Paht IV.] Caccia : Selection method of treatment in India. 325 
Rangoon Plains forests, Burma,* be made merely to yield coupes 
of a workable size. 
The Rangoon Plains forests have been considerably over-worked in the past, 
especially as regards pyinkado, and the main object to be obtained is the pro- 
duction of a sustained yield of as much timber and fuel as possible, consistent 
with the improvement of the forests. 
The system to be adopted must be the selection method. Except as an 
experiment it is not advisable to adopt the coppice with standards system 
because most of the species do not coppice well and interruption of the cover of 
considerable area results at once in a dense growth of coarse grass against which 
seedlings have very little chance. Small areas of 20 acres each will be selected 
in compartment 1 of the South Hlaing Yoma block and worked on the system of 
coppice with standards. The rate of growth of the various species differs con- 
siderably and very little is known about it. Some countings of rings on stumps 
were made but they are hardly sufficient to accurately ascertain the rate of 
growth. The whole area will be worked in 20 years, at the end of which period 
something more may be known about the rate of growth and exploitable age 
of the various species. 
There are at present insufficient data for determining the age of exploit- 
ability of the various species. From the above data it would seem that the 
rate of growth of teak and pyinma is about the same whilst that of eng and 
kanyin is quicker and that of pyinkado considerably slower. The question of 
rotation must therefore be left open until more details can be obtained. A fell- 
ing rotation of 20 years will be prescribed during which felling operations will 
extend over the whole area. 
The forests are very uneven in character, the greater portion consisting of 
mixed forests in which pyinma {Lagerstroemia fiosTegina) and kanyin {Diptero- 
carpus alatus and Icevis) are common along streams and in moist localities, and 
a mixture of many other species elsewhere. 
Fairly extensive areas of indaing occur, and in places teak and pyinkado 
occur and grow fairly well. Such areas are comparatively small and quite local 
in extent. The relative density of teak as compared with some other reserves in 
Lower Burma is as follows : — 
Rangoon Plains forests •Ol.'i 
Kabaung reserve, Toungoo Division .... '105 
Bondaung reserve, Toungoo Division . . . '208 
Nawin reserve, Prome Division (mean of 4 Working 
Circles) '162 
Gwethe reserve, Toungoo Division . • . . . ‘058 
It is thus seen that the relative density of teak is very small. The crop 
consists chiefly of mixed species, and, with few exceptions, everything the area 
produces is or soon will be saleable. The selection method is therefore the only 
one which commends itself. .\s a rule the younger classes of all species arc 
well represented and it is advisable to encourage their growth by fire-protection 
and improvement fellings in order to obtain an increase in the quality and 
quantity of timber and fuel. 
The whole area will be worked over once in 20 years. The fellings will be 
by area and will be of two kinds — 
(a) Fellings of mature trees. 
(b) Improvement fellings. 
* Working Plan for the Plains forests, Rangoon Forest Division, Pegu Circle, 
f/pwer Burma, by J. J. Rorie, I.F.S., 1906, . o „ 
