650 



XXXVII. EBENACEAE 



land masses of sucker reproduction persist for many years after other species 

 have disappeared, and they are difficult to eradicate on land required for 

 cultivation. Similarly on abandoned cultivation sucker growth springs up 

 readily, and if left alone may result in pure crops of Diospyros. 



Natural reproduction. As already mentioned, the seeds are spread by 

 fruit-bats and by birds, notably hornbills ; seedlings may sometimes be found 

 in the forks of trees or in other places above the ground, the seed having been 

 conveyed there by their agency. Under natural conditions, germination begins 

 early in the rainy season and continues during that season ; some seed may 

 remain dormant until the second rainy season. Germination is greatly favoured 

 if the seed becomes covered with earth, as in tliis case the radicle is less liable 

 to destruction by insects, or, if exposed to the sun, by drought. Nevertheless 

 the young taproot is very hardy, and under shade or under the protection of 

 grass it may creep for some distance along the sin^face of the ground until it 

 is able to penetrate the soil ; this is a common habit in natural seedlings. The 

 profusion and tenacity of sucker reproduction is, however, in itself sufficient to 

 ensure the survival and increase of this species even without the aid of seedling 

 reproduction, which is itself often plentiful. 



Artificial reproduction. Experiments at Dehra Dun have shown that 

 transplanting from the nursery is attended with much risk owing to the large 

 size of the taproot ; this applies both to seedlings transjilanted entire and to 

 those transplanted with pruned stem and root. Probably the most successful 

 method, if planting has to be resorted to, would be to sow the seeds in long 

 narrow baskets and to plant these out intact in the second rains. Sowing 

 should be carried out about April-May, care being taken to cover the seeds 

 with earth. Direct sowing is usually preferable to transj)lanting, the best 

 method being to sow in lines and to keep the lines weeded during the first 

 two or three years. Line sowings with the aid of field crops have been carried 

 out in the Amraoti forest division, Berar.^ 



Rate of growth. The few sample plot measurements available indicate 

 that the rate of. growth is slow ; these are as follows : 



Diospyros Melanoxylmi and D. tomentosa : rate of growth in high forest 



sample plots. 



Province. 



United 



Provinces 

 Central 



Provinces 



Forest 

 division. Locality. 



S. Kheri Kishanpur 



Baiaghat Raigarh and 

 Baihar 



Number of 



years under 



measurement. 



9 



8 



Number of 



tiees under 



measurement. 



1 

 2 



Mean annual 

 Girth girth increment 

 classes. for period. 



ft. in. 



1-2 0-23 



2-3 0-20 



A tree felled in West Kurnool, Madras, had 216 rings for a girth of 6 ft., 

 representing a mean annual girth increment of 0-33 in.- 



Coppice growth is also slow. Measurements made in 1911 in two coppice 

 coupes each tw; years old in the Gonda distiict, United Provinces, gave an 

 average height of 4 and 4-8 ft. as compared with 7-6 and 10 ft. for sal ; in 



1 Ind. Forester, xxxvii (1911), p. 8. 



2 Working Plan for the Gundlabrahmeswaram Range, West Kurnool, H. F. A. Wood, 1912. 



