than those prescribed. The framer may have overlooked some obvious improvements and new circumstances calling for unforseen works are almost certain to arise within the decenuary. It would seem best, therefore, to allow them more latitude than they at present enjoy in areas under working plans.

It is to be deplored that working plans are not more widely circulated. Personally, I should like to read every plan as it comes out, whether it be good, bad or indifferent. I believe such a course would be of great service to working plans officers in particular, as they could shift the chaff from the wheat, obtaining valuable hints for their own work. The working plan for Thana, to take an instance, with its 300 odd working circles could not, I am sure, but fail to be instructive.

The Indian Forester might also give us a brief summary of these plans as they appear, together with a short critical review.

TAU THA.

MADAGASCAR TEAK AND MALABAR MAHOGANY.

Can

any of our readers tell us about these? The following extract from the Report of a great sale held in October at the Baltic' sale rooms, chiefly of Mahogany and other cabinet woods, shews that an attempt was made to sell these woods in London but unsuccessfully.

Madagascar teak, ex Linda, was duly offered as a substitute 'for East India teak, to which it was said to be similar and by some even better. The broker was most anxious to sell, and offered it at low and tempting prices, but there was no response ' and he then said he should be happy to treat for it in private'the Hazina wood, ex same ship, was put in at 6d, and with difficulty forced up to 11d. without reserve. Two lots of furniture wood were sold at 1d. and 14d. respectively, and the six 'lots of Malabar mahogany, ex Peshawar, were passed without a bid."

We remember once seeing the Prospectus of a Madagascar company in which it was gravely set forth that the forests were full of "teak, mahogany, ebony and other valuable timber." The promoters presumably wished it to be thought that the teak was the same tree as the East Indian and that the mahogany was undoubtedly the proper thing.

At the same sale, we see that Padouk sold at £2-10 per ton which is only 1d. per cubic foot but that East Indian Ebony fetched 3s. per cubic foot and East India Walnut 1s. 7d. Both were shipped from Bombay. What forests did the Walnut come from? Can any one tell us?

CULTIVATION OF TEAK IN JAVA,

The following abstract, which is taken from the Colonial Report for the year 1890, shows the area of the plantations of Djati (Tectona Grandis, Linn. fil.) in the different provinces of Java as well as the area of natural teak forest in each province.

The abstract further shows how many acres have been planted during the last year.

A total area of 5,098 acres was planted in the rainy season of 1888-89 (1st June 1888 to 1st June 1889). The total cost of this was £5,237 or a little more than £1 per acre.

The new plantations have been surveyed and mapped. All these plantations were voluntarily carried out by the natives under the superintendence of a native forest officer at a rate varying from 10s. to £1 per acre successfully stocked. Last year's plantations were carried out according to the so-called Burmese method of planting, as this method has been proved to give the best results here. TABLE SHOWING TOTAL TEAK-PRODUCING AREAS IN

JAVA IN 1889.

TEAK PLANTATIONS.

K.

The above paper was was received in German from our correspondent and we are indebted to Mr. C. G. Rogers for the translation and for kindly transforming the figures into English standards; a hectare has been taken equal to 2:47 acres and a florin or gulden equivalent to 1-88.

HON. ED.

FOREST FLORA OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN.

We are indebted to Mr. J. H. Lace, F. L. S.. of the Punjab Forest Department, for a copy of the paper by himself and Mr. W. B. Hemsley, F. R. S., of Kew, on the vegetation of British Baluchistan which was published in volume XXVIII of the Transactions of the Linnean Society. From his paper we extract the following account of the vegetation of the Forests of the country, which we think will prove of interest to our readers.

FORESTS.

The juniper, Juniperus macropoda, is the only tree which forms forests of any extent, the best of them situated some sixty miles east of Quetta, in the neighbourhood of Ziarat, and extending over more than 200 square miles of country. There also remain a few square miles of juniper on the Zarghan range but in this direction a great deal has been destroyed to keep Quetua supplied with fuel for the troops and public works. The juniper usually exists in open forest. Trees with clean boles are very rare, and they are generally branched from the base, the lowest branches being often burried in leaf detritus near the trunk, and their extreme ends taking an upward turn, give them the appearance of young trees surrounding the old one. The trees often take the most fantastic shapes, their branches being gnarled and twisted in every direction, and when their main shoots have been cut off many feet from the ground, which is often the case, they assume a candelabra shape.

The growth of the juniper is very slow, yet it attains twenty feet in girth and occasionally seventy feet in heigh. Although it reproduces itself from seed, very few of the seedlings survive, owing chiefly to climatic conditions. The wood is light, has little strength, and burns quickly, and is employed extensively in building, principally for rafters, but it is even more extensively used for fuel. The bark is of immense thickness at the base of old trees and is taken off in long pliant strips by the Pathans, who use it for roofing their huts. A kind of liquid called "Doshah" is prepared from the fruit, and the fruit is also employed in curing

shins.

