Pinus.] LXXVI. CONIFERS. 507 



West India, and grows even at Calcutta. In England requires shelter in winter. 

 Gregarious, forming nearly pure, open forests, often with scanty underwood of 

 Andromeda, Berberis, Rhus Cotinus, and locally at lower elevations, of Carissa 

 diffusa. Fl. Feb.- April; the cones require 12-15 months to ripen; they open and 

 shed their seeds in April or May, but are long persistent afterwards, so that in 

 autumn there are numerous seedless cones on the trees. Ribbentrop (Panjab Arbo- 

 ricult. 178) states that in the Panjab the seed ripens in October, and that the best 

 time to collect seed is to pick the cones from Dec. to March. The leaves gene- 

 rally remain 2-3 years on the branches, the oldest being shed in May and June. 

 Attains 70, and at times 100-110 ft. ; trunk tall, erect, straight, 5-7, rarely 10-12 

 ft. girth. Crown oval when young, rounded when old, extremities of branch- 

 lets turned upwards, foliage of old trees dark, of young trees lighter green. 

 Bark \ in. thick, cut up by deep fissures and cracks into irregularly polygonal, 

 sometimes oblong thick, large grey or reddish plates, inner substance reddish- 

 brown, compact. Wood yellowish, reddish-white or brown, no distinct heart- 

 wood. The weight of seasoned Chir, according to experiments made at Rurki, 

 is 27 lb., and the value of P. 932 (average of 10 exp., extremes 818 and 1084). 

 Experiments made at Almora by Capt. Jones in 1844, and recorded by Madden, 

 give 34-45 as the weight of unseasoned wood felled one month, P==626 (15 exp.), 

 and 36-41 lb. for seasoned timber, P = 545 (5 exp.) The wood is easy to work, 

 and is extensively used in the hills for building roof-trees are said to last two 

 generations in Kamaon also for shingles where slate is not available, at the tea 

 plantations for tea-boxes, and there is a considerable export of it to the plains on 

 several of the Himalayan rivers. On the Sutlej and Bias it is largely employed for 

 the bottoms of boats. As a rule, however, the wood is not durable; t it is attacked 

 by insects, and decays rapidly when exposed to wet. In Kamaon, about Piura, 

 and in several jriaces on the Wardwan branch of the Chenab, a large proportion 

 of the trees have the bark and the fibres of the wood much spirally twisted, in 

 the same way, only to a much greater degree than is often seen in horse-chest- 

 nuts in Europe. The wood of the twisted trees is useless for any purpose save 

 fuel. It has been supposed that the twist is caused by the local winds, but the 

 twisted are often mixed with straight-grown trees, exactly as is the case in an 

 avenue of horse-chestnuts, and their occurrence is confined to particular locali- 

 ties not more exposed to the action of the wind than the neighbouring tracts. 



The Chir probably produces more turpentine and resin than the other Coni- 

 fers of the North- West Himalaya ; it is obtained by making incisions in the 

 stem, or by stripping off the bark. The crude turpentine and resin is called 

 Biroza or gandha ffroza, generally in N.W. India, dhv/p in Oudh, berja or 

 biroja in Garhwal, and hhalja near Simla. The Sanscrit word is kshlra, whence 

 probably the name chir. In a report on the resinous products of the Garhwal 

 Forest Division, of March 1867, R. Thompson states that the quantity of berja 

 annually brought down to the markets at the foot of the hills may be assumed 

 at between 1000 to 1200 maunds of 80 lb. each, at prices varying from 3 to 4^ 

 rupees per mauncl, and he describes the procedure as follows : " Several deep 

 triangular-shaped niches are cut into and around the trunk of the tree. The 

 niches are 12-18 in. long, and 6-8 in. deep. The base of the niche is hollowed 

 out so as to form a sort of receiver for the resin after it exudes. These are 

 emptied out as filled, which takes 10-15 days from the time of first cutting. 

 The receivers are filled and emptied several times during the season, which lasts 

 from 15th March to 15th June, or 3 months. The yield of an ordinary-sized 

 tree is 10-20 lb. of berja for the first, and about a third of the quantity the 

 second year, after which the tree either dies or is blown down." In the Panjab 

 in 1868 the crude resin sold for 4-7 rupees per maund. Tar (mixed with turpen- 

 tine and products of destructive distillation of wood) is also made by filling an 

 earthen pot (perforated at the bottom with small holes) with chips of resinous 



