TECTONA 



GRANDIS 

 Teak 



THE TEAK-WOOD TREE 



Trees to Acre. 

 Age. 



Yield. 



Profit. 



Tar. 



Dye. 

 Oil. 



Wood. 



Theory of 

 Durability. 



Great Age. 

 Weight 



Does not rust 

 Iron. 



Uses. 



Carving. 



Trade. 



large timber can be extracted ; (3) to fell and not girdle trees attacked by 

 epiphytic Ficus; (4) to continue taungya plantations with energy, and 

 to weed such plantations regularly ; (5) to sow or plant up areas of flowered 

 bamboo ; (6) to pay much attention to creeper-cutting." According to 

 P. Lushington (I.e. 67-8), the method adopted in the Nilambur plantation 

 is " a system of high forest with a clean felling of the final crop and artificial 

 regeneration. The felling to be accompanied by thinnings with a view to 

 the improvement of the final crop. The felling to commence not earlier 

 than the year in which the average girth at breast-height will be 6 feet 

 6 inches. The measurements taken show that the centre girth will not be 

 less than 4 feet 6 inches. On first-class soil the final crop should consist 

 of not less than forty trees, and on second-class of not less than fifty per 

 acre." Lushington further states " the age of exploitability has been 

 found out to be 95 years on first-class, and 140 years on second-class soils." 

 " The total yield per acre on first-class soils is 3,000 cubic feet per acre, 

 and on second-class 2,000 cubic feet per acre. The annual yield, if spread 

 over 50 years, will be 147,910 cubic feet of first-class and 73,780 cubic feet 

 of second-class timber. According to the present market this will fetch 

 not less than Rs. 3 per cubic foot standing for first class, and Rs. 2 per 

 cubic foot for second class. The total revenue to be derived will, therefore, 

 be Rs. 4,43,730 and 1,47,560 Rs. 5,91,290, or with the net profit derived 

 from miscellaneous sources such as third-class bamboos, etc., may safely 

 be fixed at 6 lakhs per annum." 



Minor Products. A somewhat liquid, black tar may be prepared by destruc- 

 tive distillation of the wood ; this is used for medicinal purposes in South India 

 and Burma. The leaves yield a dye, of which little is known, and are employed as 

 food for the tasar silkworm (p. 1005). An oil is also extracted from the wood, 

 used in Burma as a medicine and as a substitute for linseed-oil in painting. 



Wood. Teak owes its value chiefly to its great durability, ascribed to 

 the fact that it contains a large quantity of fluid resinous matter, which 

 fills up the pores and resists the action of water. As manifesting its dura- 

 bility, mention may be made of the fact that the great umbrella over the 

 Htee in the Karli cave is still in existence, though it is most probably at 

 least two thousand years old. Gamble observes that the weight may be 

 taken at approximately 45 Ib. per cubic foot and the value of P (the co- 

 efficient of transverse strength) at 600. When quite fresh teak hardly floats, 

 but when seasoned it floats easily. The oil in the wood prevents its getting 

 waterlogged, and seems also to safeguard it against weevil and other 

 timber-boring insects. It is specially valued because it does not rust 

 the iron with which worked up. It is exported chiefly for shipbuilding, 

 especially for the decks of vessels, for the construction of railway carriages, 

 and for the best class of house-carpentry, being admirably suited for stair- 

 cases, balustrades, door and window frames and furniture. In India it is 

 used for all purposes of house- and ship-building, for bridges, railway- 

 sleepers, furniture, shingles, etc. It is used for carving, the Burmese 

 carved teak- wood being especially noted ; in Burma itself carved "kyaungs," 

 or monasteries, are prominent in almost every village of any import- 

 ance (Gamble, I.e. 532). The ease with which teak-wood lends itself to 

 carving has, in fact, originated special art conceptions ; these may be 

 learned by perusal of the observations on this subject recorded in Indian. 

 Art at Delhi in 1903 (100, 124, 129, 135-40). 



Trade. Grave apprehensions have on more than one occasion been 

 expressed that the diminished supply and high prices of late years favour 



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