74 ESSAY ON FUEL PLANTATIONS. 



vertical habit of growth by trimming occasionally. With 

 care most trees can be drawn up. Something must now be 

 said of the making of charcoal which is always worth 

 30 rupees a ton, for that which is really good. This price 

 gives nearly 6 rupees a ton for the wood without carriage, 

 the extra labour for making charcoal being met by the 

 saving in cost of carriage; for instance, 4 tons of wood = 32 

 rupees, minus carriage of 3 tons = 4-8-0, this goes to pay 

 for making the charcoal which, made in the native fashion, 

 is fearfully destructive of jungle.* I shall show the proper 

 way to make it, by which mode 4 tons of wood produce 1 ton 

 of charcoal, and it may be here observed that the calorific 

 powers of various kinds of charcoal differ quite as much 

 as wood. It may be laid down as a rule, that the heaviest 

 woods produce the best charcoal, sal weighing 90 Ibs. a cubic 

 foot makes the best. Charcoal requiring to be made in dif- 

 ferent places, it is better to have a portable kiln rather than 

 bring the wood to a permanent structure. The kiln is made 

 of sheet iron; it is 9 feet high, 10 feet in diameter at bottom 

 and 5 feet at the top; at the bottom 1 foot from the ground 

 are a number of circular holes 6 inches in diameter, closed 

 with sliding doors; there is a circular hole in the top closed 

 in the same manner. When the fire is well alight below, 

 the holes are closed one by one, and when the fire has got 

 to the top, that hole is closed. All chinks are carefully 

 plastered over, the kiln remains closed four or five days 

 until all signs of fire have departed. It is then opened out; 

 first the top is taken off, then the sides are unbolted, and 

 the whole of the contents on being laid bare are found to 

 be a mass of charcoal of the best kiud. A stack of wood is 

 built in another suitable place, the kiln set up and bolted 

 together. In this way with half-a-dozen kilns going, a 

 large amount of churcoal may be turned out, with but small 

 loss. The cost of the iron kilns is heavy, about 150 rupees: 

 they will last many years. In the balance sheet prepared, 



* Colonel Beddome, in a roport to Government, February 1876, No. 302, 

 writes >f "7 *>r 8 loads of wood to make a ton of charcoal." Probably he 

 meant 7 or 8 tons of wood. 



