Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. IV. 
clump recovers, if given even only a short period of rest. And this is 
as might he expected, for the amount of nourishment which a clump can 
accumulate is governed by the leaf-area, so that when the leaf-area is 
reduced by felling a certain number of culms, the number of new shoots 
put out in the next season is correspondingly reduced. Another factor, 
however, comes into play when the vitality of a plant is reduced by 
cutting or pruning and that is that the plant struggles to regain its former 
normal state, so that with bamboos, which have enormous vitality, the 
deficiency is made up in a surprisingly short period of time. 
Experiments on the cutting hack of bamboos. —As a proof of the above 
assertion, there are to hand the records of experiments made some years 
ago in Burma, in connection with the extermination of bamboos to 
favour the growth of seedling teak. 
The following is an extract from a letter on this subject from Mr. 
Muriel, Conservator of Forests, Pegu Circle, to the Chief Conservator 
of Forests, Burma :— 
“ Experiments were made in the Tharrawaddy Division (new 
Zigon and Tharrawaddy) from 1892 to 1897 to see if the 
cutting of the shoots of the year would cause the bamboo 
clumps to die * * *. An area of about 90 acres in 
the Kon Bilin Reserve of almost pure Kyathaung ( Bambusa 
polymorpha) was operated over * * * 
An area of about 12 acres in the Bawbin Reserve of 
Kyathaung and Tinwa bamboo ( Cephalostachyum pergra- 
cile) was similarly operated over * * * The experiment, 
as in the case of the Kon Bilin, being merely to 
determine the effect on the vitality of the bamboo 
clumps by cutting the annual shoots and in both cases 
the experiment failed to have any appreciable effect on the 
vitality of the clumps.” 
In the above instance only the new shoots appear to have been cut. 
There is, however, to hand another experiment which was carried out 
in the Yaw Division, a copy of the report on which was sent by Mr. E. S. 
Carr, Conservator of Forests, to the Chief Conservator of Forests of 
Burma. The following extract is from the report by the Divisional 
Forest Officer, Yaw Division :— 
This work was incidental with the clearing of other under¬ 
growth carried out in connection with an experiment, the 
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