4 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. VI 
are ever expanding and that the rate of construction is likely to increase 
very considerably after the war, so that not only will large numbers 
of sleepers be required for new lines, but the annual recurring demand 
for maintenance will also be increased. Such conditions further demon¬ 
strate the great importance of searching for new supplies of sleeper 
woods in India, the solution to which problem lies, without doubt, in the 
more extensive utilization of treated sleepers. 
Taking the above facts into consideration, it was obviously incumbent 
on the Forest Department to endeavour not only to find new outlets 
for its timber but, as the largest timber-supplying agency in the country, 
to endeavour to put forward practical proposals by which the necessary 
supplies of sleepers could be obtained by the State and other Railway 
Companies. The most obvious step was for the Forest Department to 
turn its attention to those species found in the State Forests, the 
timber of which was mechanically suitable and which, after careful treat¬ 
ment, could be rendered sufficiently durable to meet the requirements of 
the Railway Engineers. The next step necessary to ensure success in 
such an investigation was to determine the available outturn and cost 
of extraction of suitable timbers, and then to proceed with the necessary 
experiments. The following chapters deal with the results of the invest¬ 
igations, experiments and conclusions deduced from the enquiry. 
PART II. 
THE RESULTS OF LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS. 
1. Object of the Laboratory Experiments. 
Laboratory experiments, of which a full description is given in the 
previous publication on this subject, were instituted in order O') to obtain 
a rough idea as to the most suitable antiseptics or groups of antiseptic 
oils or salts with which to conduct tests in the field, (ii) to deternrne 
the relative absorption by soft, moderately soft and hard woods when 
treated in Open Tanks, and the corresponding period of immersion re¬ 
quired for each species, (Hi) to obtain data as to the durability of the 
treated specimens, and lastly (iv) to obtain a rough estimate of the pro¬ 
bable cost of treatment. Results obtained from such experiments can 
only bo considered as a stepping-stone to more exhaustive trials and, 
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