covered lightly with dried grass (hay is the term used) in order to protect them from the sun. Only a few of the seeds germinated.

Graham carried out other experiments. He applied fire to the seeds, but was convinced that this method destroyed the seed inside. He then threw some of the seeds into water and found that "the coating acted like a sponge and contained so much water as to convince me that the shell and seed must rot before the time usual for the seed's vegetation, which is mentioned in the tehsildar's letter to be forty days." Becoming convinced that the shell must be got rid of, Graham had 6000 cleared with the knife, and sowed them on 4th January, 1843, together with 14,000 prepared by fire. Some germinated, but the result was a failure.

M. Perotett's Report.-After making some rather inadequate remarks on the protection of the forests, which displayed an ignorance of the local tropical conditions of growth, Perotett recommended that in order to prepare the seed before sowing, the seeds should be stratified either in boxes or in damp warm soil sheltered from the sun. The process to be observed if a box was used was to place in it successive layers of earth composed of vegetable manure and seeds till the box was filled, taking care, however, that the box was not so deep as to cause the seeds at the bottom to rot. This mass was to be frequently watered for forty days, by which time it was expected the seeds would germinate, when they might be carried to suitable spots in the forests and placed in couples or triplets in holes of about two inches at the deepest and slightly covered with earth. These holes were to be at a distance of about 6 feet apart. Dr.Wight's Opinion.-Dr. Wight did not agree with Graham's idea of removing the seed-covering with a knife, expressing the opinion that Nature gave the seed the covering for the purpose of promoting its fertility. He instanced the cinnamon seed as having a similar covering which was essential to its vegetating. Cinnamon seed, he said, was gathered into heaps and covered lightly with straw or fern, when in a few days fermentation was caused, heat germinated and the vegetation commenced. Wight thought, therefore, that instead of the teak seed rotting, as Graham supposed, when the spongy coating became full of water, the contrary would be the result, and for that purpose not only must the sponge be filled with water, but it must be kept constantly moist until vegetation begins. On the cinnamon seed analogy Wight therefore advised Conolly to try two

methods, first, by making a heap of teak seeds, previously soaked for an hour in water, and leaving them to ferment. They might then be sown in shaded beds of very light, sandy, well-moistened soil and covered with fallen leaves sprinkled over with a little soil; these arrangements should be completed before the rains, till which time the beds should be kept moist by watering. The second plan was to throw the seeds into nearly boiling water, 180° to 200° F., and leave them there till the water cooled and then proceed as in the former case. Wight said his suggestions" were merely theoretical," but added, "of one thing I am quite sure, that much moisture is required, and I strongly suspect the heat of fermentation, which is naturally produced at the beginning of the rains, when heaps of decaying vegetation happen to be accumulated, and that it is in such situations the seeds sprout." Graham does not appear to have agreed with either of the above reports, and shortly afterwards resigned his post. Conolly again urged the appointment of an expert arboriculturist, in which he was supported by his Government, the request being favourably recommended to the Court of Directors. Pending their decision Conolly was authorised to appoint temporarily a native Sub-Conservator on a salary of Rs.50 per mensum.

In 1844, giving effect to this permission, Conolly appointed Chatter Menon to the post, and thus commenced an association which lasted till the tragic death of Conolly, who was murdered by Moplahs, the former then continuing in sole charge of the plantations till 1862. The Nilumbur teak plantations are the magnificent monument erected by these two men and by which they will be long remembered; for, as will be shown, as this history of Forestry in India unfolds itself, almost unbroken success has followed the tentative beginnings at Nilumbur of eighty years ago.

Chatter Menon soon overcame the difficulty experienced in getting the seed to germinate, and the method adopted by him has with a few minor modifications been retained to the present day. The seed was collected in February and sown early in April, after having been soaked for forty-eight hours in water. In sowing, the seeds were covered to a depth of about inch with fine soil. On this a few small twigs were placed, and on the top a layer of straw to retain the moisture. After copious watering each day the seed germinated in fifteen to twenty days. The young plants were watered till the setting in of the monsoon, usually early in June, by which time they

TWO-YEAR OLD TEAK PLANTATION, NILUMBUR, MADRAS PRESIDENCY A. B. Jackson in "Indian Forester," Vol. XXXI

were from 4 to 8 inches in height and ready to be planted out. The site for planting was felled during the previous cold weather, all useless material burnt and the planting pits prepared to be ready for the planting operations of June. Almost from the start of the work one hundred acres were planted annually.

In a Minute by the Marquis of Tweeddale, Governor of Madras, 8th December, 1846, the progress of the plantation work is noted upon. Lord Tweeddale visited the plantations, and his remarks on the subject of the necessity of having an expert Forester in charge who could "impart his knowledge to the natives there is on their part no want of inclination to learn, on the contrary, there is every inclination and great aptitude,' on the varied knowledge required in forming plantations, such as the suitable selection of soils, proper sowing and transplanting and subsequent thinning work, show him to have been no mean Forester himself. His Minute is therefore of all the more interest at a period when the officials in the country were so woefully ignorant in forestry matters.

At the time of his visit Lord Tweeddale found one, two, three and four-year-old plantations in existence, and was greatly struck with the efficiency of the work carried out. In assuring the Court (in the Minute) of this, he added, "I have had much experience in plantations and woods on my own account at home, as well as in those of other proprietors, but I never saw a better commencement than in the Government Teak Plantations of Malabar." In discussing pruning and thinning in the plantations, Lord Tweeddale remarked that great practical experience would be required to undertake this work. The plants generally averaged 20 feet high in the four-year-old plantations. This rapid growth, combined with the great weight of the large leaves on the stem of the last year's growth, would, he feared, result in serious breakage under sudden storms of wind unless means of checking the rapidity of the growth were devised, and he prescribed early cleanings and thinnings. The whole Minute is, in fact, a treatise on sylviculture, and in it Lord Tweeddale strongly urges that a competent expert Forester should be obtained from home to assist Conolly in the great work he had initiated. The Minute ends, "If my recommendations should be complied with nearly all difficulties would be overcome on this head, and this most valuable produce of Malabar, so abundant a source of wealth and so important to the State, would probably be