456 XXIII. LEGUMINOSAE 



sowing, and regular weeding, thinning, and loosening of the soil were carried 

 out subsequently : 1 lb. of seed was found sufficient for about 350 ft. length 

 of line. Fig. 173 shows line sowings at the end of the third season. 



Sowings of Acacia Catechu have been carried out in many parts of India 

 and Burma in a variety of ways. In the grassy savannahs of Oudh line 

 sowings have proved successful in spite of a fairly tall growth of grass in 

 the rains. In Berar line sowings in conjunction with field crops have also 

 done well : the system employed has been described under Acacia arahica 

 (p. 435). 



Mound and ridge sowings have been carried out with varying success. 

 Owing to their high cost, however, they are hardly justified except on very 

 stiff soil where the drainage is bad. Broadcast sowing has also been frequently 

 tried, often with success : where suppression from weeds is to be feared, how- 

 ever, it cannot compare with line sowings. 



In Burma numerous cutch plantations have been formed on the taungya. 

 system, the seed being dibbled 6 ft. by 6 ft. or 12 ft. by 3 ft. or 9 ft. by 4 ft. 

 on temporary forest clearings in which field crops, usually hill rice, are raised. 

 In many cases mixed plantations of teak and cutch have been formed in this 

 way. The two species, however, do not mix well, their requirements being 

 dissimilar ; not only does the cutch damage the teak by contact with it, 

 but one of the species in time usually ousts the other, the cutch or the teak 

 gaining the upper hand according to the nature of the locality. These 

 mixed plantations are not as a rule formed now. A description of these 

 taungya plantations is given under Tectona grandis. 



SiLVicuLTURAL TREATMENT. Under existing working plans the tree is 

 frequently worked under coppice or coppice-with-standards, both in alluvial 

 tracts and in mixed forests. The khair and sissoo forests of the Ganges islands, 

 for example, are worked as simple coppice on a rotation of twenty years, 

 a protective belt at least 100 ft. wide being left uncut round the edges of 

 the islands. Provided the trees coppiced are not too old, and provided the 

 standards are not numerous enough to suppress the coppice, this system has 

 usually answered satisfactorily for the production of poles. 



The treatment under high forest is a more difficult matter. Several 

 working plans, both in India and in Burma, prescribe selection fellings, the 

 object of which is to remove mature trees. This, however, does not ensure 

 reproduction, which cannot be obtained under any system which does not 

 involve removal of the overwood and of weed-growth. This being so, as far 

 as experience goes the only system under which complete regeneration can 

 be ensured on a given area appears to be that of clear felling with artificial 

 reproduction. The question of regenerating riverain crops of Dalbergia Sissoo 

 has been discussed in some detail on p. 314. The system proposed is to 

 divide these crops into two classes, stable and unstable, the former to be 

 regenerated artificially, while in the latter the fellings would consist of utihzing 

 marketable material, regeneration being left to the vagaries of the river. For 

 riverain crops of Acacta Catechu exactly the same procedure is indicated. 



In crops of Acacia Catechu which tend to become very dense, regular 

 thinnings are of great importance. 



Rate of growth. Coppice. Statistics relating to coppice growth are 



