Part III. ] R. S. Hole : Useful Exotics in Indian Forests. 
3 
dantly in the South of France, the climate must suit it, but it yields no 
mastic. The Laurus sassafras in Europe loses the odour proper to it in 
North America. * * The wood of the American Locust-tree (Robinia) 
when grown in England is nearly worthless, as is that of the Oak-tree 
when grown at the Cape of Good Hope. Hemp and flax, as I hear from 
Dr. Falconer, flourish and yield plenty of seed on the plains of India, 
but their fibres are brittle and useless. Hemp, on the other hand, fails 
to produce in England that resinous matter which is so largely used in 
India as an intoxicating drug. m This fact is particularly important for 
the forester who has to wait many years before he can ascertain the 
quality of the timber produced by any particular species. 
It is probable that this so-called deterioration depends mainly on 
two factors, viz .,— 
(1) That inferior seed is sown. In one and the same species, 
especially if it be a widely distributed and variable one, 
numerous distinct forms may be included which cannot 
conveniently be distinguished in descriptive botany without 
confusing the student of field botany and the practical 
forester, owing to the number of intermediates which occur 
between them. These forms, however, if intercrossing is 
prevented, are frequently capable of transmitting their char¬ 
acters truly to their offspring. Such forms also differ widely 
in their economic importance, and whereas one may yield 
a timber of importance, another is merely a straggling 
worthless shrub. As such forms, however, are not differ¬ 
entiated botanically, the seed of the worthless forms is 
just as likely to be gathered and distributed as is that 
of the more valuable types. The species Catalpa speciosa, 
Engelm., for instance, which of recent years has been 
widely sown in India, is said to include a form which 
gives only crooked and worthless trees and from the results 
obtained in at least one Indian Division where the seedlings 
of this tree have survived it appears that they belong to 
the worthless form. Again, a consignment of seed of 
Prosopis juliflora, DC., was sent to India from the Botani¬ 
cal Department of Jamaica about 1884 with the following 
description “ an admirable tree (often attaining a height 
‘ Animals and Plants under Domestication, 2nd Ed., ]893, II, p. 264. 
[ 127 ] 
Deterioration 
due to two 
factors. 
Inferior seed. 
