XXVI APPENDIX. 



forests can only be obtained by natural seeding. It must always 

 be a confession of failure when natural regeneration cannot be 

 obtained where it is required, more especially in the case of 

 gregarious species like sal and the conifers. 



Under the conditions which prevail in Britain clear felling 

 and planting is almost the only system worth considering and the 

 planting of teak in Nilambur is probably the finest piece of work 

 done by the Forest department in India. Bourne goes so far as 

 actually to root up natural teak seedlings which come up between 

 his transplants and his thinnings are reduced to almost a mechani- 

 cal operation. 



Even Blanford's system for the natural regeneration of teak 

 in Burma has been superseded by artificial regeneration which is 

 considered to give superior results. 



The two extremes of silvicultural practice in India are well 

 illustrated by comparing Collier's system for the natural regenera- 

 tion of sal, in which regeneration commences in the second period 

 or forty years before the end of the rotation with Bourne's 

 practice with teak in Nilambur in which complete regeneration 

 is obtained in one season. In our own practice, after a long and 

 intimate acquaintance with both natural and artificial methods 

 in the regeneration of the Himalayan conifers, the following 

 conclusions have been forced upon us so far as these species are 

 concerned : 



(1) That natural regeneration is always superior to artificial 



work. 



(2) That artificial sowing and planting is essential to the 



complete and rapid stocking of the area under regenera- 

 tion. 



(3) That reproduction whether natural or artificial should 



be obtained within the shortest possible time after the 

 first regeneration felling. 



Following on these results a technique was developed embody- 

 ing the best points of both schools of thought and aiming at. 



