588 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [March  2,  1896. 
ALAIMETIES  oK  WOOD  MOKE,  EE^5S,  OK 
NOT  SLITAI’.LE  EOlt  TEA  CHESTS 
{'/ /an.'lafed  Jor  the  J ro/ncal  ” from 
“ I/, Lilian iitii.’  ) 
Tea  cultivation  in  J.iva,  as  has  Ijcen  the  case  with 
other  cultivations,  has  entered  uijou  its  } cars  of  strict 
eoononiy.  In  the  good  old  times  this  was  not  so. 
Then  it  was  prolit.  But  necessity  teaches  one  to 
pray ; and  the  regally  fortunate  planters  in  that 
golden  time  would  certainly  have  laughed,  if  they 
had  been  told,  that  a pound  of  tea  cau  be  made 
and  delivered  for  the  price  that  it  now  costs  the 
planter. 
Amazingly  instructive  is  such  a compulsory  eco- 
noiny.  If  only  the  old  prices  came  back  again  now  ! 
This  si^h  is  generally  uttered  when  once  again  a lot 
of  tea  is  sold  on  less  favorable  terms.  But  they  have 
not  yet  come  back ; and  pi  obably  never  will. 
It  is  fortunate  that  tea  cultivation  in  .lava,  in 
this  “struggle  for  existence,’’  still  holds  its  own.* 
In  such  a general  economizing  attention  must 
be  given  to  every  detail.  One  of  these  details  is  the 
article  of  ten 
As  a rule  the  planter  makes  his  chests  himself. 
Only  a few  are  in  a position  to  buy  chests  cheaply. 
The  transport  and  the  profit  which  the  contractor 
must  naturally  have  make  it  too  e.vpensive.  A sawing 
machine  is  found  upon  almost  every  estate.  Some 
of  the  larger  ones  have  frame-saws ; but  a single 
circular  saw,  driven  by  a water-w'heel,  cau  abundantly 
supply  the  need,  and,  without  much  trouble,  yield 
planks  for  b,000  to  10,00U  chests,  representing  a produc- 
tion of  640,000  to  800,000  half-kilos  of  tea. 
Sawing  is  best  done  with  the  hand;  blocks  of  wood, 
still  round  and  with  the  bark  on  them,  cut  up  or 
sawn  off  to  the  length  of  the  desired  planks,  are 
guided  by  the  hand  toward  the  saw,  w'hich  turns  at 
a speed  of  600  to  1000  revolutions  per  minute.  This 
method  of  dealing  would  not  succeed  if  hard  kinds  of 
wood  had  to  be  operated  upon.  Tea-chest  wood  must 
be  light,  and  at  least  so  firm  of  fibre  that  a wire- 
nail  will  hold  firmly  in  it.  Further,  it  must  dry 
easily,  and  not  get  mouldy  too  quickly  or  shrink  too 
much. 
Formerly  the  wild  timber  of  the  Government 
forests  was  mostly  utilized.  Innumerable  \ aricties 
of  all  kinds  of  woods  are  to  be  found  in  these  forests. 
.Hut,  partly  because  the  distances,  and  therefore  also 
the  co.st  of  trans])Ovt.  are  too  great,  or  liecause  the 
tariff  for  those  tinds  of  timber,  even  the  lowest,  of 
I -5th  of  wood,  is  still  too  higdi.  tlio  planter  liad 
to  seek  ocher  sources,  which  were  found  in  kam/ioinf 
timber  or  their  own  planting.  The  lam/joii;/,  witli 
their  surrounding  little  gardens,  hocman.  i-avines,  Ac., 
yield  a number  of  varieties  of  wood,  suitable  for  the 
purpose.  Many  fruit-trees,  which  in  the  lower  dis- 
tricts yield  sweet,  juicy  fruits,  grow  well  in  the  moun- 
tains, but  yield  fruits  edible  only  by  natives  or 
quadrumanous  inhabitants  of  the  forest,  tout  soil  peu. 
Experience  teaches,  that  the  value  of  the  timber  of 
nangka,  docren,  rambutan,  mango,  dJeroc/.'-hesar,  jambu, 
Ac.,  gi-owing  at  3000  feet,  is  greater  than  that  of  the 
fruit.  For  the  tea  planter,  moreover,  there  is  gener- 
ally the  full  opportunity  of  making  himself  inuepen- 
dent  with  his  own  timber  by  planting  along  roads 
and  paths  or  in  ravines,  or  if  need  be  by  systematic 
forest  cultivation. 
What  variety  oi  wood  is  ihc  best  for  tea  chests  is 
still  an  open  (|UCstion.  So  long  as  that  is  nut  decided 
and  an  abunciaiico  thereof  ]ilaiit(;d,  the  plante)-  will 
still  have  to  content  himscit  with  a number  of 
varieties  of  w^ood,  which  are  more  or  less  suitable, 
and  he  will  often  liave  experience  of  varieties  of 
wood  which  are  uol  suitable  for  tea  chests. 
At  a medium  elevation  of  tJOttO  feet,  in  the  heart 
of  the  Breanger,  the  tea-planter-chest-maker  has  to 
do  with  the  varieties  of  wood  mentioned  in  tlie  fol- 
lowing list.  This  cannot  make  the  least  claim  to 
completeness.  Many  varieties  of  trees,  however,  exist 
in  large  numbeis  in  some  places,  in  others  sporadi- 
cally or  not  at  all.  Of  tho  varieties  of  trees  from 
* The  words  from  ‘‘ struggle  " to  “owu”  are  given 
the  primeval  forest  only  a portion  of  the  best  known 
an  I most  important,  or  that  exists  plentifully  in  the 
forest  ravines  outside  the  primeval  forest,  have  been 
examined.  A * denotes  the  varieties  that  are  suita- 
ble for  tea  chests,  and  those  that  are  specially 
noteworthy,  to  be  bought  up  or  planted. 
