CONCERNING THE TEAK TREE. 251 



and in that time they will, in general,, be from five to ten feet 



high, according as the soil is favourable, and out of all danger, 



except from north-westers. 



With respect to the distance at which plants ou,q;bt to stand Distances and 

 . , .. n.^, , tliinningthe 



m plantations, every ones judgment can direct, ihe oak le- plantations. 



quires a great space, as the crooked parts thereof are the most 



valuable, and required for the knees and other curved timber 



in ship-building ; but teak is naturally a straight-grained tree, 



and only used in Bengal, or at least in general, for the straight 



work, Sissoo being commonly employed for knees and other 



crooked timber ; iience it may be concluded, that the straighter 



the teak trees grow, the more eligible for every purpose for 



which this timber is generally employed in Bengal. They do 



not, therefore, require to be planted at a great distance, sujxpose 



from si.\, to ten feet, in quincunx order ; by being so close 



they grow straighter^ and protect one another while young, 



which is particularly wanted where violent guiils of wind, such 



as our norih-vvesfers, prevail, ^ When the trees grow up, they ■^ 



can be thinned out to advantage, as the timber of the young 



trees will answer for a variety of uses. The seed of this tree 



we have now in such abundance, as to render a few hundred 



plants, in the hundred biggahs, of little or no importance ; and * 



jf th^ ground on which they are planted is not of the best sort, 



the more necessity there is for planting close. 



Suppose the trees planted in qnincunx order, eight feet asun- 

 der, a Bengal biggah (which I believe is generally reckoned a 

 Bijuare of one hundred and twenty feet) will hold about three 

 hundred and ten trees. 



It will be necessary, during the first ten years, to cut down p^^j;;-;,-,,. (^j. 

 about half of them, say one hundred and seventy, to give the rcctior.s lor 

 rest more room j they are worth one rupee each. cuttiiu' viowu 



Again, at froai ten to tw-enty years, reckon half (eighty-five) &c. 

 of the remaining one hundred and seventy to be cut down, to 

 make still more room for the r*3st, tl>ey will be worih four ru- 

 pees each. 



And again, at from twenty to twenty-five years, it may be 

 necessary to thin them still more, say to another half, (or one- 

 eighth of the original number) which will be worth eight ru- 

 pees each. The remaining forty-two trees, when full grown, 

 8ay in tliirty years, may be expected to have, on an average, 



shafu 



