September 23, iS 



'•] 



Garden and Forest. 



389 



For the sake of seeing what might be done with this fruit, a 

 quantity was taken this summer and made up into jelly. The 

 result was gratifying. There was not a large amount of the 

 jelly, but the quality was superior. The clean flavor of the 

 bitter almond characterized our samples, which were sweet 

 and fruity besides. The flavor was altogether desirable. The 

 texture was somewhat coarse and grainy, owing, perhaps, to 

 the fact that the fruit was overripe. The jelly was also dark- 

 colored, probably owing to the same fact. 



There are many places, in this vicinity at any rate, where 

 the fruit of the Choke Cherry could be picked in large quan- 

 tities with ease ; and, so far as the result of our small experi- 

 ment may indicate, it would be altogether worth while to 

 gather it and make it up into jelly. 



Vermont Experiment Station. 



F. A. Wait eh. 



The Forest. 

 The Burma Teak Forests. 



-VIII. 



LINEAR VALUATION SURVEYS. 



THE reader may justly ask, what can possibly be the object 

 of filling the pages of Garden and Forest with these dry 

 facts and figures relating to Teak in Burma, a tree which does 

 not grow in the United States, and which could not possibly 

 be grown as a forest tree if the attempt were made ? 



American foresters are practical people, and though some 

 of them, doubtless, honestly desire to manage their forests 

 upon conservancy principles, they naturally are impatient and 

 wish to attain results as speedily as possible. It being known 

 that the system of linear valuation surveys made it possible 

 forty years ago in the Teak forests of Burma to organize the 

 working of these forests on a plan which has stood the test of 

 experience, it is but natural that the adoption ot a similar sys- 

 tem in the United States should have been contemplated. 

 Hence, it may not be out of place to explain the conditions 

 under which the adoption ot that system would not be advisa- 

 ble. In forests where one species predominates, such as the 

 Redwood forests of California, or where the constituent species 

 are all marketable, it will generally be found most convenient 

 at the outset, and before special working plans are made, to < 

 regulate cuttings by area. In such cases each forest division 

 would be divided into a number of blocks of approximately 

 similar productiveness, one block being taken in hand annu- 

 ally for the cutting and extraction of the mature and market- 

 able timber in it. What proportion of the marketable trees 

 should be cut, and the selection of the trees to be felled, must 

 depend upon what is known regarding the natural regenera- 

 tion of the forest, the rate of growth and other considerations. 

 The main point, as a matter of course in all cases, must be so 

 to arrange cuttings as to ensure the maintenance and the 

 regeneration of the forest. In forests, on the other hand, 

 where the marketable kinds only form a small proportion of 

 the growing stock, it will often be difficult to regulate cuttings 

 by area, and in such cases it may be expedient to endeavor, 

 by means of linear valuation surveys, to obtain a general idea 

 regarding the growing stock of the different age classes, and, 

 guided by the results thus obtained, to regulate the cuttings 

 by volume — that is, to fix a maximum number of trees to be 

 cut annually within a certain area. In Burma no other method 

 was possible at the outset, but elsewhere circumstances may 

 be different. Thus, in the Alleghanies, where the Yellow 

 Poplar is the most valuable, and may in places at present be 

 the only marketable species, this tree may possibly be found 

 in scattered patches of varying extent, Liriodendron being 

 the principal tree in these woods or patches, while in the 

 remaining forest area this species would be absent, or nearly 

 so. In that case the results of linear surveys would be mis- 

 leading, and other methods must be devised. In any case it 

 should be distinctly understood that linear valuation surveys 

 were employed in Burma at the outset only, and that when 

 special working plans were prepared for torest districts of 

 moderate size the estimate of the growing stock was formed 

 on the ground of sample areas carefully selected, so as 

 to represent approximately the constitution of the entire 

 forest. 



WORKS OF IMPROVEMENT— CUTTING OF CLIMBERS. 



It has been shown that the condition of those forest tracts in 

 lower Burma which have lately been examined in detail, and 

 which, therefore, are best known, has greatly improved as far 

 as Teak is concerned, particularly as regards the younger 

 classes. This improvement could not have taken place had 

 not girdling operations been made sparingly and had not the 



selection of the trees girdled been governed by correct princi- 

 ples. This favorable result is, however, also due to the works 

 of improvement that were undertaken — that is, to the care 

 bestowed specially upon the Teak in the forests. One of the 

 features which at once struck me forcibly in those forests was 

 the large number of huge woody climbers, the stems not sel- 

 dom one hundred feet long, as thick as a man's leg, but as 

 flexible as a rope, their. tops twisting round stem and branches 

 of Teak and other trees, and their luxuriant foliage smothering 

 the crown of the trees on which the creeper had settled. 

