116. TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
expansive tendency be checked it soon runs into branches 
instead of forming the clean, straight bole desirable in a timber- 
tree. In the close canopy of the forests the deodar seeds rather 
sparsely, and the best seed-bearers are those occupying sunny 
spots on ridges, whence the winged seeds are wafted for some 
distance by wind, when the cones break up and drop their 
scales during warm, dry weather in the months of October and 
November, about a year after the flowering. The male and 
female flowers are sometimes, though not usually, found on 
the same trees, but a really good seed-year only occurs once 
in four or five years. On these occasions, in suitable localities, 
the growth of young seedlings is abundant and rapid, unless 
they are choked by rank grass and weeds, or checked in 
growth by severe drought, cattle, or forest fires. They can 
bear a fair amount of shade, though it is best to assist their 
development by means: of lopping branches and girdling trees 
of inferior kinds. In order to produce the best class of wood 
for railway sleepers, it has to be kept in fairly close growth, 
and careful thinnings can only be made when once it has 
completed its main growth in height. The rate of growth 
and the dimensions attainable vary greatly in different localities. 
In the corridor of the Imperial Forest School at Dehra 
Din, there stands a magnificent cross-section of a Kumaon 
deodar, 23 feet in girth, and showing 665 annual rings. 
Numerous trees have been found between 30 and 36 feet in 
girth, but the largest known is one at Kuarsi, in the valley 
of the Ravi river, measuring 44 feet in girth at 2 feet and 36 
feet at 6 feet up; while heights of 216 and even 240 feet have 
been recorded. Even in good localities, however, the tree is 
at its best for timber when it reaches about 12 feet in girth, 
while in less suitable situations its maturity is attained at about 
g to ro feet. Under the forest working-plans the average girth 
of the mature trees may be taken as between 7 and 8 feet, 
attained at an age of 140 to 165 years, while the average 
number of narrow-gauge sleepers converted from each such 
tree varies from 50 to 70. The chief means of maintaining 
and increasing the supplies of this very valuable timber-tree 
is to cut out a large number of the other trees, or to kill them 
by girdling if not marketable, and work up the soil; and after 
a good seed-year has produced a rich crop of young seedlings, 
the whole of the area is gradually cleared and blank spaces filled 
