30 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. VIII 
open and the seeds are dried in the sun for a few days. If water is avail¬ 
able in the nursery the seeds should be sown in the beds at once and a 
very light layer of soil sprinkled over them. The seed can, if necessary, 
be stored in dry tins for a few months. It grows to 4 to 6 ins. by the 
beginning of June when it should be planted out. In Chittagong it 
grows to 4 to 5 ft. in two years. It has been very little tried in Northern 
Bengal during recent years but should not be lost sight of for filling moist 
hollows or places liable to submersion. Owing to its spreading habit 
close planting (4x4 or 5x5) is indicated. 4.580 seeds to the oz. 
Machilus edulis or Phoebe attenuata .—Lepcha Kawla in Nepalese. 
4,000 to 8,000 ft. I he seeds, which are large, are collected in November 
or December. It seeds well about every third year. It is sown in 
February in unshaded beds about three inches apart and kept in the 
nursery until the rains of the following year when it is planted out. In 
Darjeeling Division it has been sown direct in April. Rate of growth 
fast. 
Mesua ferrea .—Nageswar in Bengali, Nagasuri in Nepalese. Occurs 
sparingly in the plains and foot-hills between the Neora and Jaldhaka 
rivers in the Duars and also in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Seed ripens 
August and September and will keep. It can be sown 4 to 5 inches 
apart in the seed bed so that pricking out is unnecessary. It germinates 
well but is very slow. 10 seeds to the oz. 
Michelia Champaca .—Champ or Ouli champ in Nepalese. Plains up 
to 3,000 ft. Grows well in sal forest and in a type of wet mixed forest 
in which no other valuable species appears to thrive and it seems to be 
spreading rapidly under fire protection. Seed collected during the first 
half of August. It is said that the seed must be collected from the 
tree and not off the ground though some records seem to show that seed 
off the ground has given good results. Seed is always difficult to get. 
As soon as collected the pulp is washed off and the seed is dried in the 
shade. Seed can not be kept for more than a day or two and should be 
sown in shaded beds, pricked out in other shaded beds when a few inches 
high and kept in the nursery throughout the cold weather. It is planted 
out at the beginning of the following rains when anything up to 4 ft. 
high. The great drawback about this species, besides the difficulty 
of collecting sufficient seed, is the unfavourable season at which it ripens 
coupled with the fact that it will not keep. Experiments will be made 
this year to see if seedlings can be successfully put out when only a few 
weeks old in early September. Once established the rate of growth 
of this species is very rapid, it reaches a height of about 8 feet in two years 
and a tree near Sukna 5 ft. 6 inches ingirth and 117 ft. high was tound on 
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