(Fe., Bois de Santal citric ; GER., Weisses [gelbes] Sandelholz).—The name "sandal wood" is applied to the aromatic heart-wood of several species of Santalum. These are chiefly as follows : (1) S. album, a tree of 20-30 ft. in height and 18-36 in. in girth, indigenous to the hilly portions of the Indian peninsula, especially in Mysore, Coimbatore, and N. Canara ; found also in the E. Archipelago, particularly Sumba (Chandane or Sandal-wood Island), and Timor ; (2) S. Frey cinetianum and S. paniculatum [pyrularium] in Hawaii (Sandwich Islands); (3) S. Yusi, in the Fiji (Viti) Islands ; (4) S. austro-caledonicum, iu New Caledonia ; (5) S. spicatum cygnoruw, Fusanus spicatus], iu W. Australia. The S. lanceolatum of N. and E. Australia does not seem to afford a commercial article. The wood of S. myrtifalium, in the Madras Presidency, is nearly inodorous. The island of Nossi-bd, on the N.-W. coast of Madagascar, is said to afford some sandal wood.
The most important of all these sources is the cultivated S. album of the Indian reserved forests. The tree occupies patches of a strip of country about 250 miles long, on the eastern slopes of the W. Ghats, just beyond the limits of the Mulnaad or rain-country, as well as a tract further east ward, in the district of Salem and N. Arcot, where it grows from sea-level to 3000 ft. The tree is commonly found in scrub-jungles, and even in opeu spots in some of the large deciduous forests; but in the plain countries of Mysore, it mostly occurs in hedges and ditches, and on irrigation earth works. It propagates itself by seeds and suckers, the latter springing up from the long creeping roots wherever these become exposed to the influence of the air, and sometimes developing into good trees at 15 yd. from the parent. It is easily raised from seed, even that which has been stored for months ; but transplanted seedlings generally fail. The plantations are now all raised from seed. This should be collected in December-January, and be sown during the early rains in June ; 2-3 seeds are dibbled in with 1 capsicum seed, which latter rapidly throws up a plautlet for the shade of the young sandal-trees, and possibly affords them some sustenance. Young sandal-plants flourish best in seed-beds where grass is allowed to grow, as tuber-like processes from their roots prey upon the other growth. Dry, red soils, overlying a stratum of gravel or quartz, are most suitable, the trees maturing in about 20 years ; white, strong soils produce trees of stunted growth, mature in 16 years ; rich alluvial soils grow very fine trees, requiring 30-40 years to mature, but such trees con tain no heart-wood, and are valueless. The maturity of the tree is judged by certain appearances.
When the heart-wood is fully formed, the leaves are narrow, and of a dull-green to yellowish-red tint ; the small terminal branches are withered, the bark is deeply wrinkled and often moss-grown, and the inner bark, when cut, shows a reddish or yellow instead of white colour. Decay rapidly sets in after the trees have matured.
Mature trees are felled at the end of the year, the branches are lopped off, and the trunk is allowed to lie on the ground for several months, by which time, most of the valueless sap-wood will have been devoured by white ants. Tho heart-wood is then roughly adzed, and sawn into billets 2-2i ft. long, for conveyance to the government forest depots. It is again trimmed with the adze, weighed, and classified according to quality. The chips obtained in the first and second trimmings are called respectively " mixed" and "pure." These, as well as the sawdust produced, and the roots of the tree, are subjected to distillation for the sake of their essential oil (see Oils, p. 1430). In Mysore, all sandal-wood trees are the property of the government ; the annual exports (shipped from Man galore) are about 700 tons, value 27,000/. In Madras, the culture is free, but is almost entirely restricted to the reserved forests, which produced 15,329 maunds (5471 tons) in 1872-3.
The Indian species grows sparingly in the mountains of Timor, and many of the other islands of the E. Arohipelago. The heart-wood is brought down in small logs to Dilli, chiefly for export to China, where it is reckoned only I-A as valuable as Indian.
W. Australia less than 20 years since exported great quantities of sandal-wood to China. The trees were cut and trimmed in the bush, some 100-150 miles from the ports (Perth or Guildford); but indiscriminate destruction soon exterminated the trees from accessible regions. The 47,904 cwt. of sandal-wood imported into Singapore from Australia in 1872, for re-shipment to China, was probably mainly of Pacific Islands' production, possibly some portion also from Queensland.
The headquarters of the sandal-wood trees in the Pacific Islands would appear to have been in the S.-W. portion, including New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands, New Hebrides, Espirito Santo, and some others. Several thousand tons of the wood were shipped at one time; but the tree has now been exterminated from all the well-known islands, with the exception of New Caledonia, where it is under cultivation.