TECTONA 731 



proved a failure, the cost has been extravagantly high ; the expenditure on 

 the Kadra and Mardi plantations up to 1908-9 is reported to have been as 

 much as Rs. 150 per acre, while the receipts amounted to Rs. 16 per acre. 



Madras. Teak plantations have been formed from time to time in various 

 parts of Madras, but by far the most important plantations are those in the 

 Nilambur valley in South Malabar. The Nilambur plantations owe their 

 inception to the foresight of Mr. Conolly, Collector of Malabar, who in 1840 

 foresaw the shortage of teak likely to occur through the depletion of the 

 natural forests, and urged the formation of teak plantations in the Nilambur 

 valley, a proposal which was approved by Government. After three years 

 of experimental work, regular clear-felling of the existing forest and planting 

 with teak was started in 1844 ; this work has been continued more or less 

 steadily ever since, though no planting was done from 1877 to 1885. The total 

 area planted up to 1918 was approximately 6,500 acres. 



The Nilambur valley is an ideal situation for teak plantations. The 

 plantations are situated at an average height of about 100 ft. above sea-level. 

 The valley is surrounded on three sides by hills, of which the highest, the 

 Nilgiris, rise to 8,000 ft. The village of Nilambur itself is about 45 miles by 

 road from the coast. The normal rainfall at Nilambur is 109 in., and the 

 shade temperature varies from 80 to 90 F. throughout the year. Over 

 much of the area the soil is a deep fertile well-drained alluvium admirably 

 suited for teak ; this is interrupted at intervals by patches of laterite, often 

 in the form of low hills or undulations. Between the best alluvial soils and 

 the laterite, various gradations of soil occur. The laterite produces teak of 

 poor quality, and in many places the teak has failed altogether ; hence it 

 has been decided, as a result of the experience gained, to avoid planting on 

 laterite areas of poor quality during the second rotation. The Nilambur 

 valley is drained by argood floating-stream which flows into the sea at Beypore, 

 immediately to the south of Calicut, and the outturn of the plantations can 

 be delivered at the coast at the low cost of 2a. 6p. per cubic foot, inclusive of 

 all charges. Much of the timber finds its way in small trading vessels to 

 Persia and Arabia, where poles as well as larger timber are much in demand. 

 Planting has been carried out in large contiguous blocks, and hence the 

 Nilambur plantations have not had to contend, so far as cost of upkeep goes, 

 with the adverse conditions from which so many of the Burma plantations 

 have suffered b}^ being scattered in small isolated patches amidst natural forest. 

 The Nilambur plantations have proved a conspicuous financial success. 

 In 1912 the financial results to date were worked out, and it was ascertained 

 that after allowing 4 per cent, compound interest on all receipts and charges the 

 total revenue, expenditure, and surplus amounted respectively to Rs. 56,22,090, 

 Rs. 54,79,531, and Rs. 1,42,559 ; the total planted area was then roughly 

 6,000 acres. The rotation has recently been fixed at seventy years, and the 

 final fellings of the first rotation have already begun. The net surplus for the 

 year 1917-18 was Rs. 2,75,532 for the 6,500 acres planted, or Rs. 42-4 per acre 

 per annum ; the future surplus is estimated to be over Rs. 30, and may possibly 

 reach Rs. 40 per acre per annum. The results would have been even better 

 but for the fact that the planted area contains a certain proportion of laterite 

 outcrops and badly -drained ground where teak has failed. 



