10 MIDDLEM1SS: PHYSICAL GEOLOGY OF SUB-HIMALAYA. 



tree (Butea frondosa), which is then in bloom. The wood of the 

 Sissoo is valuable for its strength and elasticity, and is used for 

 carriages, camel-saddles, and agricultural implements. It is also a 

 beautiful furniture wood. The Khair is a very hard wood, and was 

 formerly used for sugar mills, but is now superseded by iron in this 

 respect. It is principally useful for making catechu, which is em- 

 ployed in dyeing and tanning, and also medicinally as an astringent. 

 In ravines and damp places among the Sa*l covered hills grow the 

 Soanjna {Moringa pterygosperma) and the Jaman (Eugenia jam- 

 bolana). 



Another special feature of the Sub-Himalayan zone is the Bamboo 

 (Dendrocalamus strzctus), which takes the place 

 of Bambusa of South India. Its feathery foliage 

 adds a graceful appearance to the drier and more stony low ground 

 and hollows at the foot of the hills, where it is generally to be met 

 with, though it also extends up the hill-slopes themselves, preferring 

 those with a southern aspect. Its uses are proverbial, and next to 

 the Sal tree it is the most important product of these forests. It 

 is easily cut and carried away, needing but an axe to shape it. The 

 sale of it brings a large revenue to the Forest Department : the 

 average annual amount realised during the years 1 881-1886, in the 

 Ganges Division of forests alone, was R32,g84. 1 



There are a number of other forest trees, which are found in 



certain places amongst the Sell, and are worth 

 Other useful woods. . ° . 



mentioning here as being useful woods, lne 



principal are Sain (Terminalia tomentosa), which may be considered 



as the complement of Sell, since it favours a clayey soil, whilst the 



latter will not thrive on a stiff soil. It is largely used as fuel, for 



building purposes, for making potash, and the leaves are eaten by the 



tussah silkworm. Gosam or Kusam [Schleicher a trijuga)^ which 



also affects clayey soil, and is remarkable for its hardness, and is made 



into sugar-crushers, rollers, harrow-teeth, ploughs, &c. Hair (Termi- 



1 See Working-Plan of Ganges Working Circle (Forests), p. 31, by N. Hearle, 

 Deputy Conservator of Forests. 



( 68 ) 



