I Aprin, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 283 
THE SIAMESE TEAK TRADE. 
The total export in 1900 was 38,332 tons ; the bulk of the business in teak, 
both in the forests and _in Bangkok, remains in the hands of British subjects. 
The value of teak intended for Europe was about £10 per ton f.0.b. Prospects 
of a large export in 1902 are good, the floating season during the past year 
having been an exceptional one, and the logs arriving at their duty station at 
Paknampho during the season reached the unprecedented number of 119,931. 
The highest number previously recorded was 76,493 in the season 1898-99, and 
the average for the past ten years is 54,899. This large production (as well as, 
it is said, the inferior quality of some of the timber) has brought prices down 
very rapidly. The measures which the Government are adopting for the 
preservation of forests have now taken more definite shape. Forest leases 
are being renewed only on the condition that no fresh “ girdling” is to be 
allowed, except with special sanction of the forest officer, and only trees which 
are already “girdled” are to be extracted. Half the areas of the forests only 
are to be opened to work, the other half being held in reserve, and the forest 
royalty on full-sized trees is increased from 42 Rs. to 10 Rs. The Forest 
Department is administered by British officials borrowed by the Siamese 
Government from India and Burma.—Jndian Engineering. 
UTILISATION OF SAWDUST. 
In Prussia much use is made of a fuel made from pure sawdust without 
any binding substance. The dust is simply subjected to enormous hydraulic 
pressure, and made into bricks 64 inches long, 34 inches wide, and three- 
quarters of an inch thick. Each brick weighs half-a-pound. They are burnt 
in air-tight stoves, and no smoke is produced, and very little ash is left. Thus, 
it is the most cleanly of all fuels. One of these bricks is heavier than a piece 
of hardwood of the same size, and the edges look like polished oak. In 
consequence of the great popularity of this fuel, sawdust, which at one time 
was worth nothing, has now a regular market value, and, as the supply in the 
neighbourhood vf the factory is insufficient, quantities are imported from 
Sweden. 
If we are not careful with our forests, the time will come when Queens- 
landers will have to burn sawdust bricks, ony the question then arises: If we 
have no timber, where will the sawdust come from ? 
Another use for sawdust has been found by ingenious Europeans, 
Chemists have analysed sawdust—presumably, pine dust—and have found that 
it contains more nutritious matter than straw. The residue of beets contains 
about 50 per cent. of uncrystallisable raw sugar; 75,000 tons of this residue 
are used in Europe for stock feeding. Nowa patent has been applied for in 
Berlin providing for the utilisation of sawdust with melasse as food for animals. 
HONDURAS MAHOGANY. 
In British Honduras or Belize, a colony east of the peninsula of Yucatany 
the different timber belts are most clearly defined. First, there is the coast 
timber—mangroves and tropical jungle or scrub. Next comes a narrow belt, 
one mile wide, of rich alluvial land. Beyond this lie large tracts of sandy, arid 
land called pine ridges, owing to the vast quantities of red pine trees it produces. 
Further inland are the “ cahoon” ridges, with a deep rich soil covered with 
myriads of palm-trees. ‘Then come broad savannahs or plains covered with 
