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to Southern Australia, if we want valuable introductions. The climate in S. Australia is 

 still more excessive thau that of Pronie or Ava, aud the geology is similar though not iden- 

 tical. Very valuable timbers grow there, sueli as the Eucah/pti, Cmuarbue, Grerillea robmfa, 

 eta Many of the Australian trees also produce timber which is supposed to be superior to 

 that produced by Indian trees, aud they attain at the same time enormous sizes, but 

 unfortunately Australian botanists have neglected the soil-questiou quite as much as the 

 Indian botanists, and without some iuformatiou on this qaestiou, no decisive opinion can be 

 formed as to the results should these trees be introduced. Many of the Mediterranean trees 

 might also be found suitable for this district.* 



Cotton aud indigo are already iu cultivation all over Pegu, but the sliallow calcareous 

 porous alluvia in the Prome district may be found adapted for more lucrative aud extensive 

 plantations. Poppy cultivation may at some time or other be adopted iu the Prome dis- 

 trict, although its rocks are apparently poor in alkalies, but I sliould rather like to see 

 this plant used only as a rotatory crop, so as not to diminish the rice cultivation on arable 

 lands. 



Although well aware that the above remarks greatly differ from the views now generally 

 adopted with reference to such questions of Indian forestry, I trust that they will not be found 

 useless, and that they will at least be considered deserving of a practical trial at the hands of 

 Forest Officers. 



III. Some hints with reference to the stmhj of the qualify of woods in India. 

 A question of importance to the forester is the quality of timber as affected by soil and 

 climate. Great and often serious discrepancies are met with in books treating of timber, aud 

 I myself have been puzzled by finding that many contradictory statements liad crept in with 

 reference to the quality and colour of my collected woods, so mucli so, as to lead me to pass over 

 my own remarks in the belief that some of the labels liad been displaced. All these circum- 

 Btances have induced me to devise a scheme by which it might be possible to acquire a more 

 or less thorough knowledge of Indian woods. At the same time my chief aim has been to 

 make the experiments as cheap as possible, and to cause as little interference as possible with 

 the general duties of the, forester upon whom the task would necessarily devolve. Up to the 

 present time the universal custom has been to collect the various timbers in a province or dis- 

 trict, for local or international exhibitions ; but numerous as the contributions have been, the 

 results, as regards the quality of Indian woods have rather increased than diminished the 

 uncertainty already existing. Most of the officers charged with the collection of sucli woods 

 had not aud often could not have a special botanical knowledge of the forest trees and their 

 names. Every one collected as many sorts as possible, sometimes receiving the same sort 

 twice over or oftener, under different native names, and witli the aid of some book, such as 

 Balfour's, have tried to identify these by means of the native names, or have only giveu the 

 native names. 



Great as the progress of forestry in India has been in the last deceunium, it cannot be 

 denied, that with comparatively few exceptions, our knowledge of the quality of Indian 

 timbers is still very fragmentary, and an intimate and thorough acquaintance with them is 

 felt to be more and more necessary. The results of experiments, as carried on cliiefly iu 

 ordnance departments, are very useful, but in the absence of a uniform plan, they do not 

 admit of a proper comparison. 



The usefulness of timber of the same species is described in different terms, and this is not 

 surprising when we bear in mind the fact that the timber must vary according to lo- 

 cality, and that the value must needs vary iu different districts for want of better sub- 

 stitutes. 



I do not think, therefore, that a fair, and what I should call a rational, solution of such 

 questions can be arrived at, until the study aud collection of timber is carried on upon a uni- 

 form plan, based upon simple but sound principles. In the following pages I venture to sub- 

 mit a scheme, wliich I hope will be found not only useful aud simple but also economical. 

 At least the outlay appears to me so small in comparison with the advantages to be derived 

 from such a system, that I entertain some hope that the same may be acceptable to foresters, 

 eitlier in its original shape, or with such alterations as may suggest themselves. I cannot, 

 however, suppress the belief that some disadvantages will be felt in succeeding tlioroughly 

 with the system of testing woods, because good agronomical or rather lithological maps, correct 



* Dry infertile soils can be made fertile to a certain degrree in a comparatively short time by planting 

 succulents ou ihern, like Cactus, Opuniiu etc. If calcareous, tii^-trees (even the caoutchouc trees) can be em- 

 ployed for the same purpose. Opuniiu might thus be raised for tbe rearing of the Cochineal-iusect. In 

 Sicily this practice of planting Opuntia is carried out in fertilizing lava. The caoutchouc tree grows in 

 abundance in Southern Java, chiefly on limestone beds, along with other tig trees. Compare Dr. Junghuhns' 

 excellent botanical description of that island in the first volume of bis "Java, its vejfetation and geological 

 structure." This may be a bint for utilizing, in somewhat humid climates, rocky sterile tracts of laud other- 

 wise unfit for tuuber-plautation. 



