and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



189 



Tapping. 



Have you any decided views on tapping ? — 

 I believe in tapping every day and as much as 

 you can but I also believe in giving the tree a 

 rest now and again for a month at a time. Some 

 people go in for the every other day tapping. 

 I think that is a mistake. 



Form of Preparation. 

 What sort of rubber do you chiefly prepare, 

 Mr Moorhouse? — The ordinary crepe and sheet. 

 Malacca is going to be a very good place for 

 turning out good quality rubber because cf the 

 good water we have there. 



Mr Moorhouse comes of a family of planters. 

 He is at present accompanied by his brother, 

 Mr T O Moorhouse, who is opening up an estate 

 with his father, Mr T H Moorhouse, in Johore. 



ANDAMAN MARBLE-WOOD OR 

 ZEBRA-WOOD. 



From Forest Pamphlet No. 7 of the Forest 

 Economy Series No. 2 on Diospyros Kicrzii, 

 Hiern by R S Troup, f.c.h., Imperial Forest 

 Economist to the Government of India, we ex- 

 tract below. [The frontispiece is an excellently 

 marked thin strip of the wood, set in a thick 

 paper frame.] 



Mr Troup, writing from Dehra Dun, 28th Jan. 

 1909, says : — "This publication is the first of a 

 series dealing with some of the more important 

 Indian timbers, many of which are at present in- 

 sufficiently known in commercial circles. Simi- 

 lar pamphlets on other timbers will be brought 

 out from time to time, and will contain such 

 information as is likely to be of use to wood 

 merchants, engineers, architects and others 

 interested in the utilisation of Indian timbers." 



Vernacular Names. — Pecha-da, And. ; Kala 

 lakri Hind, (in Andamans) ; Thitkya, Burm. (in 

 Andamans. ) 



Distribution.— Throughout the Andamans ; 

 also found in the Nicobars and Ooco Islands, 

 (rare, according to Prain, on Great Coco Island.) 



Type of Forest. — The tree is found scattered 

 in semi-deciduous and evergreen forests at ele- 

 vations of about 50 to 300 feet, usually on low- 

 lying and undulating ground. According to Mr 

 B B Osmaston, it is never gregarious or very 

 numerous. Often 1 or 2 mature trees may be 

 found to the acre, and sometimes more, in 

 small patches. Mr Osmaston also states that 

 natural reproduction of the species is fair, and 

 that artificial methods of reproduction have not 

 been tried. 



Description and Size of Tree.— An ever- 

 green tree with smooth thin grey bark. Kurz 

 states that it attains a height of 50 to 60 feet 

 with a clear stem of 25 fe&t and a girth of 6 feet, 

 but according to Mr Osmaston, this is only ex- 

 ceptionally the case in the Andamans, the tree 

 reaching a height of 40 to 50 feet with a clear 

 bole of 15 to 20 feet and a girth up to 5 feet. 



Size of Timber Obtainable. — Mr Osmaston 

 states that logs extracted average about 2i feet 

 mid girth, but that as the heartwood is small, 

 squares of over 6 inches siding are unobtain- 

 able. Mr C G Kogers is of opinion that in forest 

 which has not previously been worked squares 

 up to 9 inches siding could be obtained. Some 

 years ago Mr Heinig reported that it squared 

 no to 20 feet long with siding up to 9 inches, 

 while Mr Ferrars gave the length as 20 feet with 

 siding up to 12 inches. From this it is evident 

 that the larger sized timber has to some extent 

 been cut out in accessible localities. Mr Osmas- 

 ton further states that a log of 12 cubic feet 

 would yield on an average only about 1 cubic 

 foot of converted heartwood. Mr Kogers be- 

 lieves that with regular working, resulting in 

 the improvement of the forests, a larger pro- 

 portion of good heartwood could be obtained, 

 because many of the trees now available are 

 over-mature, and full of faults. 



Description of Wood. 



Marble-wood, like the " Calamander-wood " 

 of Ceylon (Diospyros quoesita, Thw.), is a varie- 

 gated ebony, the chief value of which, for orna- 

 mental purposes, lies in the remarkable effect 

 produced by alternating streaks of black and 

 grey. Gamble's description may here be 

 quoted — "Wood hard : sapwood grey: heartwood 

 streaked black and grey in more or less alter- 

 nate layers, or rarely quite black. Pores small 

 and very small, scanty. Medullary rays very 

 fine, numerous, uniform and equidistant. Trans- 

 verse bars very fine, numerous, irregular, faint." 

 I have had an opportunity of examining a 

 number of specimens of the wood, with special 

 regard to variations in marking The grey mark- 

 ings are of various shades and sometimes have 

 a pinkish tinge. The dark markings also vary 

 in intensity, merging from jet black, sometimes 

 with a deep purplish tint, into brown or greyish 

 brown. The greater the contrast between the 

 dark and light markings, the handsomer is the 

 specimen. 



Mr. Herbert Stone's Report. 



In 1907 I sent a sample of marble-wood to Mr 

 Herbert Stone, of Birmingham, the well-known 

 specialist on timbers. He has kindly examined 

 the specimen, and reports as fullows, on it : — 



"This wood is well-known to turners and makers of 'Tun- 

 bridgeware,' but it is surprising how rarely one sees it in 

 use. I cannot recall having seen a piece of furniture in 

 which Marble-wood was used. Nevertheless, it is highly 

 spoken of by men in the trade, and I suspect that the irre- 

 gularity of the supply, coupled with high price, may have 

 something to do with its limited use. I do not doubt that 

 all that can be sent over here will be readily purchased. 

 The specimen is a very good sample and quite marketable. 

 The greater the contrast between the alternate bands of 

 ebony and whitewood, the more valuable it will be, and I 

 suggest that logs in which the lighter bands are too brown 

 should be carefully weeded out. We are now so much 

 accustomed to seeing ebony opening brown, that logs 

 of marble-wood in which the bands aie not quite white 

 will be taken for a very inferior ebony, and the trade 

 will be prejudiced. Ebony, now-a-days, is not so black 

 as it is painted, or rather stained. I found the sample 

 hard to saw, as might be expected, hard to plane, but 

 coming up to almost a natural polish, and excellent to 

 turn. It is a true turner's wood and is not nearly so 

 brittle as ebony. Polish makes the black parts blacker, 

 which is good, but it also makes the brown bands 

 browner, which is bad. It needs a little study and special 

 treatment. The effect when polished is very tine. I, aslett 

 says that it is one of the handsomest timbers in the 

 world, and I fully agree with him." 



