Manual of Indian Timbers the compilation of which has, owing1 to the writer having been at the same time engaged in his ordinary official duties, lasted over three years, it is necessary to make a few remarks on the circumstances which have led to its preparation, the materials by the assistance of which it has been compiled, and the sources from which the information given in its pages has been drawn. It will be remembered that the forests and forest products of India were represented at the Paris Exhibition of 1878 by a collection which was undoubtedly the most complete that has ever been formed in India and sent to Europe for exhibition. This collection, prepared and arranged under the immediate supervision of Dr. Brandis, the Inspector General of Forests, was got together in the winter of 1877-78, by the simple process of inviting from the different Local Governments and their Forest Officers the contribution of rough wood specimens and other products, which were afterwards prepared and arranged in a central workshop, first in Simla and afterwards in Calcutta. During the progress of this work, which lasted from August 1877 to May 1878, a very large and valuable series of wood specimens, of undoubted botanical determination, was received. The pieces of wood (to which class of specimen alone we need now refer) which were then sent, were so large and valuable that it was settled that at the same time as the principal object of the work, the collection for exhibition at Paris, was got ready, a number of duplicate sets should be also prepared, sufficient to supply a good stock to the Royal Gardens at Kew, and to other museums both in Europe aad A merica, as well as type collections to be deposited in the offices of the Forest Conservators in the different Provinces or Circles. It is obvious that such authentic collections are likely to serve as reference coll
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
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