Part II] 
F. A. Wright : further Note on Thitsi . 
a 
the tree—the difference in colour of the Oleo-resin they consider is 
entirely dependent on the season of the year in which it is collected. 
3 Natural regeneration. 
In areas which are not subject to heavy tapping—and such areas 
are few and far between in accessible uncl^ed forests —Thitsi regenera¬ 
tion is, as a rule, good. In areas where heavy tapping is done annually, 
and has apparently been done year after year for several decades, the 
paucity of Thitsi seedlings, and indeed of saplings, and poles of the lower 
girth classes, is conspicuous. 
In Thitsi -bearing forests, which, owing to their remoteness from 
villages, practically have not been exploited at all for some considerable 
time past, I have been struck by the excellence of the regeneration. 
General factors here being similar to those prevailing in other localities, 
with the exception of heavy tapping, has led me to the conclusion that 
the poorness of the regeneration in areas subject to annual heavy tapping 
may be attributed chiefly, if not entirely, to one cause, viz., excessive 
and prolonged tapping. Heavily-tapped trees produce seed, but appa¬ 
rently their vitality is reduced to a point which renders them incapable 
of producing an adequate quantity of fertile seed. This matter requires 
further investigation and should not be accepted as proved. Experi¬ 
ments, which unfortunately the writer himself from various causes has 
not been able to undertake, require to be made to ascertain the 
relative percentage of germination of seed obtained from heavily 
tapped, lightly tapped and untapped trees, respectively. 
Thitsi seedlings possess great power of resistance to destruction by 
fire. They are generally burnt down by annually recurring fires until 
a thick root-stock is formed, which produces a sufficiently strong shoot 
capable of resisting the action of fire. 
4. Thitsi tapping apparatus. 
The following articles are used in Thitsi tapping— 
(1) An iron chisel (sauk-kauk) from 12 to 15 inches long, the lower 
5 to 8 inches being hollow and roughly conical in shape. 
The remainder is solid, the upper 4 to 5 inches being wedge- 
shaped and bent so that the tip of the wedge is about half 
an inch off the straight. The cutting edge of the chisel 
is from \ to § of an inch broad. The lower hollow portion 
forms the handle of the chisel into the bottom of which a 
bamboo or wooden plug is sometimes driven. 
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