August^ 19, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



339 



third and fourth classes, were sufficiently numerous so as 

 eventually to replace those of the second. Lastly, the data col- 

 lected regarding rate of growth of the Teak-tree seemed to 

 justify the assumption that within a period ot twenty-four years 

 all trees of the second class would grow up into first-class trees. 

 On the ground of these data it was decided to spread the 

 girdling of the first-class trees standing in the forests over a 

 period of twenty-four years. The forest districts were grouped 

 into six main divisions, a plan of operations was made for six 

 years, and it was settled that one of the six divisions should be 

 taken in hand each year. The valuation surveys seemed to 

 justify the assumption that there were not less than 585,000 

 first-class trees in the forests, one-fourth of which, it was pro- 

 posed, should be girdled during these first six years. For the 

 selection of the trees to be girdled definite rules were laid 

 down, the most important of which was that never more than 

 one in four of the first-class trees in one locality should be 

 girdled ; that isolated trees should be spared, and that trees 

 overshadowing groups of young Teak, as well as old trees and 

 those which showed signs of decline, should be girdled in 

 preference to others. 



These provisions related to the Pegu forests only. In 1858, 

 however, those ot the adjoining provinces ot Martaban and 

 Tenasserim were added to my charge, the system ot linear 

 valuation surveys was steadily continued, so that in i860 the 

 Teak-trees of the different classes had been counted upon an 

 aggregate area, in the different districts, of 35.000 acres. The 

 plan ot girdling was continued for another six years to the end 

 of 1867011 the same principles as those adopted for Pegu in 

 1856. During these twelve years, from 1856 to 1867, the num- 

 ber of trees girdled amounted on an average to 24,300 a year. 

 This was in the three provinces, the forests of which at that 

 time were under my charge in Pegu, Martaban and Tenas- 

 serim, which, together with Arrakan, were subsequently united 

 in one province under the designation of British Burma. 



WORKING PLAN OF 1868. 



In November, 1862, I was called to Calcutta to organize 

 forest administration in the other provinces under the Govern- 

 ment of India, but, though I no longer had charge ot the Burma 

 forests, I paid frequent visits to my old province and endeav- 

 ored, as much as possible, to regulate the working of its 

 forests. Thus, in 1868, I spent three months in Burma in order 

 to prepare, with the aid of the local officers, a new working 

 plan tor the forests. Like that of 1856, this working plan was 

 based upon the result of linear valuation surveys, and upon 

 what was known regarding the rate ot growth. The valuation 

 surveys extended over 39,700 acres, or three per cent, of the 

 area to which the working plan was intended to apply. The 

 total area was divided into torty-seven districts under five main 

 divisions, and upon the results of the valuation surveys, 

 together with the knowledge which the local officers had 

 acquired regarding each district, an estimate of the number of 

 first-class trees in each district was based. For the entire area 

 this estimate amounted to 934,000 trees, six feet in girth and 

 upward. The estimate of 1856, it will be remembered, was 

 for Pegu only. As regards rate of growth, convincing proof 

 had been obtained that the concentric rings visible in Teak 

 timber actually represented one year's growth. For younger 

 trees this proof was obtained by the examination of trees raised 

 in the Nilamour plantations, the oldest of which were then 

 twenty-five years old. For older trees a feartul cyclone of 

 October, 1864, had furnished the data; it had blown down a 

 large number of old Teak-trees of known age planted near 

 Calcutta, and sections of the stems were at once examined. 

 Accordingly, the rate of growth was now based upon the 

 counting of annual rings on butt ends of logs collected at 

 the Rangoon timber depot. I will not weary the reader with 

 details, suffice it to say that while the rate ot growth assumed in 

 1856 was too rapid, that of 1868 was much too slow. Nolessthan 

 seventy-two years were supposed to be necessary to bring up 

 a Teak-tree in the forests from a girth of four teet six inches 

 to six feet, against twenty-three years in 1856. The second- 

 class trees having also been found to be less numerous than 

 those of the first class, it was decided to spread the removal of , 

 the latter over a period of eighty years. Thus, the maximum ' 

 annual yield was fixed at 11,600 trees against 24,300, the mean 

 number actually girdled during the first period ending in 1868. , 

 This yield was fixed for five years only, because it was hoped 

 that rapid progress would now be made in the selection and 

 demarcation ot the forests permanently to be maintained as • 

 such, and that when the boundaries of these forests had been 

 laid down special working plans for each forest district would 

 then be prepared. 



