TERMINALIA 521 



for crops, while in some localities it is lopped for cattle fodder. The coppicing 

 and pollarding power appears to vary. Experiments carried out in the Chanda 

 district of the Central Provinces in 1909 showed that of eleven different species 

 coppiced and pollarded Terminalia tomentosa showed the poorest results under 

 either method. As regards coppice, the percentage of stools which produced 

 shoots when cut in different months from April to September was : April, 66 ; 

 May, 66 ; July, 40 ; August, nil ; September, nil. Coppicing experiments in 

 North Khandesh, Bombay, in 1903 showed that 70 per cent, of the trees 

 yielded coppice-shoots, 1-9 shoots per stool. Measurements which I made in 

 1911 in three coppice coupes one and two years old in the Gonda district, 

 United Provinces, showed that out of 17 species Terminalia tomentosa 

 showed the largest average number of shoots per stool in each of the coupes, 

 namely 4-7 in the one-year-old coupe, and 4-7 and 2-9 in two coupes two 

 years old. 



A curious form of injury very prevalent among trees on the western side 

 of the Indian Peninsula from North Kanara southwards to Malabar is that 

 known as water-blister. This so-called blister is a ridge-like swelling on the 

 side of the tree, apparently resulting from the healing over of a longitudinal 

 crack in which sap or water has accumulated, so that when the blister is cut 

 into a quantity of yellowish fluid is forced out under considerable pressure. 

 There may be one or more blisters on a tree. 



Natural reproduction. The natural reproduction of this important tree 

 is not yet fully understood. Considering the comparatively low germinative 

 power of the seed, the wide distribution and relative abundance of the species 

 is remarkable, and points to some compensating advantage in its power of 

 establishing itself under varying conditions. In forest tracts young seedlings 

 may be found in large quantities after a good seed-year, indicating that even 

 if a considerable proportion of the seed fails to germinate, the seedUngs which 

 survive from seed which does germinate are sufficiently plentiful. 



Numerous experiments have been carried out at Dehra Dun to ascertain 

 the conditions which favour natural reproduction, and so far as they go these 

 experiments have shown that germination, which takes place early in the 

 rains, is more successful on bare ground than where the fruits are scattered 

 on grass or on low weeds. Although germination takes place fairly readily 

 in the case of fruits lying on the surface of the ground, there is a higher 

 percentage of success if they are slightly buried, as often happens imder 

 natural conditions on loose soil during the early showers preceding the rainy 

 season. Moisture greatly stimulates germination, and thus the seed may 

 germinate freely under the densest shade, though the seedlings do not survive 

 for more than one season if the shade is at all heavy. Successful germination 

 as well as establishment of seedlings is possible in the case of fruits lying on 

 a layer of dead leaves both in the sun and under shade ; this is not the case 

 with sal, which fails to germinate on a layer of dead leaves in the sun, while 

 under shade, although germination takes place, the seedlings do not survive 

 more than one season where the leaf layer is thick. In a damp sodden growth 

 of weeds the seedlings tend to rot during the first rainy season : otherwise 

 they are capable of making their way through a moderate growth of grass 

 and low weeds. 



