PERIODICAL LITERATURE 



FOREST GEOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION 



In his enforced leisure as a prisoner during the 



Teak Management World War, Supervisor I. Nirschl summarized 



in Java his extended experience in the Dutch East 



Indies in a book entitled "Die Forstwirtschaft in 



Neiderlandisch — Indien." 



The Dutch control over 736,000 square miles in the East Indies, or 

 an area equal to approximately three times the size of Texas. But the 

 island of Java with the capital at Batavia and its dense population is 

 the most important single unit of these Dutch tropical possessions. 

 The density per square mile is over 700 which puts it on a par with 

 such closely settled countries as Belgium. As a consequence the forest 

 plays an important role both as a Source of fuel and building material 

 and as a protection to the headwaters of the streams needed for 

 irrigation. 



Of the three timber types, teak and acacia on the lower slopes, 

 bamboos and vines on the middle slopes, and oak, laurel and conifers on 

 the upper slopes and ridges, the first is the most important commercially 

 both on account of its accessibility and because it is there that teak 

 grows. This species is valued at home and abroad. Its durable wood 

 is of medium weight and hardness so that it is comparatively easy to 

 work. The fear of exhausting the natural supply led to the intro- 

 duction of forestry in 1849 and Dutch foresters have been notably 

 successful in its culture. The commonest method is to sow the seed 

 after the soil has been used for two or three years for such cultivated 

 crops as pepper, tobacco, tea, etc. Seventeen thousand acres are repro- , 

 duced annually in this way at an average cost of $9 per acre. In the 

 first year the seedlings reach a height of 2 meters. The maximum 

 diameter and height growth are 30 inches and 120 feet respectively 

 while yields of 70,000 board feet per acre have been recorded. The 

 average stand per acre is less than 200 board feet, however, taking 

 natural as well as artificial stands into consideration. The natural 

 regeneration of teak is uncertain because the seedlings have difhculty in 

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