Part III. ] Witt: Sylviculture of HardwicMa hinata. 101 
whicli we have to deal, and especially where grazing has been at all 
prevalent, our typical sapling has a very bushy and much branched 
base, from 1 to 2 feet in height, out of the centre of which rises a distinct 
leading shoot. Plate B shows this fairly clearly, except that in this 
instance, owing to damage by grazing, there are two leaning shoots 
striving for the mastery. 
(b) Sheiding of Branches. 
To return to the leading shoot, a close examination of it will show, 
at intervals along its length, distinct annular marks or rings, usually in 
the form of a slightly raised ridge. Plate C shows some of these rings, 
the small black arrows indicating their position. These marks come in 
the following manner. Towards the end of the season of growth, 
about March, a portion of the year’s growth is shed, much in the same 
way as leaves are shed. Just as a leaf scar arises from the shedding 
of a leaf, so does a scar result from the shedding of the woody shoots 
and branches. In April and May the ground under Anjan trees will 
be found to be littered with small twigs and branches, which, at first 
sight, appear to be have been broken ofi, but a closer inspection shows 
that they have literally been shed hke leaves. 
On the surface of the scar so formed a bud develops, which bud, the 
following year, grows out into the new year’s shoot. There is thus a 
distinct ridge or scar left at the point where the branch has been shed, 
and these ridges can be traced back on the sapling for several years. 
From what has been said it is clear that each ring represents the end of 
a year’s growth, and the space between two such rings represents, therefore, 
the height growth for that year. 
These rings gradually become efiaced as the sapling increases in girth, 
but from 4 to 6 years’ growth can usually be fairly accurately deciphered. 
(c) Rate of Height Growth. 
From these rings we find that the average rate of height growth of a 
normal Anjan sapling, from a height of 3 feet onwards, is from 9 to 
12 inches a year. How long this rate of height growth continues, 
and whether it increases still further or afterwards decreases, are 
points still awaiting elucidation. As the sapling shoots up, the bushy 
appearance at the base disappears by a process of dying oft, and, by 
the time the sapling is about ten feet high, it is usually clear of all 
