252 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS . m 



devoted to the formation of suitable groups in each 

 of which uniform fellings may be made possible, and so 

 on. The introduction of the compartment method will 

 in most cases be the most lengthy, owing to the difficulty 

 of leading the crop to a sufficient homogeneity for its 

 requirements. It would, however, be more quickly 

 attained with a pure crop, especially if the majority of 

 the crop is more or less of the same age. 



But before the improvement-fellings are started it 

 will be necessary to protect the forest from fire. There 

 are, in the wet zone of the Tropics, forests which are 

 naturally fire-protected, and even in the moist zone 

 there mav be some which are safe : but elsewhere it is 

 necessary to introduce fire-protection in order to improve 

 the soil, by getting it permanently covered with vegeta- 

 tion, fallen leaves, or humus, and to enable the seedlings, 

 which have been killed down to the ground by repeated 

 fires, in making a start. It may happen that, later on, 

 there may be an intermittence of fire-protection under 

 special circumstances, such as when an invasion of 

 bamboos prevents natural reproduction ; but as far as 

 our present knowledge goes the necessity of safety from 

 fire, before making improvement-fellings, is imperative. 



Grazing should be excluded from all portions under 

 improvement -fellings. This is necessary not only to 

 improve the soil, but to save young seedlings, saplings, 

 and stool- shoots ; and lastly, fully a year before the 

 fellings are begun, climber cutting should be carried out. 

 It would be even better to carry out this operation two 

 years ahead, as it will allow the dead climbers to decay. 

 Thus, not only will the crowns be free and it can be 

 more easily seen what is to come out, but, when felling 

 the trees, the stems of the climbers will no longer be 

 strong enough to drag other trees down together with 



DO 



those which are felled. Large climbers pass from the 

 crown of one tree into that of another and bind them 

 together. They often have very great tensile strength, 

 and, unless their fibres arc decayed, the fall of one tree 

 may lead to the crown of the next one being broken and 



