176 TIMBER 



rather wide, clearly defined, and of straw colour. The heart - 

 wood is nut brown or dark purple with white or dark 

 longitudinal veins or streaks and small whitish specks. 

 May be had in logs up to 20 inches square and is used for 

 sleepers in Mysore. Found over a considerable range, it 

 is abundant in Southern India and shipped from Cochin, 

 Calicut, and other places on the west coast to Great Britain. 

 It also grows in Burma. When fresh sawn the wood has 

 an agreeable -smell. The sawdust of rosewood is manu- 

 factured into the substance called bois-durci of which 

 beautiful ebony-like medallions and other ornaments are 

 made. 



Weight 50 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Mutti (Terminalia coriacfe) is a common tree in Central 

 and Southern India, producing a heavy, hard, tough, fibrous, 

 close-grained, dark brown and beautifully variegated wood, 

 difficult to work, but durable and unaffected by white ants. 

 It is used for beams and telegraph posts, sleepers, and the 

 solid wheels of buffalo carts. 



Weight about 60 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Neem or Margosa (Melia indica), a large tree common 

 throughout India and Burma, produces a hard, close- 

 grained, fibrous and durable wood, very like mahogany in 

 colour, scented and beautifully mottled, which makes 

 excellent furniture, especially that obtained from old trees. 

 It is very durable, equal indeed to camphor wood, and so 

 bitter that insects will not attack it. Practically imperish- 

 able trunks and chests are made of it. As neem is only a 

 small tree, about 20 ft. high, long beams are not available. 

 The bark and leaves are used medicinally. Resistance to 

 shearing along the fibres 1,326 Ibs. per square inch, 

 resistance to crushing 2'9 tons, coefficient of transverse 



