200 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS 



rx. ii 



provided that these stools consist of several internodes. 

 The question has never been definitely settled, although 

 it is generally admitted that in congested clumps, in 

 which the culms are crowded together within a small 

 compass, culms should be cut close to the ground in 

 order to afford more growing room to the others. 



Grazing should be excluded from bamboo forests 

 under regeneration by culms, as cattle greedily devour 

 the young shoots. Elephants are particularly destruc- 

 tive, as they not only break up the clumps, but also 

 uproot and upset them to let their calves reach the 

 tenderer culms which pierce through the crown of older 

 culms and emerge in its centre (Fig. 73). 



