TECTONA 753 



teak seedlings which die owing to want of hght and the presence of weeds, 

 while the supply of seed lying dormant in the ground is reduced in quantity. 

 The seedlings, which spring up in abundance as a result of the clearing and 

 burning, are weeded from the commencement, and weeding requires to be 

 continued for two or three years, or until the young plants are safe, after 

 which periodical cleanings are necessary. As many as three weedings may be 

 required during the first rains. It was hoped that annual burning of the 

 young crop might serve to dispense with these expensive cleanings, but an 

 experiment to this effect resulted in failure. Fig. 290 shows a regenerated 

 area after the second rainy season, before the removal of the girdled trees. 

 All blanks are planted up during the first rainy season with natural teak 

 seedlings spaced 6 ft. by 6 ft. It is not safe to postpone this work for a single 

 year, owing to the profusion with which grass springs up on cleared areas. 

 Three years after girdling the girdled teak trees are felled and extracted. 

 This does great damage to the young crop, and injured stems require to be cut 

 back. It has, therefore, been decided experimentally to girdle the teak three 

 years before the regeneration fellings, and to fell and extract it immediately 

 before burning. 



In periodic blocks II to IX, selection girdlings are prescribed which will 

 pass completely over the area in the 20 years' period ; no tree under 10 ft. 

 in girth will ordinarily be girdled unless it is obviously deteriorating. 



Although the success of this system has been amply demonstrated, further 

 experiments are still in progress with the view of reducing the cost of regenera- 

 tion and of introducing mixtures of other species in order to avoid raising 

 pure crops of teak. An interesting account of these operations has been 

 written by Mr. H. R. Blanford.^ The results of a recent experiment in regenera- 

 tion under the taungya system bid fair to modify completely the operations 

 prescribed in the working plan. It has been found that natural reproduction 

 of teak, with an admixture of other species, springs up in abundance on areas 

 cleared for temporary cultivation, and where reproduction is wanting the blanks 

 can be easily filled up with transplanted natural seedlings. Regeneration 

 under the taungya method very considerably reduces the cost ; on a Kachin 

 taungya of 22 acres a complete and vigorous young crop has been established 

 and brought through the first season at the low cost of Rs. 2 per acre. Under 

 the prescriptions of the working plan as subsequently modified, the cost of 

 regeneration from 1910-11 to 1917-18 has amounted to Rs. 40 per acre, which 

 is prohibitive, although culturally the work has been successful ; this may be 

 compared with the cost of a very successful taungya plantation formed in 

 1910-11, which amounted during the same period to about Rs. 19 per acre. 



Burma teak forests in general. The great majority of the teak forests of 

 Burma are characterized by the presence of an under-story of bamboos which 

 greatly affects the treatment. The question of introducing some system of 

 concentrated regeneration in these forests was considered at a conference held 

 in Burma in 1910. The general scheme of management tentatively approved 

 by the conference provided for the division of the rotation into periods. Periodic 

 block I was to be treated under regeneration felHngs with intensive weedings 

 and cleanings, while the other periodic blocks were to be worked by selection 



1 Ind. Forester, xliii (1917), p. 339. 

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