October 14, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



419 



measures regularly adopted in order to improve the produc- 

 tiveness of the Burma Teak forests. 



FUTURE YIELD OF TEAK PLANTATIONS. 



In 1894 the following areas had been stocked with Teak on 

 plantations and by means of cultural operations. Under 

 toungya plantations the figures here given include a certain 

 area (2,701 acres) on which Teak was planted, mixed with 

 Cutch (Acacia catechu). The areas planted with Cutch pure 

 (366 acres) have been omitted, since the present communica- 

 tion is intended chiefly to give an account of the Teak forests : 



Regular plantations, 3996 acres. 



Toungya plantations, 31,287 " 



Cultural operations, 3.723 " 



39,006 

 The annual yield of these areas will eventually constitute an 

 important addition to the yield of the natural torests. What 

 has been stated will have made it clear that these areas, when 

 mature, will not be stocked with pure Teak. Bamboos and 

 other trees will spring up and will form an important constit- 

 uent of the mature forest. But even where Teak may pre- 

 dominate in the growing stock, as will be the case in regular 

 plantations established in places easy of access, where clean- 

 ings could be more regularly attended to, they will occupy 

 narrow belts, mostly surrounded by other forest. As these 

 plantations advance to maturity it may with certainty be ex- 

 pected that while the Teak will spread from self-sown seed 

 into the neighboring forest, other kinds, especially such as 

 stand shade, will spring up among the Teak-trees. Nor is it 

 desirable that these plantations should grow up as pure Teak 

 woods, for, as a rule, the Teak does not attain perfection in 

 pure woods. In the above figures, however, all areas which 

 contain less than forty per cent, of Teak have been excluded. 

 It will be remembered that the most recent researches 

 regarding Teak grown on the hills of Pegu under the regime 

 of annual jungle fires, have established the age of a tree six 

 feet in girth to be between 134 and 156 years. In plantations, 

 however, from which fires are kept out, the growth is quite 

 different, it is much more rapid, and we are justified in the 

 assumption that the present plantations will, at the age of 

 ninety years, carry, in addition to Bamboos and other trees, 

 sixty mature Teak-trees per acre, each tree yielding seventy- 

 five cubic feet of timber. Thus, if thinnings are excluded 

 from the calculation, the mean annual yield of successful plan- 

 tations, continuously protected against fire, may be estimated 

 at titty cubic feet per acre. As already stated, on a limited 

 area Teak and Cutch have been planted together, and otherwise 

 it may be doubted, whether the whole area will come up to 

 this standard, but even if we only estimate an average yield ol 

 thirty cubic leet per acre, the 39,000 acres artificially stocked 

 with Teak up to June, 1894, will nirnish 23,400 tons a year, or 

 more than one-third of the Teak timber extracted annually 

 during the five years ending with June, 1894. And these plan- 

 tations and cultural operations are being extended steadily. 

 In 1893-4, 4,134 acres were planted, which, when mature, at 

 thirty cubic ieet per acre, may be relied upon for an annual 

 yield of 2,400 tons. It has in a previous portion of this paper 

 been explained, that while during the last five years in the nat- 

 ural lore&ts 20,300 trees a year were girdled on an average, the 

 Teak timber extracted annually during the same period 

 amounted to 68,000 tons ; lurther, that alter special working 

 plans shall have been prepared for all forest districts, it is 

 expected that 40,000 trees a year will be girdled. Thus, even- 

 tually the natural torests alone may in their present condition 

 be expected to furnish twice the present annual timber out- 

 turn. And to this will, in course ol time, be added the yield 

 from plantations which, if operations are continued as at 

 present, will soon equal Ihe yield of the natural forests. 



THE FUTURE YIELD OF THE FORESTS WILL EE INCREASED BY 

 PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE. 



But apart from plantations and cultural operations, the nat- 

 ural torests are capable of great improvement. It has been 

 staled that the area protected from tire in the reserved torests 

 of the British Indian Empire amounts to one-third of the whole. 

 In Burma the work of fire protection is much more difficult 

 than in other provinces, and of the 6,374 square miles of 

 reserved forests in lower Burma it has not yet been possible 

 to protect from fire more than 8^ per cent. The protected 

 area is increasing steadily, but slowly. As it increases the soil 

 improves, less seedlings are destroyed and a smaller number of 

 large trees are damaged by the fires. True, Bamboos and other 

 trees profit equally, but with the special care bestowed upon 

 the Teak, that tree profits more and the result eventually will 



l>e .1 larger annual yield of Teak timber from the same area. 

