DUABANGA 



607 



In the Mongpoo plantations of the Cinchona Department, in the DarjeeUng 

 hills, the seed is sown about the end of May or beginning of June in well-raised 

 seed-beds of porous soil which have been very little manured, and the beds 

 are sheltered by sloping double bamboo mats about 3 ft. above the ground. 

 The seedhngs are pricked out once and are not planted out until early in the 

 rains of the following year, when they are about 1 ft. high. 



Experiments at Dehra Dun showed that it is impossible to raise seedlings 

 in open seed-beds, as the minute seedlings are washed away or beaten down 

 and destroyed by heavy rain. The best results were attained by mixing the 

 seeds with fine earth and scattering the mixture on very fine porous soil or 

 on powdered charcoal in May or early June in boxes kept under cover or in 

 well-raised seed-beds protected from rain by screens. Great care is necessary 

 to water the beds or boxes with a very fine spray. The seedlings may be 

 pricked out when about 1-2 in. high, and transplanted at the beginning of 

 the next rainy season. Little difficulty was experienced in transplanting the 

 seedlings provided the roots were kept enclosed in balls of earth. Basket 

 planting would probably prove successful, the seedhngs being transferred to 

 baskets towards the end of the first rainy season. 



Direct sowings on raised mounds under bamboo mats have given some 

 success in the Tista forest division of Bengal. Mounds of loose soil 3 ft. by 

 3 ft. at the base and 6 in. high are sown with a pinch of seed and covered 

 with bamboo mats 2 ft. by 2 ft. in size raised 1 ft. above the mounds. The 

 mats are removed as soon as the seedlings are w^ell established, that is, about 

 the end of the rainy season. Superfluous plants are removed and used to 

 fill up gaps. 



In plantations protection from deer and cattle is necessary for the first 

 few years. 



Rate of growth. After the first year or two the growth is rapid, an 

 average height increment of 5 ft. a year or more being not unusual. A saphng 

 at Dehra Dun attained a height of 9 ft. 2 in. and a girth of 6^ in. at 4 ft. from 

 ground-level by the end of the fourth season, including a height-growth of 

 only about 1^ in. during the first season ; this, in a locahty far outside its 

 natural habitat, and subject to more severe cold than it is ordinarily accustomed 

 to, is very fair growth. 



Measurements carried out by Mr. E. Marsden in 1917 in three sample 

 plots in the Darjeehng hiUs gave the following results : 



Duahanga sonneratioides : measurements in sample plots, 



Darjeeling hills. 



