28 MANAGEMENT OF TEAK FORESTS. 



the Anamallies 2,500 W., and in Wynaad up to three thou- 

 sand feet growing well. Teak may be found on light and 

 sandy soils, certainly not in Southern India. Teak does not 

 live on humus, but on clayey sub-soils. I have shown that 

 it is not " tire and early rains" that prevent seed from 

 germinating, but rats and squirrels. A clean cut does not 

 injure the tap root, page 358, Brandis' and Stewart's Flora. 

 A forest cannot be called " small" that produces Teak trees 

 of fifty to seventy cubic feet of timber, such as forty square 

 miles in Wynaad, and over eighty square miles on the 

 Anamallies. The question of " annual rings" was settled 

 long ago. I have explained that the pith is not the cause 

 of heartshake, but that the first made heartwood being not 

 only softer than that made afterwards, but being older is 

 the first to decay, for instance, when the rings are counted, 

 it is found that the first rings are much further apart than 

 the last the first twelve rings will occupy a space of over 

 an inch, the next perhaps only three-quarters, and so on^ 

 until the rings, at one hundred years, almost run into each 

 other. Another curious fact is that the rings on one side 

 of a tree will be wider than those on the other; this is due, I 

 believe to the prevailing wind, ^^^HH^^^ ^ e ex P se( ^ 



i side show- 

 ing slow 

 growth. 

 Article, Teak. Again, it is stated that " quick grown 



Teak" is not the best, I agree with Liudley that fast grown 

 timber is best. In a tree, thirty years old, there is no pith, 



it runs out at six feet from the ground. 

 P^. I have examined trees seventy years old, and found no 



pith and no heartshake. I attribute the freedom from 



heartshake to the trees having escaped fire when young and 



being in their prime. 

 White ants. Much has been said about Teak resisting white ants, it 



does so as long as the oil remains in it, but should lime 



have extracted the oil when built in, it is no longer free 



from attack. 



