ANNUAL EXPLOITATION. 



397 



tinder systematic culture until they have already been worked for 

 many years or at least have been for a long time in full produc- 

 tion. In the case of such forests the first thing to be done is to 

 bring about a proper spacing of the productive culms, always an 

 expensive and laborious operation that must be effected by the 

 agency of the owner of the forest, but one which cannot be dis- 

 pensed with if cutting on any scale is to be done ; it is only when 

 the clumps have been thinned out properly that they will begin to 

 produce up to their full capability and will be safe against mutila- 

 tion whenever any shoot has to be taken out. The principles to be 

 observed here, in the thinning as well as in all subsequent oper- 

 ations, are the same as those already prescribed above. If a 

 clump has been overcut, they will enable it, without requiring a 

 preliminary period of rest and absence of revenue, to acquire the 

 necessary increase of vigour and power of expansion, just as in 

 the case of a young clump that has not yet reached its maximum 

 development ; and if, on the other hand, it has not been cut up to 

 its actual capacity, their immediate effect will be to at once render 

 available a mass of produce hitherto remaining unutilised and to 

 place the clump in the best possible conditions for thenceforward 

 yielding the largest and most useful production of which it is 

 capable. 



Every bamboo cutter should be provided with a stiff narrow- 

 bladed saw, beside the usual light one-hand axe. The saw will 

 serve to cut down close to the ground all those shoots which can- 

 not be reached with the axe, and without it it will be impossible 

 to thin out overcrowded clumps. 



Annually recurring exploitation requires competent workmen 

 honestly and strictly supervised, and, therefore, in most cases 

 necessitates departmental agency. Nevertheless, if local labour is 

 abundant and competition is keen, it will be possible to dispense 

 with departmental working by adopting a system of licensing 

 picked men and allowing only these to be employed in the bamboo 

 exploitation ; the fear of forfeiting their license will effectually 

 compel the men to work in accordance with the prescribed rule. 



Annually recurring exploitation obtains from a bamboo forest 

 its highest utility ; it injures the clump least, it yields the largest 

 outturn and its furnishes the greatest number of large-sized shoots. 



2. Exploitation recurring at a fixed interval of several years. 



Despite the immense superiority of well-directed annually re- 

 curring exploitations, this method has not received anything like 



