NOTE ON BABUL. I 



ground, have been tried, but natural seasoning in the air seems to be 

 quite satisfactory. The bark should be removed first in order to 

 minimise the chances of insect damage, and large logs should be roughly 

 squared. 



(6) FELLING AND EXTRACTION. 



Babul coupes are, as a rule, sold standing to contractors, who usually 

 fell small trees with the axe, and sometimes use the saw for larger ones. 

 As the tree typically grows on comparatively level land, its extraction 

 presents no difficulty ; carts or camels being the usual means employed 

 in conjunction with carriage by boat, where, as in Sind, a suitable river 

 is available. 



(c) SIZE OP TIMBER OBTAINABLE. 



The wood forms such an excellent fuel, and is, therefore, so extensively 

 used for fire- wood that Babul forests are worked under a short rotation, 

 usually roundabout 30-40 years, which is long enough to produce the 

 class of material most in demand, such as, in addition to fuel, small 

 timber pieces for agricultural implements and the like. The consequence 

 is that the only large logs available (and many of these are unsound) 

 are those cut from the old trees which are gradually being removed, 

 and whose place will be filled by much smaller stuff. The supply of 

 large Babul timber is thus being rapidly exhausted, and it is significant 

 of this that, in discussing the uses to which the timber may be put, the 

 Divisional Forest Officer, Jerruck (Sind) states that while his Division 

 used to supply timber for the Gun-Carriage Factory, timber of the 

 necessary dimensions is not now available. Should, however, a supply 

 of large Babul timber be required, there would be no difficulty in growing 

 it, and selected areas could be set apart for that purpose. 



(d) OUTTURN AND PRICE. 



It is not possible to give figures of outturn in any detail, as these 

 are generally either not available or unimportant. The table below 

 contains statistics supplied by the officers in charge of the divisions, in 

 which the most important Babul-bearing areas are situated. These 

 statistics are entered as received, and no attempt has been made to 

 convert them to a uniform standard of measurement ; they are merely 

 intended to indicate roughly the quantities of Babul wood available 

 from Government forests at these centres. No details are to hand as 

 regards the outturn in Revenue lands, but it may be remarked that 

 neither from forest nor from Revenue lands does there appear to be any 

 appreciable quantity of timber available for export. 



