760 XLVI. VERBENACEAE 



development, are not the tops of the ridges but the well-drained fertile lower 

 slopes, and it is here in particular that the stock of teak should be increased. 

 The prescription might well be altered to include the sowing up of compact and 

 not stragghng or scattered areas, comprising not only the ridges and spurs but 

 also the lower slopes and well-drained valleys. The areas operated over will 

 be nothing more or less than plantations ; they will in a short space of time 

 be indistinguishable from taungya plantations, and will require to be tended 

 in exactly the same manner. Indeed the regeneration of bamboo-flowered 

 areas by the system of taungya plantations pure and simple will probably 

 prove more efficient and less costly than the measures described. 



Some examples of teak sowings in flowered bamboo areas in Burma may 

 be quoted. In these sowings it has always been found that their success 

 decreases and their cost increases with each year's delay after the year of 

 seeding of the bamboo. This is due mainly to the extra cost and difficulty of 

 weeding and cleaning with every year's start given to the young bamboo, for 

 weeding and cleaning in young bamboo areas may be a very heavy item. 



In the Konbilin reserve of the Tharrawaddy division, where Cephalo- 

 stachyum pergracile flowered gregariously in 1887, operations for increasing 

 the quantity of teak were continued for seven years after the flowering of the 

 bamboo. These operations consisted in girdling or felling and burning the tree- 

 gro\\^h, cutting and burning the dead bamboo and afterwards the young 

 bamboo growth, and dibbling teak seed as in a taungya plantation. The total 

 area operated over exceeded 300 acres. This work showed clearly the advan- 

 tage of the earlier over the later plantations, both in cost and in degree of 

 success. In the case of these sowings the weeding was found to be a much 

 heavier item than in the case of taungya plantations, and the average cost 

 per acre during the first ten years worked out at Rs. 33-6-0 for the flowered 

 bamboo sowings as against Rs. 20 for taungya plantations in the same locality ; 

 thereafter the cost in either case has been much the same. A considerable 

 area of these flowered bamboo sowings has proved to be highly successful 

 culturally, resembling a well-stocked plantation with a dense underwood of 

 bamboo, which gives the teak a healthy and natural appearance. 



Another successful series of flowered bamboo plantations has been formed 

 to the east of Nyanle, in the Taungnyo reserve of the Zigon division. Dendro- 

 calamus strictus flowered in 1878-9. Operations were commenced in 1881, 

 that is, two years later than was advisable, and further areas were taken in 

 hand in 1882 and 1883, the total area operated over in the three years being 

 about 750 acres. The work consisted in felHng all trees and bamboos, thoroughly 

 burning, and sowing teak seed as in a taungya plantation. This was followed 

 by weeding for three successive years, with another weeding in the seventh 

 year in the case of the 1881 sowings and the fifth year in the case of the later 

 sowings. The cost per acre of the three years' sowings up to the fourth yes^v 

 of weeding was as follows : 



(1) 1881 sowings : first 3 years, Rs. 8-U-O ; weeding of 7tli year, Rs. 0-11-3 : Total, Rs. 9-9-3 



per acre. 



(2) 1882 sowings : first 3 years, Rs. 15-9-0 ; weeding of 5th year, Rs. 2-6-0 : Total, Rs. 17-15-0 



per acre. 



(3) 1883 sowings : first 3 years. Rs. 17-3-0 ; weeding of oth year, Rs. 1-8-2 : Total, Rs. 18-11-2 

 per acre. 



