Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/138

118 loss. If, however, it is used in bulk, or in stout scantlings, as for backing to armour-plates on ships, or in batteries, or any similar works, it answers equally well with the Moulmein Teak, the risk being in attempting to reduce it into thin planks. The Rangoon Teak is straight, and yields a better average length of log than is to be found in those of the Moulmein district; the dimensions of the squares are, however, nearly alike.

In Malabar, the largest forests of Teak trees are to be found upon the Annamallay hills, at an elevation of about 1,500 to 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. They consist, however, for the most part, of saplings and trees, past their prime, the most useful having been felled and removed long since, a few trees of excessively large growth only being left available for the purposes of commerce.

The Teak grown on the Annamallay hills is subject to extensive heart and other shakes about the centre of the tree, and this involves great waste of timber, as only the flitches taken from the outside part are available for use. Attempts have been made to produce "squares" and "planks"by the use of the saw upon pits, and by machinery, but it was found not to answer; the logs were, therefore, cleaved by wedges along the run of the heart-shake into two segments, and from these "squares" "planks" and various scantlings were produced by the axe, quite clear of shakes.

The Malabar Teak is very good in quality, and is generally darker in colour, denser, and a trifle stronger than Burmah Teak, when tested, one piece against another. But, as the trees are so much less useful on account of the defects before mentioned, it is probable the Burmah Teak will always have the preference for