6 RED SANDERS (Pterocarpus santalinus). 



6. Present System of Management. 



The present state of the forest has necessitated the introduction 

 of Improvement fellings. No sound timber is therefore now being 

 extracted except illicitly. The number of tons of Red Sanders 

 wood extracted under this system annually will be found in the 

 statement "Appendix A." The present system provides for the 

 improvement and subsequent rigid protection of areas sufficiently 

 small to ensure detailed work and thorough supervision. It was 

 devised to encourage the growth and protect the existing stock of 

 sound Red Sanders trees, and work is therefore confined within 

 the limits of the Red Sanders belt or zone, i.e., between 800 feet 

 and 2,400 feet above sea-level. The area of the annual coupe in 

 each felling series is at present limited to about 100 acres. The 

 trees to be retained are marked departmentally and the coupes are 

 worked by contractors. Five Working Circles, consisting of 22 

 Felling Series of 20 coupes each, are now under working. Thus, 

 Improvement fellings over an area of some 2,200 acres are carried 

 out annually in the East Division. Working-plans are being pre- 

 pared in the West Division and there is room for still further 

 development in the former Division. Plates I and II (figs. 1 4) 

 show the nature of the fellings. 



7. Appearance of the Tree. 



It is a very pretty, moderate-sized tree with an upright clean 

 bole and rounded crown. The wood is dark claret red in colour 

 and is extremely valuable. 



8. Habits. 



It flowers from April to June, seeding the following Febru- 

 ary and March. The seedlings die off annually during the 

 hot weather, while the root system increases, until the shoots are 

 large and strong enough to resist the drought, the heat of the sun 

 and at times also fire. It prefers an eastern aspect on stony hills. 

 It forms the greater percentage of the growing stock on the lower 

 slopes where it is in places found pure. The usual associates of Red 

 Sanders are: In the lower elevations, Hardwickia binata, 

 Anogeissus latifolia and Chloroxylon Swietenia; and in the higher 

 elevations Terminalia tomentosa, Buchanania latifolia, Shorea 

 Tumbuggaia and Talura, Eugenia alternifolia and Anogeissus 

 latifolia. In the south of Seshachellam hills in the south of the 



