Pedowk, Kara mardá, Acha, Vengé, Chella wungé, Palai, Erul, Karúvalem, will make very good sleepers to be used plain. The sleepers which have failed on the Madras Railway might well be divided into two classes,--those which were originally of perishable woods, and were therefore unfit for the purpose; and those which although of good wood had been cut from young trees, and not been allowed to stand until old enough. The first arose from want of experience of the nature of Indian woods: the second from the absence of a proper system of working the jungles. The wooden sleepers on the Indian railways should be tarred under the seats of the chairs, be laid in dry ballast, and raised slightly in the middle, and sloped off so as to throw the water under the rails. About two-thirds of the Indian woods are practically useless owing to the want of proper artificial means for preserving those of a perishable nature. The subject of the decay of wood in India and tropical climates is too extensive to be further considered here; but is of sufficient importance to demand a volume to itself; the renewal of decayed wooden sleepers to railways forming annually a most important item in foreign railway budgets. We have heard that some of our fortifications which have been erected within the last few years to protect our English coast from invasion, have already been invaded by dry rot. If this be true, some one well acquainted with the subject should at once be appointed to find out the cause, and recommend the remedy in each case. Professional men, if they wish their works to “live for ever,” should consider the after consequences of neglecting to provide against dry rot. If the fungi could speak from under floors, ceiled-up roofs, behind wainscots, girders, &c., we should often hear them exclaim, “A nice moist piece of wood! Surely this belongs to us.” On the beams of a building at Crawley, a carpenter many years ago cut a few words; they are full of meaning in connection with our subject, and they run as follows: “Man of weal, beware; beware before of what cometh behind.” CHAPTER III. FELLING TIMBER. The end to be attained in the management of timber trees is to produce from a given number the largest possible amount of sound and durable woods. When a tree, under conditions favourable to its growth, ceases increasing the diameter of its trunk, and loses its foliage earlier in the autumn than it is wont to do, and when the top of the tree brings forth no leaves in spring, these facts may be considered as indications of decline, and that the tree is of sufficient age to be felled. The state of the upper branches of a tree may be considered to be amongst the best indications of its soundness, and provided they be in a healthy condition, the withering of the lower branches is a matter of comparatively small importance.