Part II] Hole: Regeneration of Sal (Shorea robusta) Forests 11 
the forest fail to complete germination successfully. In 
order to secure the rapid regeneration of the forests it is 
necessary, as far as possible, to be independent of unfavour¬ 
able seasons, and it is important that some method of storing 
the seed should be evolved which would enable us to keep 
it alive and in good condition until a continuance of showery 
weather can be insured. 
Points (1) and (4), above, illustrate the beneficial effect of merely 
protecting the seed from the sun* and there is every reason to believe 
that seed can be stored for several weeks, if necessary, without being 
seriously damaged. The writer has kept seeds for several days in closed 
baskets in a cool shady room, and has obtained healthy plants from 
these, even when the radicle and plumule had both developed strongly 
and begun to wither back from the tips before sowing. On July 7th, 
1917, also, he sent a number of seeds from Dehra Dun to Mr. Burkill at 
Singapore, which were packed in a wooden box wrapped in stout paper. 
In letters dated 8th August, 1917, and 30th October, 1917, Mr. Burkill 
wrote as follows regarding this consignment:— 
“ I think it quite an achievement on your part to have got the seed 
here in such a good condition * * * thanks to you I have 
got a very nice lot of little sal plants now.” 
This seed had been collected three days before despatch, and was 24 
days in transit and had, therefore, been kept for one month before it was 
sown. 
At the time of collecting, the seed should be carefully protected from 
the sun by being placed in baskets lined with green leaves or otherwise, 
and the seed should then be stored in a dry, cool, shady place and covered 
with a layer of dry soil or dry dead leaves. Placing the seed in dry sand 
and then covering the whole with a layer of dry soil or dead leaves might 
also be tried. Sowing should be done, as far as possible, on cloudy, 
showery days. 
(c) To test the aeration effect of dead leaves. 
13. To test the aeration effect of dead leaves on the growth of seedlings, 
the plan was adopted of spreading a layer of dead leaves on the surface 
of the soil after sal seedlings had become successfully established and 
had sent their roots well down into the soil. 
In June, 1916, four large porous pots, similar to those used in experi¬ 
ment II (a) above, were similarly sunk in the ground in the open in the 
# The writer has also found that by just burying the seed in the surface soil, leaving 
the wings of the fruit exposed above the soil, the percentage of germination is invariably 
better than when the seed is sown broadcast on the surface of the soil, which appears to 
support this conclusion. 
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