754 XLVI. VERBENACEAE 



felliiios. It was decided that regeneration fellings should consist of one main 

 felUng followed by subsidiary improvement felhngs carried out where necessary 

 at intervals of five years. The main fellings would consist of the girdhng of 

 mature teak trees, with a minimum girth of 7 ft. in moist and 6 ft. in dry 

 forest, while other species would be completely cleared over young teak. The 

 girdling of undersized teak was not contemplated except where necessary, in 

 order to free promising groups of young trees and advance groAvth. Planta- 

 tions and cultural operations, that is, repeated weedings and cleanings, and as 

 far as possible also bamboo extraction and road-making, in order to encourage 

 the utihzation of species other than teak, would be concentrated in this block. 

 The use of fire to stimulate natural reproduction was also contemplated. In 

 the other blocks it was proposed to carry out selection fellings of teak and 

 other saleable species. A system on these lines aims at increasing the pro- 

 portion of teak and other valuable species, but not at creating even-aged 

 crops of teak, though it tends towards the ultimate establishment of even-aged 

 crops ; at present such crops would be produced only where plantations are 



formed. 



Since 1910 a great deal of useful experimental work in the natural regenera- 

 tion of teak forests in Burma has been carried out, and as a result the opinion 

 is gaining ground that the most satisfactory way in which to treat the natural 

 teak forests of Burma wherever conditions permit is to produce even-aged 

 young crops, though not necessarily pure crops of teak of large extent. For 

 this purpose complete clearance of the overhead canopy is necessarj^ and it 

 is accordingly considered advisable as far as possible to confine this intensive 

 form of regeneration to localities where at least the more valuable species of 

 trees other than teak are marketable. For this reason the allotment and 

 sequence of regeneration areas should be made in conjunction with schemes 

 of roads or other export works. It has further been found to be of great 

 advantage to reduce to a minimum the time taken to regenerate a given area 

 completely, that is, the time from the first regeneration felling to the complete 

 estabhshment of the young crop. For the production of even-aged crops it 

 will be necessary to sacrifice immature teak trees, but the ultimate gain, in 

 the production of a largely increased future stock of teak, is held to justify 

 this sacrifice. Theoretically the areas to be placed in periodic block I, to be 

 regenerated first, should be those containing most mature trees and least 

 reproduction. But actually it is considered advisable to maintain a supply 

 of mature teak to provide for the outturn some years hence, owing to the 

 depletion of many of the important teak tracts by heavy fellings in the past 

 and to the diminution of the number of teak trees outside reserved forests 

 w'th the extension of cultivation. This being so, it is held to be preferable 

 to regenerate first (1) areas which are capable of producing teak of good 

 quality, l)ut in which teak is scarce or absent, and (2) areas containing much 

 estaljlished reproduction, including plantations. Allotment to other periods 

 is as a rule unnecessary, except that periodic block II should be allotted 

 tentatively and the exploitable size in it should be placed higher than in the 

 otiiif Mocks, in order to retain as many teak seed-bearers as possible, and to 

 maintain the future yield. 



As regards the method to be employed for regenerating a given area, the 



