CHAPTER VIII 



NATURAL REGENERATION BY SEED 



Only few of the various methods in which natural 

 regeneration can be effected have, as yet, been applied 

 k> tropical forests ; it is therefore not possible to 

 describe from practical experience how their applica- 

 tion has affected different classes of these forests, and 

 European experience must be depended on in giving the 

 descriptions. A large portion of the forests in the 

 Tropics which have been taken under scientific manage- 

 ment have suffered during centuries of ill-usage, and the 

 efforts of the administration have been directed chiefly 

 to leading them back to a more normal condition. 



(a) Clear-fellings 



In clear-fellings all the trees standing over the area 

 are removed at one operation, and the regeneration 

 depends partly on seed fallen from trees on the area 

 before they have been felled, and partly from seed 

 brought in from outside by natural agency, such as by 

 wind, by gravitation if the fellings are on a slope and 

 below seed-bearing trees, by water (as e.g. by floods or 

 by the action of tides or by surface drainage), or by 

 animals in the case of seeds enclosed in edible pulp. 



One of the first conditions for successful regenera- 

 tion is that the species whose seed is thus distributed 

 over the area should be shade-avoiding and capable of 

 standing exposure. On the other hand, the great draw- 



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