'( 72 ) 



selection would form a dense shady forest, shewing clean stems of 30 to 40 feet even In deep 

 alluvium, while hereafter wood-oil or other light loving trees would tower above them, 

 and grow up possibly from 50 to 60 feet. In regions wliere firewood, etc., is abundant, pure 

 blocks of caoutchouc trees (Finn elastic a) , with mahogany, might be preferred as more 

 remunerative. 



There is also some hope that the American method of parallel shelter-plantations would 

 be suitable in the vast alluvial plains of India, provided the trees planted were evergreens. 

 According to this method, belts of trees are regularly planted at a distance of about i to J 

 of a mile apart, the belts themselves being, according to circumstances, from 4 to 8 rods wide, 

 and planted in such a manner as to front prevailing winds (in India SW. to NE.). Such 

 shelter-belts have proved so advantageous to cereal crops in N. America as nearly to double 

 them, while a judicious management of these forest- belts themselves will also supply fuel for 

 the villages. 



The practice occasionally observed in the Irrawaddi valley, of allowing trees to remain 

 standing along the borders of the fields, is commendable and might be encouraged. It re- 

 minds one of a similar custom in certain districts of Holland, where, however, these border- 

 trees are purposely planted. The roads in Pegu are still without avetmes, and I hope, ia 

 selecting avenue trees, the mistake often committed in India of planting leaf-shedders, will 

 be avoided in Burma. The trees should be evergreens and, if practicable, should be quick 

 growers, such as fig-trees, mango, bastard-cedar, Casuarinas, Pohjalthia longifolia, etc. Leaf- 

 shedders are destitute of leaves just at the hottest season of the year. 



II. Utilization of deserted toungyas, with cursory remarks on timber-plantations. 



The " ya" or " toungya" is a clearing in the jungles on which the felled trees are burnt 

 down, and on which, in the beginning of the rains, hill-rice is sown. The following year, or, 

 according to circumstances, the second, third, or fourth year, the toungyas are either left to 

 themselves and become poonzohs (deserted toungyas) overgrown with weeds, coarse grasses, 

 shrubs, and trees ; or (which is rarely the case) they are partially planted with other crops, 

 amongst which are chiefly mulberry for silk-worms, and culinary vegetables, tobacco, and such 

 like. It is with regard to these poonzohs that the subsequent remarks are submitted. 



For practical purposes in forestry, toungyas might be divided into those which are cut 

 in level alluvial lands, and those which are situated in rocky and hilly localities. The former 

 needs not the special consideration of the forester, if the principle is adhered to, that alluvial 

 lands are par excellence agrarian lands. The amount of hilly ground in proportion to level 

 country is, as already stated, so large in Pegu, that no fear can be entertained about short- 

 comings in forest-culture. 



Those toungyas which are cut on rocky substrata, overlaid by a thin surface soil, are of 

 the greatest importance. These I have designated as " upper cultivated lands and toung- 

 yas" in the first part of this report. They include two very different classes of toungyas, 

 viz., those cut in evergreen, and those cut in the deciduous forests. It is of some importance to 

 distinguish these two varieties, for they are the exponents of those conditions that are pro- 

 duced by the degree of dampness caused by exposure and sheltered situations. 



The toungyas that are cut in evergreen forests are often situated along the borders of 

 choungs, and in this case, are still damper than they otherwise would be. Many of them are 

 of a tolerable extent, especially in Martaban, and when deserted, would be valuable for the 

 raising of such evergreen timber as may in future be recommended for special consideration ; 

 (this recommendation is supposed to be the result of an ameliorated system of testing woods). 



For the present caoutchouc* (Ficus elastica) together with the caoutchouc climber (Ur- 

 ceola elustica) might be tried, and there is little doubt tiiat these will grow freely without any 

 special attention being paid to them besides sowing. Mahogany would be well located in those 

 damper valleys of the Yomah which border the Prome district, and where calcareous sand- 

 stones come in contact with those that are silieious, but still better success for this valuable 

 timber tree might be looked for in the larger valleys along the Eastern slopes of the Yomah 

 and in the Moulmein districts, where in well selected localities, I entertain some hope of 

 growing the tree as lofty as in Jamaica and the Honduras of (juatomala. The rasamala 

 tree of the Malays, {Altinyla exceha) or nantayoke of the Burmese, grows not only in Southern 

 Tenasserim, but also in the Khasya and the Kakhyen hills ; it is considered in Java 

 to be not inferior to teak, and would thus be eligible for the Martaban hills. This tree also 

 freely germinates, is easily propagated, and would require but little care, if a certain induc- 

 tive mode of planting them out were observed. This is theoretically as follows : 



The damp toungyas are, after desertion, more or less regularly overgrown with Bah- 

 merias, Sponia, and other members of the nettle tribe, thus preparing the necessary shade for 



* The true caoutchouc tree Sevea Ouyanensis, Siphonia elasiica, grows very well in the Botanic gardens of 

 Java, and seeds might be obtained from there. Some climbers indigenous in Burma yield also very good caout- 

 chouc, such as Willuyhbeia and Meludinus. The product obtained from Ficus laccifera, a tree Irequeut iu 

 Burma, and especially in the AndamaQS, yields caoutchouc probably uot inferior to that of F. elastica. 