For  the  correctness  of  the  Sundanese  names,  the 
writer  can  answer  only  so  far  as  they  are  in  use 
in  his  immediate  neighbourhood,  viz.,  the  Malabar 
mountains  to  the  south  of  Bandoeng.  For  the  rest, 
most  of  the  Sundanese  names  are  pretty  general  over 
a lai'ge  portion  of  the  Preanger,  if  one  does 
not  attach  too  much  credit  to  the  unsubstantiated 
information  which  one  sometimes  gets.  Not  all 
natives  arc  good  arborists.  The  Latin  generic  names 
are  taken  from  “Filet”  and  from  the  botanical 
dictionary  of  the  trees  of  Java  by  S.  H.  Koorders, 
In  that  pr-oviuce,  even  in  the  generic  names,  great 
confusion  still  prevails.  Each  writer  favours  quite 
distinct  names.  I have  ventured  to  retain  several 
well-know  n names  from  “ Filet,  ” although  in  the  work 
of  Mr.  Koorders  quite  different  ones  are  found.  For 
some  it  was  not  possible  to  give  a Latin  name 
except  by  means  of  a lucky  guess.  The  spelling  of 
the  Sundanese  names  differs  in  many  points  from 
that  followed  by  Mr.  Koorders.  The  simple  and 
rational  method  of  spelling  of  Geerdink-Coolsma  in 
my  opinion  deserves  the  preference.* 
1 Albasiii.*'^  Alhizuia  nioluccana.  A tree  of  great 
virtues  and  great  faults.  No  variety  of  tree  yields, 
in  a short  time,  so  great  a quantity  of  w'ood,  of  very 
useful  quality.  The  wood  is  somewhat  too  soft,  and 
must  therefore  be  sawn  somewhat  thicker  and  be 
fastened  with  longer  nails.  It  is  however  very  uni- 
form, di’ies  quickly,  does  not  shrink  much,  and  is 
pleasantly  smooth  to  plane.  The  tree  grows 
everywhere  luxuriantly  and  incredibly  quickly,  but 
one  loses  much  wood  (1st)  by  the  wind,  which  often 
breaks  off  the  largest  branches  or  causes  the  tree 
to  split  down  to  the  roots  ; (2nd)  by  a green  hoktor, 
striped  with  yellow-brown  on  the  wing-cases,  w'hich 
attacks  the  tree  and  causes  it  to  die  off  on  a large 
scale.  The  bark  then  falls  off  in  pieces,  and  the 
wood  is  riddled  like  a s))ongo  by  the  larvee  of  this 
chafer.  As  soon  as  one  sees  dying  at  the  foot  a 
(inc  wood  dust,  that  makes  its  appearance  through 
small  holes  in  the  Itark,  aud  gives  the  first  intimation 
that  the  tree  is  doomed,  it  must  l)e  speedily  cut  down. 
2.  Adi/rit.  ifiPi-fvs  spec.  (See  No.  3;!  Kojaiir/.t 
3.  Il'iros.*  .Ifoiig/i/tia  spec.  This  tree  has  its 
liome  in  the  primeval  forests.  Tite  wood  is  hand- 
some in  appearance,  greenish,  yellow-brown,  but 
somew’hat  brittle.  Also  very  suitable  for  building. 
The  old  trees  are  mostly  called  Jfcniglid. 
4.  Belakclehe.*  Echinocarpm  spec.  Wood  very 
good  for  chests.  Comparatively  rare.  Is  very  heavy. 
5.  lieunjing.  Eicus.  (See  No.  42  Kiora.) 
6.  Hintinoe.*  Jlelochia  spec.  (Koorders).  Good 
and  useful,  but  even  from  older  stems  somewhat 
too  hard ; but  seldom  of  sufficient  proportions. 
7.  Biroc.*  Canariopsis  spec.  (Filet).  A handsome, 
good  wood;  seldom  met  with. 
8.  Ilisoro.  Eicus  spec.  (Bee  No.  42  h'iara.) 
9.  Jloengoer.  Lagerstroemia  spec.  This  tree,  which 
is  every  year  covered  with  rose  or  violet  flowers, 
yields  an  cxtreinely  hard  wood,  valued  in  the 
Government  tariff  equally  with  djati. 
10.  Hocturoeira.  Oticrrus  spec.  (See  No  .33  Kajaiig.i 
11.  Minipilha  spec.  div.  The  wood  of  the  varie- 
ties of  mango  is  too  hard  and  too  heavy  for  tea 
chests.  Witli  the  exception  of  Jjimors,  and  the  wild- 
growing Pari,  all  varieties  of  the  mango  are  called 
in  the  Preanger  Boewah,  not  only  the  fruit,  but 
also  the  tree. 
12.  Dadap.  Ergflirina  spec.  div.  All  the  varieties 
of  dadap,  as  also  tho  thorny  Dadap  Ijoetjoek  and 
the  TjavrjHiiii,  must  bo  condemned.  The  wood  is  too 
spongy. 
13.  Daiiiar.*  Daiiimara  spec.  (I'ilet).  Is  specially 
planted  for  tea  chests,  in  lower  lying  districts.  At 
* In  tho  Dutch  system  of  spelling  Malayan  words 
(c  = English  rw,  ci(  = Eng.  u in  burn,  y’-i-Eug.  y,  d! 
Eng.  J,  iT/'. 