 On several occasions in these pages the Karens have been 

 mentioned as the most important inhabitants of the forests of 

 lower Burma. Their villages teem with children, and under 

 the strong and just British Government their numbers increase 

 steadily. When the reserved forests were demarcated, certain 

 areas were assigned to them in each forest district, sufficient 

 to furnish forest for their shitting system of toungya cultiva- 

 tion, and calculated liberally, so as to provide for an increas- 

 ing population. Many of these Karens are employed in 

 planting Teak on their toungyas, and thus they contribute 

 materially to augment the future yield of the forests. The 

 present yield of tlie natural torests under the special working 

 plans made within the last twelve years amounts to seventeen 

 tons girdled annually upon a thousand acres, or to less than 

 two cubic feet per acre. As fire protection is extended, as 

 larger areas are planted, this insignificant yield per acre will 

 eventuallv be a thing ol the past. 

 Bonn, Germany. Dietrich Brandis. 



Exhibitions. 

 Flowers and Fruits at the American Institute Fair. 



T T NDER the direction of the Farmers' Club there is now in 

 '-' progress an exhibition of fruit and vegetables and flowers 

 in connection with the American Institute Fair at Madison 

 Square Garden, in this city. During last week the leading 

 flowers shown were Dahlias, and a large collection of the best 

 varieties was contributed by such experts as Mr. W. P. Peacock, 

 of Atco, New Jersey, who showed more than 2,500 blooms, 

 which in the main were in admirable condition, and deservedly 

 took the first prize. In almost all the classes tor these flowers 

 the Rev. C. \V. Bolton, ol Pelhamville, New York, a well- 

 known amateur, was second, and the Horticultural Depart- 

 ment of Cornell University showed 212 varieties which were 

 particularly interesting botanically. The leaves showed a wide 

 variety in lorm and color, some ol them being cut almost as 

 fine as a Fern-lrond, and others showed tints of bronze and 

 maroon. Dahlias have always been flowers of pure color, but 

 until the single varieties and the so-called Cactus forms were 

 introduced there was an artificial and rigid look about them 

 which was not winning. The time seems to have come when 

 we may expect great changes in the character and habit of 

 both plants and flowers. Many of the latter now show petals 

 singularly rolled or arranged loosely after the fashion of Japa- 

 nese Chrysanthemums, and they are more gracefully borne on 

 long stems. The variety Clifford VV. Benton, for example, a 

 yellow flower of full Cactus form on tall arching stems, seemed 

 as unconventional as Chrysanthemums of the best type, and 

 some ot the pink ones show a clearness and purity of tone 

 which no Chrysanthemum of this color has yet attained. 



In spite ot ihe lateness of the season a large collection of 

 unusually good Gladiolus was exhibited by John Lewis 

 Childs, Floral Park, besides something like a hundred varie- 

 ties or more ot hardy flowers. A bank ot decorative plants on 

 the stage contained many fine specimens sent by Messrs. 

 Siebrecht & Wadley and Richard Brett (gardener to J. B. Col- 

 gate,). An unusually comprehensive display ot vegetables was 

 shown, one collection of tomatoes containing eighty different 

 varieties. Grapes made the leading feature ot the fruit dis- 

 play, and, except a few of the very early sorts, nearly every 

 variety in cultivation here was shown. Mr. C. C. Corby, of 

 Montclair, took the first prize, and Ellwanger & Barry the 

 second, in this creditable display. Mr. D. M. Dunning, of Au- 

 burn, showed some magnificent clusters of European grapes, 

 and Mr. William Parry astonished visitors with twenty distinct 

 varieties ot chestnuts grown on his place, including all the 

 improved lorms. Many of these were m the burs, which were 

 of enormous size and showed wide diversities ot form, weight, 

 color and flavor. Mr. Parry's collection also included walnuts, 

 native and foreign, filberts and many other nuts. 



This week the space will be largely devoted to apples, but the 

 labeling and staging are not yet completed as we go to press. 

 There is little doubt, however, that in size and quality the dis- 

 play of apples will excel anything ot the kind hitherto seen in 

 this city. 



Notes. 



The leaves of Tricyrtis hirta seem to be disfigured less than 

 usual this year, and whenever they escape this rusty look the 

 plant is altogether desirable. The curious purple-spotted flow- 

 ers, with their six-leaved perianth and conspicuous three-cleft 

 style spotted in the same way, are interesting ami truly beau- 



