GMELINA 775 



middle of May, four or five seeds at each peg, resulted in a strong growth of 

 plants, some of which reached a height of 11 to 12 ft. by the end of the rainy 

 season, forming a complete canopy. Experimental broadcast sowing carried 

 out in 1919 gave remarkable results. An abandoned taungya of 1917 was 

 cleared of weed-growth and rather incompletely burnt in April 1918 ; next 

 month the debris was removed, the soil was hghtly raked, and seed was sown 

 broadcast, about 45 lbs. to the acre. This resulted in a thick pure crop of 

 Gmelina seedlings which killed out the weeds, rendering weeding unnecessary ; 

 in places the crop was 8 to 9 ft. high by October. The total cost of estabhsh- 

 ing the plantation was only Rs. 3-8-0 per acre, which could probably be reduced 

 by employing only half the quantity of seed, spacing roughly 3 ft. apart, and 

 sowing three seeds at each stake. 



These experiments included the mixing of Gmelina with teak, but the 

 former always became dominant and suppressed the teak. 



SiLVicuLTUEAL TREATMENT. This spccics is wcll adapted for treatment 

 as coppice, the growth of which is rapid. The uncertainty of natural repro- 

 duction renders it difficult to rely on any system of high forest producing 

 regular yields of this timber except by the system of clear-felhng with artificial 

 reproduction. In this case it is probable that the best results will be attained 

 by growing it in mixture with a shade-bearer of somewhat slower growth, to 

 act partly as a protection to the soil and partly as a means of preventing 

 unnecessary branching in the Gmelina, which is somewhat prone to form low 

 side branches unless drawn up. 



Rate of growth. The growth is fast. Gamble's specimens averaged 

 4 rings per inch of radius, giving a mean annual girth increment of 1-57 in. 

 Gamble also mentions the following cross -sections in the Bengal museum : 

 (1) 10 rings for a mean diameter of 10|^ in., or rather less than 2 rings per inch 

 of radius, giving a mean annual girth increment of 3-3 in. ; (2) 27 rings for a 

 diameter of 14 in., or nearly 4 rings per inch of radius, giving a mean annual 

 girth increment of 1-63 in. A cross-section from the United^Provinces in the 

 silvicultural museum at Dehra Dun showed 35 rings for a girth of 3 ft. 9 in., 

 giving a mean annual girth increment of 1-3 in., or less than 5 rings per inch 



of radius. 



A plantation in the Ranch Mahals, Bombay, which had suffered much 

 from drought, showed when six years old a maximum height and girth of 

 18 ft. and 12 in. respectively, which is very fair considering the unsuitable 



climate. 



In the young experimental plantations of Dehra Dun, measurements of 

 which have been given above under ' seedling ', the gro^vth on the whole is 

 probably unsurpassed by that of any of the numerous other species experi- 

 mented with. The measurements already quoted in respect of young planta- 

 tions in Katha, Upper Burma, also show remarkable growth. In this locality 

 Mr. Dawkins found that seven naturally grown trees produced a mean girth 

 of 41 ft. in twenty-one years, and he estimated that tended plantations M'ould 

 attain a mean girth of 6 ft., with about 100 stems per acre, in thirty years. 

 A natural seedling in the forest near Kotdwara, United Provinces, which liad 

 a height of 5 ft. in January 1913, was remeasured in November 191G and found 

 to have a height of 22 ft. 



