Part III. ] Osmaston : Pterocarpus dalbergioides. Andaman Padouk. 241 
Young seedlings may, indeed, be discovered under seed bearers during 
the rains, but they cannot survive under the dense cover and there will 
be no trace of them the following year. Saplings and young poles, as 
well as trees below 6 feet in girth, are very scarce indeed except in the 
neighbourhood of Port Blair where clearings have admitted hght which 
has permitted seedUngs to hold their own. 
This remarkable disparity in the age classes can only be explained 
by assuming that there has been a very recent change in the condition 
of the vegetation in the Andamans, the conditions under which the 
existing crop of mature and over-mature trees arose having given place 
to others unsuitable to the successful reproduction of Padouk. 
It is no doubt difficult to indicate exactly the nature of such a change 
or how it could have arisen, but possibly an increase in moisture may have 
occurred which would favour shade- enduring species to the detriment of 
Padouk. We have, in any case, to face the fact that the young crop of 
Padouk is hopelessly inadequate to take the place of that which is now 
ripe for removal. 
6. Reproductive Power. — Padouk reproduces powerfully from the 
stool, and this power is retained to a great age since quite old trees, on 
being felled, frequently send up strong shoots. 
Good seed is produced in large quantities almost every year. Flower- 
ing takes place about June and the seeds ripen the following 
February or March. The fruits are conspicuous as early as August, so 
that a good seed year may be known six months before the seed is 
collected. 
The pods, which do not dehisce, contain usually only one but 
rarely two fertile seeds, from which one, or in the latter case two, 
seedlings result. 
Padouk seed, while on the tree, is very liable to the attacks of paro- 
quets, which are found in large flocks and destroy a vast amount of 
seed during the cold weather months. When once tRe seed has been 
harvested it is safe provided it is kept in a dry place. 
7. Plantation.^. — Artiflcial reproduction of Padouk is now being 
carried out upon a fairly large scale in the vicinity of Port Blair upon 
a modifled Taungya system consisting in the clearing of the forest by 
felling and subsequent burning, after which Padouk seeds, or rather 
pods, are dibbled in at stake at 6 feet intervals, two at each stake. 
The sowing is carried out in April and May immediately before 
the rains. Germination takes place throughout the rains and by the 
