. 



Colonel Beddome,in answer to an inquirj^, said the annual increment 

 in the growth of teak, in the Malabar plains, increased steadily to 

 60 or SO years at least. This tree continued growing up to 80 

 years, and probably to 120. The difference between Burmah teak 

 and that from j\Ialabar was that one was girdled. In Burmah, the 

 trees were girdled a year before they were felled, so that they 

 might float, and being a year in that state, all the sap ran out, anil 

 the wood was of a less density, and of far less value for dockyard 

 purposes. He believed that was the only difference. The soil had 

 nothing to do vvitli it, and certainly not the rainfall, for wherever 

 this tree grew there was a large rainfall. The girdling was only 

 stopped because they did not want the timber. The forest there 

 was so unhealthy that it was impossible to look after the timber for 

 a year when felled, therefore it was girdled ; its specific gravity 

 would not allow it to float the same year it was felled. 



The Chairman asked if Colonel Beddome would say anything 

 about the Eumhjptas plantations. 



Colonel Beddome said the growth of teak was very rapid 

 compared to that of oak. For the first thirty years the trees grew 

 chiefly upwards ; after that time they began to swell much in liulk. 

 In the sapling stage he calculated the growth was about 1 to 2 

 cubic feet a year ; but after thirty years the growth was immensely 

 accelerated, and they have been known to add as much as 5 cubic 

 feet in one yeai-. 



The Eucalyptus Globulus grew nearly four times as fast as the 

 teak, reaching 100 feet in five or six years. The plantations of 

 it were on the extension of the Mysore plateau 7000 to 8000 

 feet above the sea, the climate being quite temperate, and the soil 



