TEAK PLANTATIONS. 305 



and being convinced that the shell ought to be cleared of the 

 spongy coating before being put into the ground," Mr Graham 

 had six. thousand so cleared with the knife, and had them sown, 

 on the 4th of January 1843, " in beds of about sixteen yards 

 long, and one and a quarter broad, along with fourteen thousand 

 prepared by fire, the whole covered over with a light coating of 

 hay; and in sixteen clays after they had been put into the ground, 

 on removing the old hay to replace it with fresh, I discovered 

 that five of the seeds cleared with the knife, and one of those pre- 

 pared by fire, had vegetated." 



Shortly after the above experiments, Mr Graham discovered that 

 the white ants could be usefully employed in clearing the seeds ; 

 he therefore intended trying some seeds from which these insects 

 had taken off the spongy coating, and reporting the result.* 



m. pekeottbt's report. 



M. Perrottet, in his report, first notices the necessity of pre- 

 serving the teak trees from injury by the natives. He says : — 



" Everywhere I remarked that the trees which constitute these 

 forests were mutilated by the people living in the neighbour- 

 hood. "Whenever these men are in want of a piece of wood for 

 the handle of a work-tool, or any other purpose, they go and 

 procure it for themselves in the woods, cutting at random, and 

 without any precaution ; from whence it follows that the trunk 

 thus mutilated shoots again with difficulty, and the shoots pro- 

 duced are crooked and stunted." 



M. Perrottet accordingly recommended the fencing of these 

 forests, " to show that it is forbidden to enter them," and to hold 

 the tahsildar responsible for injury done to the trees. The nur- 

 series which were formed on " separate ground, for the purpose 

 of raising teak plants, M. Perrottet entirely condemned, as being, 

 in his opinion, " a ruinous system, and one which will never 



* Dr Brandis lays great stress upon strewing the seeds on the surface. 

 Mr Gordon of Moulmein states that the dry and ripe seeds brought in from 

 the* villages are strewed on the ground, and readily germinate in eight, 

 ten, or twenty days ; but many do not sprout, and many are lost during 

 transplantation. — H. 0. 



2 A 2. 



