161 
Indian forest Records. 
[Yol. II. 
roots of the latter, whereas Ib certain dry localities near Bangalore, 
such as portions of the Peniyam Eeserve, the sandal is stunted and 
sickly in the company of the same Cassia. A similar thing has been 
observed in the case of some other species such as Acacia leuco^hloea 
and Albizzia amara. The extent to which a species is attacked by 
sandal seems to be influenced, apart from the suitability of that 
species as a host, by a number of other factors such as the physical 
condition of the soil and its drainage, on which the development 
and ramiflcation of the root-systems of the host and the guest 
depend to a considerable degree, on the toughness or softness and the 
dryness or sappines of the living bark of the host, and so on. I 
have generally found that roots with thick and sappy barks such as 
those of the numerous genera of Leguminosse are more largely 
attacked than those with dry and tough bai’ks like the roots of 
Elaodcndron Roxhiirgliii , Anona squamosa, etc. Without a thor- 
cugh and exhaustive examination of the roots of all species of 
plants indigenous in the habitat of sandalwood and which are 
attacked by it — a work too stupendous for any Forest Ofiicer to 
undertake in addition to his multifarious other duties — it is impos- 
sible to give an exact and precise account of the degree or extent 
to which sandal preys upon other species of plants. But so far as 
my investigations into the root-systems of some of its host-plants 
and of its growth in their company have gone, they indicate a 
strong tendency in the sandal to select certain species of plants in 
preference to others. On examining the root-system of a sandal- 
wood tree at Quilon growing on sandy soil in the company of 
Camilla Iiicida, Cashew, Grewia Microcos, Lantana and Karalan- 
kodi [Heterostemma), I found root-attachments of sandal with 
Lantana, Karalanhodi and Cashew, but few or no attachments with 
the Corallia and Grewia Microcos, although their roots and those 
of the sandal crossed each other frequently. This fact has been 
corroborated by the results of the nursery experiments made in 
Diguvainetta and Kurnool, where sandal seedlings were raised with 
different kinds of hosts, and it was found that with some hosts 
like the Pongamia glabra and Gossypium arboreuvi the sandal 
formed numerous attachments and grew vei’y vigorously, while with 
other hosts like the plantain its root-attachments were fewer and its 
growth was much slower and less vigorous.^ Dr. Barber’s studies 
* My “ Notes on Sandal.” — Indian Forest Records, Volume II, Part III. 