.J 



DEMARCATION OF RESERVED FORESTS. 



However, in those days it was not all plain sailing in regard to 

 forest matters in Burma. The theory had been advanced that 

 the right thing to do would be altogether to abandon the care 

 ot the natural forests, to cut the marketable timber which they 

 contained as speedily as possible, and for future timber sup- 

 plies to rely entirely upon plantations to be made on the out- 

 skirts of the forests, or outside the forests in localities less 

 feverish, where labor could be had at all seasons of the year. 

 Vigorous progress in demarcating reserved forests was not 

 made until 1876. Fortunately, after the five years had expired 

 for which the working plan of 1868 had provided, girdling 

 operations were carried on cautiously and sparingly. The 

 result, highly beneficial as regards the development of the 

 growing stock of Teak, was that during the period from 1868-9 

 to 1878-9 only 7,900 trees annually were girdled. 



This may be termed the second period in regard to the 

 working of the forests. The third period commenced in 1880, 

 when I again spent four months in Burma. At that time 

 a considerable area of reserves had been formed, and the work 

 of demarcation and settlement of state forests was progressing 

 steadily. It was time now to treat the reserves and those 

 areas intended to be included within reserves differently from 

 the tracts intended to be given up for the extension of cultiva- 

 tion. In the reserves girdling would hereafter be regulated 

 by special working plans, while outside all marketable trees 

 might at once be girdled. Pending the preparation of special 

 working plans, girdling operations within the reserves were 

 conducted very sparingly. Upon these lines the work was 

 carried on during the fifteen years from 187980 to 1893 4. 

 At first the trees girdled outside prevailed, but gradually, as 

 special working plans were prepared, the trees girdled in these 

 areas increased. In 18934 tlie number girdled within the 

 limits of reserves equaled those girdled outside. 

 Bonn, Germany. Dietrich Brandis. 



Recent Publications. 



American Grape-growing and Wine-making. By George 

 Husmann. New York : Orange Judd Company. 1896. 



This is a new edition of a well-known book, so com- 

 pletely revised that it is almost a new one. Besides the 

 original and general directions for viticulture which were 

 prepared for the central and eastern parts of the United 

 States, there has been added an interesting set of expe- 

 riences in the form of short letters from growers of central 

 Ohio, the Grape district of central New York, the Chau- 

 tauqua belt, the Hudson River Valley, south-western 

 Missouri, Mississippi. New Mexico and Texas. These 

 experiences are very brief, but since they have been pre- 

 pared by such men as George W. Campbell, Hermann 

 Jaeger, Samuel Miller and T. V. Munson they ought to 

 have considerable authority as regards the varieties suited 

 to different regions. 



The chapters devoted to wine-making do not pre- 

 tend to go into any elaborate explanations of the special 

 processes and refinements of the art, but simply to 

 set forth in a plain way the rules which are necessary for 

 the grower who wishes to make a palatable wine for home 

 use and to enable the small vineyardist to produce an arti- 

 cle which will be salable. All that the novice needs to 

 know of cellars and cellar furniture, of the methods of 

 gathering and pressing and fermenting, is here briefly 

 told, and there is an enumeration of the varieties which are 

 best adapted for making various kinds of wine. Grape- 

 growing in California, where the Vines are all of the Vini- 

 fera type and where the climate has little resemblance to 

 that of the east, is quite a different art from grape-growing 

 here, where the varieties are all selected and improved 

 native sorts, with only an occasional infusion of foreign 

 blood. Wine-making in the east and in the west differs 

 quite as widely. With grapes as cheap as they have been 

 for several seasons at wholesale, it ought to be possible in 

 California, in New York, and especially in our south-western 

 states, to make a wine that is at once cheap, pure and 

 and palatable. If this has been done to any large extent 

 in America the fact does not seem to be generally known 

 among wine drinkers. 



