JJ NOTE ON BENTEAK OK NANA WOOD. 



numerous large pores and pale colour and the autumn wood by its 

 darker colour and short pale lines of tissue containing pores. It is 

 straight-grained and easily worked. 



Durability. The wood is not much attacked by white-ants, speci- 

 mens tested being almost sound after 2| years in the ground. 



Weight. The wood is not very heavy, the weight per cubic foot 

 when dry averaging about 44 Ibs. Coimbatore and Malabar specimens 

 have been found as heavy as 50 Ibs. (Gamble). 



Strength. The value of F, which represents the strength of a bar of 

 timber calculated from the length between supports, breadth, and thick- 

 ness of the bar, and the weight in pounds which when placed in the 

 middle of the bar causes it to break, is about 560 (Gamble). Sal 

 gives 790, Teak 600 and Shisham 796. 



Fissibility. The wood can be fairly easily split. The figure re- 

 presenting its place in a list of 62 woods tested is 4, about the same as 

 Padauk, Toon and Terminalia tomentosa. Sal is represented by 9*88 and 

 Teak, which is very easily split, by T75. 



Calorific power. No figures are available for this species, but two 

 other species of Layerstroemia tested by Mr. Puran Singh gave fairly 

 good results, being placed about half-way on the list of 56 Indian 

 species tested. It makes good fuel and charcoal. 



Seasoning. In Kanara the tree has been girdled three years before 

 felling, but this has not been found very successful in preventing crack- 

 ing. The timber is very liable to this defect and slow and careful 

 seasoning must be undertaken to prevent it. Much better results have 

 been obtained by felling the trees ten months after girdling and storing 

 them for eighteen months in a depot before sale. Only 67 out of 297 

 trees thus treated were cracked. This was done in Kanara, Bombay 

 (W. A. Miller). 



Uses. This timber is much in request wherever it can be obtained, 

 for buildings, ships and furniture. In Northern Bombay small timber 

 is converted into charcoal in the forest or exported as firewood. In 

 Kanara straight poles sell well for masts, and it has been used for 

 railway goods wagons. In Madras it is also used for agricultural imple- 

 ments and carts, Arabs buy it from Malabar for dhow-building, and 

 it makes good coffee-cases. In Travancore it is used for oil casks. 



A small consignment was sold in London in 1878 for 2 per ton,. 



