412 XXIII. LEGUMINOSAE 



vigorous shoots. This takes place even after severe fires in flowered bamboo 

 areas. Experiments in Prome, Tharrawaddy, and Toungoo have shown that 

 natmi-al reproduction can be secured in quantity by cutting bamboos and other 

 growth in the vicinity of seed-bearers, in order to lighten the cover, and 

 thoroughly burning the cut material. Natural pyinkado seedlings appear in 

 quantity on the burnt ground ; thereafter the area is fire-protected and the 

 young crop is regularly weeded, while light is admitted gradually by the 

 removal of the overwood. This results in the establishment of dense young 

 crops of pyinkado. 



The immunity of well-established pyinkado seedlings from destruction by 

 fire indicates the treatment which would probably be successful in mixed teak 

 and pyinkado crops. This would consist of encouraging pyinkado advance 

 growth by a slight opening of the canopy near seed-bearers, accompanied by 

 burning ; for some years the area would be fire-protected and the young 

 pyinkado would be weeded if necessary until well established. A clear felling 

 and burning of the area would then secure teak reproduction, while the young 

 pyinkado, after being burnt back, would shoot up again from the base. Further 

 weeding of the young mixed crop would then be necessary until it is established. 

 It may be noted in this connexion that pyinkado reproduction often appears 

 in teak taungya plantations in the form not only of seedlings but also of 

 coppice-shoots from the bases of saplings which have been burnt back. 



Natural reproduction of pyinkado is sometimes found in great quantity 

 in the rather dry type of forest known as thitkyin alluded to above, containing 

 few or no bamboos ; this reproduction is the result of fire-protection, but the 

 young plants are kept in suppression, and few succeed in making their way 

 up unless the canopy is opened. 



Artificial reproduction. Experiments at Dehra Dun have shown that 

 direct sowing gives much greater success than transplanting from the nursery. 

 Transplanting, if carried out carefully in rainy weather, was found to be 

 successful with small plants in the first rainy season, but not with large plants 

 in subsequent years. Pruning down the stem and the root did not prove 

 successful, either in the first year or subsequently. 



The beneficial effects of thorough weeding and loosening of the soil have 

 already been alluded to u.nder ' the seedling ', and hence line sowings, where 

 these can be carried out most effectively, are indicated as likely to give the 

 best results. 



In the Kyangin reserve of the Henzada forest division a mixture of teak 

 and pyinkado has been tried with field crops in shifting cultivation {taungya) 

 on a fairly extensive scale, but owing to the different requirements of the two 

 species as regards germination the success has not been great. Teak seed, in 

 order to germinate successfully, requires to be put in early in order to obtain 

 the benefit of the alternating showers and hot sun at the commencement of the 

 rainy season. Pyinkado seed, on the other hand, germinates with the first 

 shower, and in an open taungya the germinating seedling is dried up on the 

 next sunny day. To sow the pyinkado later when the rains have well set in 

 would add to the cost of the plantation, and might be difficult in practice. 

 A small tainigya plantation of pure pyinkado was formed in the Tharrawaddy 

 divrision about 1900. Tliis I saw in 1904, and the plants were few in number 



