430 XXIII. LEGUMINOSAE 



seedlings are weeded in the rains, but becomes very noticeable when the 

 harvest is over and there is no food in the fields to invite the rats. These 

 animals appear to multiply most freely in dry seasons, heavy rain being 

 injurious to them. The deep cracks in the black cotton soil are specially 

 favourable to them, since they live in deep burrows. The rats rear their young, 

 eight to twelve at a time, in nests built about 2 ft. above ground in the inter- 

 laced branches of babul thickets, and a knowledge of this fact is useful in 

 helping to reduce their numbers. 



SiLVicuLTURAL CHARACTERS. Light. Acacia arahica is a strong light- 

 demander, and will not tolerate suppression of any kind at any period of its 

 existence. Young natural crops are often dense, and for some years the 

 saplings may grow up without many side branches, but they thin each other 

 out and the trees develop broad and full though somewhat light crowns. 

 When grown in a free position the tree maintains a bushy form for many years, 

 though the main stem is distinguishable. 



Eoot-system. The young plant, as already mentioned, develops a long 

 taproot from the commencement, and strong lateral roots are also formed 

 early. The subsequent development of the root-system depends to some 

 extent on the locality. Under normal conditions on dry ground the taproot 

 reaches a considerable length. Mr. Ribbentrop states : ^ 'I have known 

 them to be 25 ft. long, and under certain conditions they may reach much 

 lower.' In addition to the taproot a strong superficial root-system is pro- 

 duced. On shallow soil the taproot branches without reaching any depth, 

 and the plant is liable to die of drought. On inundated land the root-system 

 is largely superficial. 



Root-suckers. The babul has not as a rule been observed to produce root- 

 suckers regularl}^ but Mr. A. W. Lushington says : ^ ' When pulling up what 

 appeared to be seedlings of babul {Acacia arahica)' in the Kistna district, they 

 were found not to be seedlings at all, but sucker-shoots.' He mentions fui'ther 

 that these suckers are produced especially when trees have been felled or where 

 the roots have been exposed, and that he has found that a very fair percentage 

 of what he always supposed to be seedlings have been these sucker-shoots. 

 Mr. P. M. Lushington,^^ writing of babul areas in the Guntur district, Madras, 

 says : ' Hitherto I have believed that the coppice resulting from babul was 

 practically unproductive, and have for many years advocated the wounding 

 of the roots with a view to producing root-shoots.' The Deputy Conservator 

 of Forests, Sind circle, wrote in 1911 : ' Experience here tends to show that 

 babul has very limited powers of reproduction by coppice-shoots or root- 

 suckers.' Other writers have expressed doubt as to the capacity of the tree 

 for producing root-suckers. So far as observations go at present, therefore, 

 it may be considered as established that the babul, though it may not produce 

 root-suckers universally, does produce them in some localities and under 

 certain conditions, this tendenc}'^ being stimulated if the trees are felled or the 

 roots exposed. 



Coppicing power. The coppicing power of the babul varies greatly. 

 Throughout the greater part of its habitat it coppices poorly ; this, from 



1 Ind. Forester, xxv (1900), p. 136. " Ibid., xxx (1904), p. 163. 



^ Inspection note, 1912-13. 



