2 NOTE ON SAIN OR SAJ. 



It seems to stand a dry climate as well as a moist one and to require less rainfall 

 than most other trees, but the more rain it has the more luxuriant its growth." 



It is a tall straight tree with spreading branches and heavy crown, and 

 may usually be recognised by the very thick rough dark-coloured bark 

 which is deeply cracked longitudinally. It loses its leaves annually 

 during the hot weather and produces a new flush after most of the 

 surrounding species, sometimes not until the end of June, the flowers 

 appearing during the rains. On the higher and barer slopes the leaves 

 are rather large and are covered with down, but in the localities which 

 suit it best they are smaller, thinner, and smooth. A variety is found in 

 the Dipterocarjms forests of Burma with large fruits and leaves, and 

 Haines notes several varieties in his Forest Flora of Chota Nagpur, page 

 363. 



3. Description, Properties and Uses of Timber. 



The sapwood is reddish-white and narrow, the heart-wood dark-brown 

 and hard, the annual rings being indistinct and the wood marked with 

 wavy darker streaks. It is not easy to work and is avoided by sawyers 

 when they can get other timber, and they demand higher rates for sawing 

 it, as the timber is often cross-grained. The cross-section shows many 

 regularly scattered pores arranged in short wavy lines. 



Durability. It decays rapidly as a rule when used in the open, but 

 has been found to last well occasionally in the ground as railway sleepers, 

 and in other exposed situations. It is much more durable when used 

 for beams inside houses and in other airy sheltered spots. In damp badly 

 ventilated situations it is almost sure to be attacked by dry rot which soon 

 destroys wood which has not been antiseptically treated. The variety 

 with leaves hoary beneath which ascends to almost 4,000 feet in the 

 moister Himalayas has been preferred to Sal for factory and bridge work. 

 The wood has been tested in the Lower Godavari Division in Madras to 

 determine its power of resistance to the teredo. The results showed that 

 at one station the timber was badly attacked. White-ants also usually 

 destroy it after two or three years, when they are plentiful. 



Weight. Specimens from the south of India have weighed as much 

 as 74 Ibs. per cubic foot, but the ordinary weight, calculated from 20 

 specimens from all parts of India is 59 Ibs. very much the same as Sal 

 (Gamble) 