Pistacia mutica var. cabulica is common on some of the arid, stony hills and in dry watercourses, from 4,000 to 7,500 feet, for instance at Gwal Dozan in the Bolan Pass, at the base of the Chihiltán and Mashalak ranges, on the Khwaja Amran, near Anambar, and in other localities. At the last named place it has grown up in the midst of large bushes or small trees of Acacia modesta, the latter affording it protection from being grazed by camels, sheep, and goats, and this may well be called the meeting point of the typical trees of the low hills of Baluchistan and the

Punjab. This Pistachio-tree never forms forests, but is usually gregarious, or scattered at intervals over the ground, the very best portions being somewhat like a very open orchard. It attains 20-25 feet in height and 6-10 feet in girt; and the short and clean bole is surmounted by a large, ample crown, the outline of which is almost semicircular in a well grown tree. The wood is very hard, dark, and finely grained, and is a most excellent firewood, in fact the best in the country. The fruit, called "Shnee," only abundant every third year is much prized by the people. This species is easily distinguished from P. Khinjak, which usually occurs as a shrub in clefts of limestone rocks between 5,000 and 6 000 feet, or near Hurnai as a tree 20 feet high, much branched from the base, by its leaves and its bark. The bark of P. Khinjak is light grey in colour on the exterior and reddish brown inside, and is smooth and exfoliating, whereas that of Pistacia mutica var. cabulica is dark brown with longitudinal fissures. The two species are distinguished by the natives, who call P. Khinjak "Ushgai" or " Bazgai," and Pistacia mutica var. cabulica Gwan (Baluchi), "Khanjak (Peshin) "Badwan" (Hurnai). These native names are worth recordin because evidently P. Khinjak received its name from "Khanjak," though in Boissier's 'Flora Orientalis' the description of that species correponds to what the people call "Ushgai," and that of P. cabulica with the real "Khanjak."

g,

The common olive is another small gregarious tree scattered over larger areas than the Pistachio, and usually at a lower altitude, it range being between 2,500 and 6,500 feet. It is abundant in the ravines and sheltered situations on the south sides of the Khalipat range, on the cliffs of the Wám and Mehráb rifts, and it is said that there are some very fine groves of it in the Zhob valley.

Between the Wám rift and Hurnai, at 3,500 feet, a broad, stony, usually dry watercourse is covered with a curious mixture of tree-growth, forming a fairly thick jungle. The chief element is Dalbergia Sissoo, which attains some size, and this is mixed with Tecoma undulata, Olea, and Pistacia; the principal underwoods being Dodonaa viscosa, Grewia oppositifolia, Periploca aphylla, Gymnosporia montana, Rhamnus persicus, Zizyphus oxyphylla, and Sageretia Brandrethiana.

In the Thal-Chotiali district, along the banks of the Narechi river and in the Pujjha valley, Populus euphratica forms a fringe, with a belt of Tamarix articulata on each side, forming forest in places.

A CONVENIENT FORMULA FOR SURVEYORS.

It is desirable, when a closed traverse is made with a compass, to test the accuracy of the bearings taken, by what is known among Surveyors as "putting up." This is simply an application of Euclid I. 32, Cor. 1, which proves that all the interior angles of any rectilineal figure, together with four right angles, are equal to twice as many right angles as the figure has sides. To be able to apply this test, one must first find out the interior angles from the bearings.

Also when a survey has been plotted, it can be very easily checked with only a rectangalar protractor, if the interior angles are known.

The interior angles can be worked out geometrically, but the process is rather puzzling, and when a large number of them are required, becomes extremely tedious. Hence the utility of a general formula by means of which the angles can be worked out seriatim almost mechanically, and with a little practice, even mentally.

As I have not seen such a formula in any of the well known books on Surveying, I give one below, trusting it will be useful to those, who, like myself, have often to do survey works in the forest.

FORMULA. From the bearing of the second line subtract that of the first. If the difference is between 180 degrees, and -180 degrees, add 180 degrees to it; if it is less than-180 degree, add 540 degrees; but if greater than 180 degrees subtract 180 degrees from it.

It will be observed that the angle thus obtained will be the angle towards the left of the surveyor. As it is the rule in traverses to go round the area to be surveyed anti-clockwise, this left hand angle is almost always the interior angle required. Should, however, a survey be made with the area to the right, the only alteration necessary in the rule would be " From the bearing of the first line subtract that of the second." The rest will hold good in both cases.

DEHRA DUN Sept. 22nd, 1891.

UPENDRANATH KANJI LAL.

DR. SCHLICH'S MANUAL

DEAR MR. EDITOR,

Some time ago I wrote some criticisms on Dr. Schlich's Manual of Forestry (Vol. XVI No. 8 p. 304), Since then I have had the pleasure, during a short trip home, of meeting Mr. Fisher who is Dr. Schlich's Assistant at Cooper's Hill. In continuation