728 XLVI. VERBENACEAE 



protection ceases to be injurious and commences to be beneficial to the natural 

 reproduction of teak. That stage, however, still remains to be determined. 



Some examples of natural reproduction. Prolific natural reproduction of 

 teak often springs up on abandoned shifting cultivation. This is to be seen 

 in certain localities in the Indian Peninsula, notably in the Melghat, and is 

 frequently observed in Burma, where abandoned taungya clearings often 

 become covered with a thick and even-aged growth of almost pure teak, in 

 many cases resembling a well-stocked plantation. 



The following extract from the annual forest report of Burma for 1915-16, 

 referring to unclassed forest adjoining the Nansaung reserve in the Mansi 

 forest division, describes a condition of affairs often met with under similar 

 conditions in Burma : ' Taungyas have been freely cut in this excluded portion, 

 and the result has been that wherever the clearings were made the natural 

 regeneration of teak is splendid, and we have patches of teak varying in age 

 from two years to thirty which are as good as some of the best plantations in 

 the Tharrawaddy division, and this without any expenditure at all.' 



In Upper Burma the origin of pure even-aged natural crops of teak, other 

 than, those on alluvial bends of streams, may in a large number of cases be 

 ascribed to abandoned cultivation, and there is little doubt that the Mohnyin 

 forest of Katha, consisting in places of pure teak of large dimensions, originated 

 on land which went out of cultivation during the conflicts between the Burmans, 

 Shans, and Chinese towards the end of the sixteenth century. The main factors 

 which appear to favour the reproduction of teak on abandoned cultivation 

 are (1) the great vitality of the seed, which may accumulate and remain 

 dormant in the soil for years prior to the clearing of the forest for cultivation ; 

 (2) the clearing and burning of the forest and undergrowth and the cultivation 

 of the ground, with the consequent aeration of the soil and the admission of 

 the sun's heat and light, and the eradication of weeds ; (3) subsequent annual 

 burning since these areas are not fire-protected which favours the teak 

 against competitors. 



The remarkable effect of complete clearing followed by weeding, in the 

 stimulation of natural reproduction, is illustrated in the regenerative opera- 

 tions carried out in the Mohnyin forest, and described on p. 752 (see Figs. 287 

 to 290). At Nilambur the clear-felling of mature teak plantations and the 

 burning of debris are followed by abundant crops of natural teak seedlings 

 which spring from seed Ij^ing dormant in the ground. 



A remarkable instance of profuse natural reproduction is to be seen in 

 a plantation of teak, mixed in places with sissoo, on well-drained alluvial 

 ground at Ramgarh in the Gorakhpur district. United Provinces. This locality 

 is well outside the natural habitat of the teak, and the trees are not particularly 

 good specimens as regards either size or shape. The plantation was formed 

 i?i 1873-4, and natural reproduction had already begun to appear before 1893, 

 when the plantation was under twenty years old. At present wherever there 

 are openings in the canopy, dense thickets of young teak of all sizes up to 

 over 20 ft. in height are to be found. Figs. 277 and 278, the former showing 

 young plants up to 3 ft. high, and the latter older plants, give an idea of the 

 remarkabh^ ])rofusion with which reproduction springs \\^ where the cover is 

 sulHciently light. The chirf factors which have caused this reproduction, 



