MANAGEMENT OF TEAK FORESTS. 29 



The Carpenter Bee or " Xylocopa" attacks Burma Teak 

 which has no oil. 1 never knew it attack Malabar Teak 

 though it bores through the hardest woods, such as Sal, 

 Hardwickia, biuata, Jamboolauum, &c., &c. To prove if 

 Teak has oil iu it, the carpenter simply inserts his chisel, 

 and by the faint appearance of oiliness on the tool, ascer- 

 tains the fact. 



Ship-buiiders complain of the quality of the timber they Girdling Teak, 

 get from Pegu. Whether the trees stand an extra year 

 after killing, or whether they remain seasoning in a ship- 

 building yard after being squared, for a year or two, the 

 result will probably be much the same. 



We must look beyond this to find out the real cause of Losa of oil. 

 the loss of certain valuable qualities in Teak complained of. 



When this circular came to me, iu 1866, I pointed out that 

 girdling was the real cause of Teak, being brittle and devoid 

 of oil, for if the sap descends by the capillary tribes, so does 

 the oil. That if a tree is felled and lies horizontally for 

 years, the oil does not escape, but the sap is evaporated out. 

 That girdling trees was tried on the Anamallies in 1858 and 

 proved a failure as the tree would not split, and the axemen 

 could make nothing of it. I am aware that in Burma, they 

 girdle Teak, because if felled and left on the ground for two 

 years, it would be liable to catch fire, and Teak does not float 

 until it has been seasoned at least two years hence the rea- 

 son of girdling but nevertheless it ruins the timber. 



It has been a well known fact for fifty years and more 

 that Malabar Teak is superior to Burma, the chief reason 

 being that Malabar Teak had retained its oil, whereas Burma 

 Teak had lost it. It was supposed at one time that Burma 

 Teak trees were tapped for oil. That Malabar Teak is not 

 better than Burmese in other respects, for probably Atterau 

 Teak grown in Burma is equal to any Teak if uugirdled. 



