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Available Foreign Hardwoods 



FIFTH ARTICLE 

 COMMERCIAL HARDWOODS FROM BURMA AND INDIA 



Editor's Note 



Following is the fifth o£ a series of articles on foreign haiawoods available for use in this country. Tlie first coTcrod 

 hardwoods available In the Central American countries: the second covered hardwoods available In South American 

 countries ; the third covered hardwoods of Africa ; the fourth covered hardwoods of Ceylon, and the sixth will cover 

 hardwoods of Hawaii. 



India is generally considered as a country having a vast area covered 

 •with extensive tropical forests. It is true there are hardwood forests 

 along the coast which are practically impenetrable, and large areas 

 of the finest timber trees in the world are found in many parts of 

 India. For centuries the timber trees of India have suffered destruc- 

 tion by axe and fire, and there was danger at one time that the whole 

 country would become barren, because a country without forests is 

 likely to be afSicted with alternate floods and droughts. The work 

 of protecting the forests was therefore begun in India in about 1814, 



L.NLOAUINC LOUS BY HAND 



which has been gradually extended and is now placed on a thoroughly 

 scientific basis. 



The area of government forest land now under protection amounts 

 to about 240,000 square miles, or about one-fourth of entire British 

 India. Practically all of Burma is state land and a more or less 

 continuous belt of government forests occurs along the Himalayas. 

 In India proper there are extensive stretches of forests scattered 

 through the central provinces, as well as along the Coroinandel and 

 Malabar coasts. These forests are now guarded against fire, and 

 trained foresters see to it that there is no waste in cutting and that 

 smaller trees are not destroyed. They provide for the maintenance 

 of seed-bearwig trees and the reforestation of regions denuded of 

 trees. Forest revenue is raised by the sale of timber or other produce 

 and by the issue at specified fees of permits to graze cattle, or to cut 

 timber, make charcoal, gather firewood, bamboos, canes, and other 

 minor forest products. 



This valuable asset of 240,000 square miles of forest land which 

 may hereafter be furtlier extended in Burma and India proper is now 

 being systematically preserved. This means that there are in India 

 practically for all time public forests which would completely cover 

 an area twice as large as England, Scotland, and Ireland. Outside 

 of these reserves are immense tracts in private hands, the timber of 

 which is mane available. The mountain slopes of the western ghauts 

 are still covered with the splendid vegetation of virgin forests of the 

 tropics, and include among the many woods used largely for domestic 

 purposes such important timbers exported to Europe and America 

 as teak, ebony, ironwood, Indian maliogany (padouk) and sandalwood. 



Burma, including the Andaman Islands, has a large tract of its 

 timberland reserved, and enormous bodies of virgin forests occur 

 here. The bulk of the timber which comes to the English and Ameri- 

 can markets from the East Indies is derived from the extensive for- 



—20— 



ests which grow along the banks of the Irrawaddy river, and on the 

 Andaman Islands. Here the rainfall is 120 inches annually, but the 

 sawmills run all year round. There are a great many mills now 

 operating and they all cut teak {Tectona grandis) wherever it can 

 be obtained. Elephants and caribous haul the logs to the landing 

 places. The elephants are indispensable in any logging operation, 

 beqause they roll the logs into the water and bring them out o.f the 

 water and place them on the carriages and later deliver the sawed 

 material on the docks where they are loaded for shipment. Teak 

 wood has a steady market in all parts of the world and is usually 

 sold by the weight. It weighs about 47 pounds per cubic foot and 

 is sometimes sold for 2 cents per pound, or about $1.00 per cubic foot. 



One writer on Indian timbers states that the teak is probably the 

 best known of all tropical woods. It has a wider range of usefulness 

 than any other and has become the standard for estimating the value 

 of other woods from the rest of the world. Other woods surpass it 

 for special purposes, but for general utility there is none to equal 

 it. Moreover, the way in which it adapts itself to cultivation on 

 comparatively poor soil makes it certain that it can maintain a place 

 in the world's market indefinitely. 



The timber in Burma is owned entirely by the government and 

 the forest land is leased to the millmen at a certain rate per log, 

 which is imposed by government agents as the timber floats down 

 the rivers. A diameter limit is followed in cutting teak, which is 

 the most valuable timber now cut on an extensive scale. But even 

 with this restriction, teak is growing scarcer and more valuable each 

 year. With all of its desirable qualities, which make it so useful 

 for a great many purposes, it is almost a wonder that the species has 

 not been entirely obliterated during the long period of years it has 

 been exploited. The fact remains, however, that it reproduces itself 



ELEniAXTS UNLOADING LOGS 



very rapidly, and the new trees become valuable within two hundred 

 years from the seedling. Although the trees do not grow in groups, 

 l)ut seldom more than from one to four merchantable trees to the 

 acre in a virgin tropical forest, there are many young trees coming 

 up which grow rapidly. Even in Burma, where teak attains its best 

 development, it forms onlj' a very small proportion of the forest trees, 

 tlie greater part of which consists of various trees, mostly growing 

 much faster than teak and much more able to propagate themselves 

 by natural means, but almost all of which are, in comparison with 

 teak, at present of very little or no value. 



