348 The Jozirnal of Forestry. 



timber more defective, whereas a green tree felled sustains little or no 

 damage by its fall, and planks cut from it are much more sound. 

 Dr. Cleghorn, in his Third Eeport on the Madras I'orests, says that 

 the custom of ringing the tree before felling has been advocated on 

 the ground that the seasoning is thereby expedited, and also more 

 thoroughly effected. This is doubtful, at least in oil-containing trees 

 (as teak). It is said to increase the hardness of the wood, and wood- 

 cutters object to fell girdled trees on this account, and heartshake is 

 believed to be increased. INIajor Morgan, in the Madras Forest 

 Eeport, says that girdling teak has long been given up ; it makes the 

 wood brittle, and deprives it of its oil. Captain Beddome, in 

 Appendix II. of the Madras Forest Eeport, states that the system of 

 girdling has been put a stop to as unnecessary. Captain Beddome 

 also writes to the Madras Government, with reference to the Forest 

 Eeport of British Burmah, that in Madras girdling had long been 

 given up as a grand mistake, it so increases the heartshake, and other- 

 wise impairs the quality of the timber. Girdled teak is generally sold 

 in the Malabar market at a discount of 50 per cent, upon green felled 

 teak. Colonel Eamsay does not approve of girdling because the 

 operation is difficult to superintend, and the trees must be felled the 

 next year to avoid risk of fire. Many thousands of trees were 

 destroyed in the Gurhwal forests from having been girdled. But he 

 adds, "The theory is good, but in these forests the practice is too 

 dangerous to be adopted." In another letter he remarks that " as soon 

 as the sap is arrested by this process, and the tree begins to die, it is 

 attacked by the carpenter bee, which deposits eggs in the bark, and 

 in a short time the outer part of the wood becomes perforated with 

 innumerable small holes ; time only is required to allow these little 

 insects to render the tree worthless. I now prohibit girdling 

 altogether." Mr. Leeds, in the British Burmah Forest Eeport, is of 

 opinion that girdling exposes the timber to two years' jungle fires, and 

 thus risks its loss or damage ; also that, owing to the brittle state of 

 the timber when felled, a very large proportion of the finest timber is 

 lost, which is shattered by the fall. Dr. Brandis thus comments on 

 the above: — " The practice of allowing killed timber to season, standing 

 exposed to a free current of air on all sides, was not, as has sometimes 

 been supposed, introduced from the forests on the continent of 

 Europe. It is purely a Eoman practice, and is probably the best 

 mode of seasoning teak known in this climate. The wood of a tree 

 which has been felled green dries very slowly ; that which is left 

 standing after killing dries more rapidly and thoroughly. That the 

 wood becomes brittle I do not think has been proved, and the hard- 

 ness of the wood is not increased to such a degree as to cause incon- 

 venience in working." Dr. Brandis then goes on to recapitulate 



