Part II] Hole: Regeneration of Sal [Shored robust a) Forests 57 
covering it with a layer of dry leaves or soil. If care is 
taken to keep it cool and to prevent it drying out, it can 
be stored for some weeks without injury. The writer has 
sent sal seed from Dehra Dun to Singapore which produced 
a good stock of healthy seedlings on arrival and which was 
sown one month after it had been collected, see present 
paper, para. 12 (8). 
(2) Sal seeds which are kept immersed in water fail to germinate, 
see present paper, para. 12 (6). 
In years of heavy rainfall, germination of sal is best in sand and 
8-30 per cent, less in water—retaining loam and leaf-mould, see Ind . 
For. Rec. V, 4, part I, 1914, paras. 17 (1), 19 (1). 
(3) Sal seed which is just buried in the surface soil usually germi¬ 
nates better than seed which is sown broadcast on the surface 
of the soil. In broadcast sowings, therefore, it is 
essential to sow thickly, e.g. at a rate of not less than 6 
seeds per square foot of area, which should insure a fairly 
full stock of seedlings, even in an unfavourable season, see 
present paper, p. .11 (footnote) and para. 46 (3). 
(4) In a season unfavourable for germination, with an unusually 
short rainfall at the end of June and in July, sowings in 
cleared patches are more successful than sowings under 
shade in the forest. It is believed that this is due to more 
moisture being available in the cleared patches, as these 
get the full benefit of dew and light showers which do not 
reach the soil in the shady forest. In the patches, also, 
the evaporation of moisture is retarded by the side shade, 
see present paper, paras. 45, 46. 
(5) The results previously obtained by Mr. R S. Troup and the 
present writer, see para. 7 of present paper, regarding the 
injurious effect of a soil covering of dead leaves on germina¬ 
tion and the early growth of sal seedlings in the local forests, 
have been confirmed, see present paper, paras. 37 (2), 
41 (2). 
(6) Pot cultures have shown that the injurious action of dead leaves 
is threefold : 
(a) a drought action, owing to the dry barrier separating the 
seed from the soil surface, which causes the death of the 
seed either before, or shortly after, germination has 
commenced, see present paper, paras. 9, 10, 12 (7). 
(b) a mechanical action due to the obstruction afforded by the 
tough leaves to the passage of the radicle. 
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