SANDALWOOD PLANTATIONS. 35 



should be taken and put out in the first showers in June. 

 This mode being the best for increasing a natural forest of 

 Sandalwood trees. The process of filling and closing the 

 holes should be the same as for Teak. Within the area of four 

 square miles it will be probably found that two or three 

 hundred acres are suitable for a plantation, if so, advantage 

 should be taken of the establishment to secure their services 

 for a regular plantation. In forming the Vyloor plantation, Sandal planta- 

 I was careful to ascertain the capabilities of the soil for 

 producing Sandalwood of a good quality. I felled a tree 

 near a ravine, it weighed 84Ibs. when clean, stem and roots, 

 the rings showed it to be twenty-five years old, and the 

 heartwood was of first-rate quality. This set at rest the 

 quality of the soil. This tree would probably have reached 

 the age of forty years before it began to decline. The pro- 

 fits of an acre of Sandalwood are so great, that it is well 

 worth a large outlay. Creepers are very destructive to 

 Sandal trees, they should always be cleared away as they 

 bend the heads of the trees, distort the stems, and fre- 

 quently strangle the trees. I give an approximate balance 

 sheet of a plantation of one hundred acres. The only data 

 I have to go upon is the cost of the Yyloor plantations from 

 their commencement. The average price of Sandalwood 

 for many years, and the average yield over twenty-five 

 up to forty years. If we plant 8 x 8, we shall have about 

 seven hundred trees to the acre. We quincunx with nurses 

 which are cut out when the trees begin to approach each 

 other. There are two reasons for planting 8 x 8 one is 

 that it saves watering, a very heavy expense ; the other 

 is that nurses draw up the trees and cause a good 

 straight stem to be the rule it also saves pruning a most 

 important matter. Cassia florida is a fast grower, and 

 makes a good nurse. If rubber trees are used as nurses, 

 then from the fifth to the twentieth year, we should have 