 Botanically, these creepers are most interesting ; they belong 

 to a large number of families, many bear a profusion of 

 gorgeous flowers ; in all of them the structure of the stem, the 

 circulation of the sap and their mode of growth and develop- 

 ment present interesting and most important problems, but the 

 mischief they do is very great. The tree to which one of these 

 woody climbers has attached itself gets bent, forked and 

 twisted ; it is badly shaped, remains stunted and is often killed. 

 Hence, I determined at once that these pests should be de- 

 stroyed throughout the Teak-producing tracts. Fortunately, 

 this work is not difficult ; the stems of these creepers are soft, 

 and I soon found that it gave my Burmese companions con- 

 siderable pleasure to cut them with their long, stout, sabre like 

 knives. The rule which I established was that when girdling 

 operations were carried on in any district all climbers on Teak- 

 trees should be cut, and it was made the duty of the local 

 native foresters to keep the Teak in their districts clear of 

 creepers. 



The battle which I waged against creepers in Burma has not, 

 it is true, led to a complete extirpation of these interesting 

 plants. Readers of Garden and Forest will still be able to 

 see a good many ot them should they visit the forests of 

 Burma. More perfect success was attained in this respect in 

 another part of fndia at a later date, under my advice, by my 

 younger friends in the forests. In 1875 a valued friend of mine 

 came from England to see how India was progressing, and, 

 among other things, to understand what we were doing in the 

 forests. At that time I happened to be in the Dehra Dim, a 

 large forest district mainly consisting of Sal, Shorea robusta, 

 at the foot of the Himalaya. Ever since I had first visited 

 these forests in 1863 I had resolved at that place to establish a 

 forest school for tile natives of India. I had, however, deter- 

 mined not to take any steps in this direction until my friends, 

 who had charge of these forests, should have succeeded in 

 bringing them under efficient protection and a regular system 

 of management. Example is better than precept, had been 

 my motto all through my Indian career, and I had determined 

 that the training at that school should be chiefly practical. 

 This, however, was impossible without forests in good condi- 

 tion and under systematic management as the training-ground 

 for the students. In 1878 I succeeded in obtaining the sanction 

 of the Government of India to the establishment of the Dehra 

 Duu Forest School, but in 1875 considerable progress had 

 already been made in the improvement of the forests. 



My friend took a special interest in botanical matters, and I 

 naturally wished to show him some of the gigantic climbers 

 of the forests — Butea superba, with its gorgeous orange- 

 colored flowers; Bauhinia Vahlii, with its irregularly ridged 

 and furrowed stem, its impenetrable net-work of twigs and 

 branches and its dense foliage. Not one was to be found ; 

 they had all been carefully extirpated. My friend, now the 

 Right Honorable Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff, saw 

 that the forests were well cared for, but the readers of Garden 

 and Forest will sympathize with his disappointment at not 

 seeing either Bauhinia Vahlii or Butea superba hard at work 

 throttling the Sal-tree. 



More difficult to deal with were Epiphytic ficus, the seed of 

 which germinates on a branch or in a fork of the tree. The 

 Epiphyte at first grows very slowly, but afterward draws abun- 

 dant nourishment from aerial roots sent down into the ground, 

 and finally tightly encloses the trunk of the Teak or other trees 

 with a net-work of anastomozing roots, forming a thick woodv 

 sheath round the stem. Another important work that was 

 undertaken, to favor the development of the Teak-tree, was to 

 cut down or to girdle other trees overshadowing young Teak 

 and to clear away heavy inflammable matter — wood, branches, 

 dry brushwood — lying on the ground in the vicinity of young 

 Teak-trees, especially if standing in groups. Considering the 

 large extent of the Burma forests, these operations could not, 

 as a matter of course, be carried on uniformly all over the 

 area, but the beneficial effect of what hail been done I noticed 

 with satisfaction on each successive visit to the forests in 

 1868, 1S76 and 1880, after I had relinquished my original 

 charge. 



Bonn, Germany. Dietrich Brandts. 



