324 
Proposai.s  and  Se'iti.p:mrnts. 
An  area  of  80,000  acres  has  been  proposed  during  the  year,  of 
which  19,500  acres  are  mangrove  forests  near  Port  Weld,  2,550 
acres  near  Tanjong  Malim  for  getah  taban  (gutta  percha),  and 
10,000  acres  (Tanjong  to  Allang  for  timber,  all  in  Perak).  In 
Selangor,  the  Rantau  Panjang  reserve,  12,000  acres,  and  Kuang 
reserve,  15,000  acres,  were  proposed  for  getah  taban,  also  three 
other  areas  for  timber,  aggregating  21,000  acres.  In  Negri  Sem- 
bilan  and  Pahang  no  new  proposals  are  yet  made,  but  now  that  the 
department  is  bettter  off  in  regard  to  staff,  large  areas  will  be 
added  in  1904. 
Sylviculture. 
(a) — -Natural  Reproduction. 
The  Forest  Officer,  Perak,  has  nothing  to  say  on  this  head  in  his 
report,  but  he  has  expressed  the  opinion  that  natural.re-production 
of  the  more  valuable  timber  trees  is  poor.  .As  regards  taban  (gutta 
percha)  it  is  good. 
In  Selangor  taban  seedlings  are  reported  as  plentiful  at  Rantau 
Panjang  and  Kuang.  No  trees  were  observed  to  fruit  during  the 
year,  and  §i  per  loo  seeds  was  offered  to  Sakais  without  result. 
Merbau  seeded  well  during  the  year  and  the  Forest  Officer  reports 
large  numbers  of  seedlings  beneath  the  parent  trees;  but  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  large  majority  of  these  will  die  in  the  next  few  years 
owing  to  overcrowding  by  other  species.  Meranti  also  seeded  well 
and  is  abundant. 
In  Negri  Sembilan  taban  flowered  during  the  year  and  five  trees 
were  found  bearing  seed,  four  of  which  grew  on  private  land.  Seed 
was  obtained  from  one  tree  on  State  land  and  although  the  Forest 
Officer  offered  to  purchase  seed  from  the  other  trees  the  owners  did 
not  produce  any. 
The  seed  was  doubtless  eaten  by  bats  and  dying  foxes. 
In  Pahang  the  natural  reproduction  of  taban  is  reported  as  good 
everywhere,  both  from  seed  and  stumps,  and  its  growth  even  in  the 
densest  forests  as  vigorous.  Although  but  few  large  trees  exist, 
the  present  state  of  affairs  is  very  satisfactory,  as  in  the  future  there 
will  be  a very  regular  crop  of  large  trees.  Considering  that  ab- 
solutely nothing  has  been  done  in  the  past  to  help  the  regeneration 
of  this  species,  the  abundance  of  young  growth  is  extremely  for- 
tunate and  shows  that  taban  is  better  able  to  hold  its  own  than 
almost  any  other  forest  tree. 
With  regard  to  Chengai  ( Balanocarpus  maximus)  the  h'orest 
Officer,  Pahang,  writes  : — 
“The  forests  of  this  species  which  have  up  to  date  l)een  inspected 
(Kuantan),  consist  without  exception  of  large-girthed,  over-matur(* 
trees,  the  small-girthed  classes  being  de|dorabIy  wanting.  ” Fn- 
der  these  circumstances  and  with  the  demand  for  chengai  steadily 
increasing  there  is  great  fear  of  its  ultimate  (‘xtermination:  1 have 
personally  searched  in  the  Pahang  forests  nW  round  large  chengai 
