Cedrus.] LXXVI. CONIFERS. 519 



pact, even-grained, does not readily warp or split, and is exceedingly durable. 

 The timber from the Jhelam forests is reckoned the best ; it is very oily and 

 darker coloured. The weight of seasoned Deodar varies between 25 and 44 lb. 

 In the Panjab it is generally supposed to weigh 40 lb. The transverse strength 

 is less than that of P. longifolia, so far as recorded experiments go. The values 

 of P. are as follows : I. Panjab timber, nine experiments made at Rurki 549 

 to 669 ; ten experiments by Major Robertson and Captain Henderson 461 to 

 649 ; thirty-three experiments by Cunningham 189 to 858 ; average of Panjab 

 timber, 575. II. Garhwal timber, eight experiments made at Eurki 390 to 

 798 ; average, 592. III. Kamaon timber, twenty experiments made by Captain 

 Wm. Jones, and recorded by Madden in Journ. Agric. Soc. of India, vii. 1850, 

 at Almora in Oct. 1844 viz., ten with timber cut Sept. 1844, weight 38 lb., 

 value of P. 443, and ten with seasoned timber, weight 40 lb., value of P. 560. 

 In this case, as in the experiments with P. longifolia noted above, it is remark- 

 able that the average weight of seasoned timber is about the same as of that cut 

 a month previous. It should, however, be mentioned, that the Almora experi- 

 ments do not give P. longifolia a much greater transverse strength than Deo- 

 dar ; and it has been stated, but probably on insufficient grounds, that the trans- 

 verse strength of Deodar is greater than that of either Pinus longifolia, Pinus 

 excelsa, or Abies Smithiana. A larger series of systematic experiments to de- 

 termine the physical and mechanical qualities of the timber of the more impor- 

 tant Himalayan Conifers is much wanted. The sapwood commences to decay 

 while the logs are seasoning in the forest, much of it is knocked off on the slides by 

 which the timber is sent down to the water's edge, and during the long water tran- 

 sit to the plains, while the logs are rubbing and bumping against the numerous 

 rocks in the rivers. The heartwood is by far the most durable of the Himalayan 

 timbers of this tribe (Abietinece), and in the climate of Kashmir and the Panjab 

 it is almost imperishable. Stewart states (Panjab PI. 220) that the Deodar pillars 

 of the great Shah Hamaden mosque in the capital of Kashmir are probably 

 more than 400 years old (the date, 804 Hijra, 1426 A.D., is entered in an inscrip- 

 tion over the door), and that to all appearance they are perfectly sound. Some 

 of the bridges in Srinagar are said to be of still greater antiquity ; the wood of 

 which the piers are constructed is Deodar, and part of it is alternately wet and 

 dry. These piers, it is believed, have never been renewed since the bridges were 

 built. White ants eat the sap, but rarely attack the heart-wood. The boats 

 built of it on the Panjab rivers are said to last forty years. Owing to these ex- 

 cellent qualities, combined with lightness, Deodar has from time immemorial 

 been the wood most prized in the Panjab and Sindh, and the timber-trade on 

 the five rivers and their feeders is of very old date. The consumption of the 

 wood, however, has, like that of most of our more valuable Indian woods 

 (Teak, Sissoo, Sal, Blackwood), increased largely and rapidly since the British 

 occupation of the country. Barracks and other public buildings, bridges, 

 canals, and mainly the construction of railways, have created a large and press- 

 ing demand, the first effect of which has been the destruction, beyond hope of 

 recovery, of numerous and extensive forests formerly stocked with fine Deodar. 

 Not only were the forests cut down wholesale without any regard to their re- 

 generation, but of the timber felled a small proportion only was utilised, the 

 greater part being destroyed by the forest-fires, or broken to splinters on their 

 way to the river over precipices and rough slides, and another portion being 

 jammed up in numerous narrow rocky passages in the river, or caught and 

 abstracted by the people living near the banks. This state of things was first 

 prominently brought to notice by Dr Cleghorn, who was deputed in 1861 to 

 report on the timber resources of the Panjab ; and thorough and vigorous 

 action to remedy these evils was taken by the late Dr Stewart, who in 1864 

 was appointed the first Conservator of Forests in the Panjab. 



