IX, A, 6 Brown and Mathews: Dipterocarp Forests 551 



this over-cut forest into a normal condition would be to under- 

 plant the entire area with either dipterocarps or other species 

 more suitable to planting operations. However, planting on such 

 a large scale is entirely out of the question at the present time, 

 and we must look to cultural operations in the forest itself for 

 the improvement of conditions. The bulk of the timber on the 

 ground at present is not of the species which we desire to see 

 in this forest when it again becomes fully stocked, and the dip- 

 terocarps which would normally exist in the area are present in 

 such small amounts, with the exception of Parashorea plicata, 

 that there seems little chance of obtaining a satisfactory stand of 

 these species within one or two rotations. The chief obstacle in 

 the way of cultural operations leading to the reproduction of a 

 pure or nearly pure stand of dipterocarps is that the timber 

 market is such that many of the species now existing in the area 

 cannot be disposed of at a profit. Were the market willing to 

 accept timber of the miscellaneous qualities which this forest is 

 at present capable of producing, it would be possible so to cut 

 over the forest that the dipterocarp element would become much 

 more pronounced at the end of one rotation of seventy or eighty 

 years, and it would be possible to attain a fairly dense stand 

 of dipterocarps by the end of a second similar rotation. The 

 procedure to be followed would be that of the shelter-wood sys- 

 tem, the shelter wood itself being composed of species for the 

 most part other than dipterocarps, but containing also a fair 

 representation of Parashorea plicata. It would be necessary 

 to remove large amounts of timber of miscellaneous species 

 from the present first and second stories, thereby admitting 

 light to the suppressed stand of dipterocarp seedlings and sap- 

 lings which exist in the lower stories of the forest. This opening 

 of the main canopy would have to be carried out under very 

 strict technical supervision, in order that every one of the groups 

 of dipterocarps now on the ground might be retained without 

 serious reduction in amount due to competition of weeds and 

 vines and valueless trees of the lower stories. In other words, 

 the forester would have to base his system of cutting upon the 

 needs of the dipterocarp reproduction on the ground, regardless 

 of the financial side of the logging operation, and would have to 

 forego a large part of present returns in the interest of improv- 

 ing the composition of this forest. Where labor is cheap, as 

 in India, such cultural operations are often carried on under 

 the name of "cleanings." In the more valuable teak forests of 

 India they may go even further than this and cut trees infested 



