PROSOPIS 395 



The tree coppices well up to a moderate age, but old trees usually coppice 

 badly or fail to coppice. Prolonged inundation is harmful to coppice, and it 

 is therefore advisable to cut the stools high in places liable to be flooded for 

 long ; otherwise the coppice grows vigorously on irrigated forest land. In 

 dry localities the stools sometimes become covered with the mounds of white 

 ants, but although the growth of the coppice is thus checked, growth is carried 

 on by root-suckers produced around the stump. 



The tree reproduces freely by root-suckers, a form of reproduction which 

 is of great importance in enabling it to survive long after its original associates 

 have disappeared, and to reproduce itself freely after conditions have become 

 impossible for reproduction by seed. Although the production of root-suckers 

 is apparent everywhere, it seems to be most active where the water-level is 

 comparatively near the surface ; on high ground where the water-level is deep 

 root-suckers appear for the most part close round the parent stem, and develop 

 slowly. Felling, particularly if the stumps are grubbed out, appears to stimu- 

 late the production of suckers : on land cleared for cultivation the roots left 

 in the ground reclothe the area with a flourishing crop of suckers which require 

 to be dug out again. Fires in the grassy areas of riverain tracts also stimulate 

 the production of suckers. 



In some localities the tree is pollarded for camel and goat fodder : 

 this induces rot, which spreads down into the bole, and it also frequently 

 causes the appearance of numerous epicormic branches. The tree is readily 

 browsed by camels and goats, and in areas open to goat browsing young 

 plants assume a bushy growth, while a similar bushy growth often surrounds 

 the bases of the trees owing to the browsing down of the root-suckers around 

 them. 



Natural reproduction. Experiments at Dehra Dun showed that 

 under natural conditions the seed germinates at different times during the 

 rainy season after heavy rain, some lying ungerminated until the second 

 season. Germination and the establishment of the seedling are greatly assisted 

 if the seed becomes slightly covered with soil ; seeds washed into heaps in 

 loose alluvial sand were found to germinate in quantity. If the seed germinates 

 on the surface of the ground the radicle is apt to be eaten by insects or to dry 

 up if there is insufficient moisture. In the dry weather following the rainy 

 season there is much mortality among seedlings which have not succeeded in 

 establishing themselves thoroughly. 



In Sind and the Punjab natural reproduction by seed is confined almost 

 exclusively to moist depressions and other places not far from the rivers, 

 where the seedlings obtain occasional surface water and where the proximity 

 of the subsoil water-level to the siu-face ensures soil moisture sufficient to 

 enable the seedlings to establish themselves. This question of soil moisture 

 appears to be all-important, for whereas on the lower ground near the rivers 

 promising crops of Prosopis establish themselves from seed, on the high and 

 dry ground away from rivers seedling reproduction is almost entirely absent, 

 and the species has to depend on its remarkable power of reproduction by root- 

 suckers to maintain its existence in these dry tracts. Here, although the 

 seed may germinate successfully, the seedlings are unable to survive the 

 drought. 



