A - Service Centenary Issue - Burmese Forester - Selected Articles

The Service Centenary Issue of The Burmese Forester Selected Articles Vol VI. N0 1.
June 1956
Table of Content 1 DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST TYPES OF BURMA C.W.D.Kermode 2 HIGHLIGHTS OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF FORESTRY IN BURMA. H.R.Blanford 3 AN OLD FORESTER LOOKS BACK. U Kyaw 4 WHY WE HAD FAILED? U Thein Lwin 5 THE OLD AND THE NEW. C.W.D. KERMODE 6 ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF FORESTRY IN BURMA. TAN CHEIN HOE 7 SOME REMINISCENCES-1916 TO 1956. SITHU U HMAN 8 BURMA AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY, A. LONG 9 THE ROLE OF FORESTERS IN AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. U Tin Htut 10 A SHORT NOTE ON THE WORKING OF THE STATE TIMBER BOARD. U Tun Kyaw 11 THE DRY ZONE OF CENTRAL BURMA. U Pe Kin 12 IN RETROSPECT. E.A.P.REYNOLDS 13 TRAINING UNDER THE COLOMBO PLAN IN THE MALAYAN MANGROVES Mr. J.B.Carrapiett
6 9 25 34 50 53 61 63 71 76 78 85 86
The Chief Conservators Post Creation and its holders We gratefully acknowledge greetings from Mr. D. T. Griffiths, the last British Chief Conservator of Forests Burma. (The Burmese Forester) The text of his message runs thus:Greetings from the Last British Chief Conservator of Forests.
Best wishes to the Burma Forest Service. I believe 1956 is the Centenary of The Service, if my memory is correct. In which case, my greetings to the present members the bulk of whom are old friends. I trust that progress in the next century will be as steady as in the first 80 odd years of the first; that there will be no fiasco such as did so much to vitiate our work up till 1941; and that with the recent developments in utilization you will be able to practice a full integration of conservation and utilization in the development of which I feel you are fortunate to have the advice of F.A.O's Forestry Division, for which as you know, I have great admiration. Good luck and my wife joins me in this wish. As will be recalled, Mr. Griffiths stayed on for a while as the Chief Forest Adviser to the Government of Union of Burma after the transfer of power. We hear that he is in splendid retirement in Australia. We wish him and Mrs. Griffiths health, happiness, and long life.
Since Sir Dietrich, notable contributions in building up the Forest Department in Burma were made by prominent foresters like Sir William Schlich, Mr. Ribbentrop, Chief Conservator's Mr. H. C. Hill, C.I.E. and Sir Sainthill Eardley Wilmot, each of whom had in turn The birth of the Chief been called away to become the Inspector-General of Conservators Post and the Forests for the Indian Empire. A good deal of ground list of the holders. work having been thus accomplished, by the turn of the century, the Department in `the premier forest province was about ready to launch out its rapidly expanding activities. In the face of this, the then existing staff was sadly inadequate-somewhat as at the present-and what was more, there was no central head to do the fundamentally important job of bringing about coordination while giving sound guidance. The Department was continually called upon to achieve almost impossible out-put of work and however stoutly it had been able to withstand the strain, the crisis was fast approaching and it looked as though there might be serious set -backs in the departmental programmes unless a provincial head was appointed and the staff sufficiently increased. Some time elapsed, till in the Revenue Secretary's Resolution on the Forest Administration Report of Burma for the year 1904-05, the following appeared--One very considerable advance in the organization of the Forest Department has been achieved by the recent appointment of a Chief Conservator as Provincial Head of the Department. The Lieutenant-Governor is confident that Mr. Beadon Bryant, who has been
appointed to the post, will render valuable assistance in guiding and co-ordinating the work of the Department. It must have gladdened the hearts of foresters as it was indeed a milestone in the history of the Forest Department.
As a mark of honour, we give below the complete list of the Chief Conservators of Forests, Burma, from the start right up to the present 1with dates shown against each. List of Chief Conservators of Forests Name. 1. Mr. F. Beadon Bryant ... 2. Mr. J. H. Lace ... 3. Mr. M. Hill 4. Mr. J. H. Lace 5. Mr. C. G. Rogers, C.I.E. 6. Mr. F. A. Leete, C.I.E. 7. Mr. C. B. Smales 8. Mr. F. A. Leete, C.I.E. ... 9. Mr. C. B. Smales 10. Sir. H. W. A. Watson 11. Mr. S. F. Hopwood, M.C. 12. Mr. H. R. Blanford, O.B.E. 13. Mr. C. E. Milner 14. Mr. A. W. Moodie, O.B.E 15. Mr. R. Unwin 16. Mr. H. C. Smith* 17. Mr. R. W. V. Palmer* From 1904-1905 12- 3-1908 17- 5-1910 24- 5-1911 24- 7-1913 17-10-1919 11- 5-1922 30-11-1922 12- 3-1924 20-11-1924 19- 5-1930 22- 6-1935 26-10-1936 3 - 9-1937 4 - 5-1939 5 - 4-1942 7- 4-1944 To 11- 3-1908 16- 5-1910 23- 5-1911 23- 7-1913 16-10-1919 10- 5-1922 29-11-1922 11- 3-1924 19-11-1924 18- 5-1930 21- 6-1935 25-10-1936 2 - 9-1937 3 - 5-1939 4 - 4-1942 6 - 4-1944 2- 3-1945
Note:- Almost concurrently, the Director of Forests' Post as it was styled in Burma during the Japanese Occupation was held by U Thein Lwin B.F.S. (1). 18. Mr. H. C. Smith, O.B.E. (as C.F.O., C.A.S.(B) 19. Mr. F. T. Morehead, O.B.E.(as CFO., C.A.S.(B). 20. Mr. F. T. Morehead, O.B.E. 21. Mr. D. J. Atkinson ... 22. Mr. D. T. Griffiths ... 23. Sithu U Hman ... 24. U Kyaw Khine ... 25. U San ... 26. U Kyaw Khine ... 27. U San ... 28. U Kyaw Khine ... 29. Thiripyanchi U Chein Hoe 30. U Thein ...
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3- 3-1945 17- 6-1945 16-10-1945 1-1-1946 28-2-1946 1-3-1947 4-1-1948 25- 4-1951 19- 9-1952 20-11-1952 1- 4-1953 1- 7-1953 1- 2-1954 21-10-1954
16-6-1945 15-10-1945 31-12-1945 27-2-1946 28-2-1947 3-1-1948 24-4-1951 18- 9-1952 19-11-1952 31- 3-1953 30- 6-1953 31- 1-1954 20-10-1954 2- 1-1955
Up to 1956
31. Thirlpyanchi U Chein Hoe 32. U Thein Han, T.D.M., A.T.M.
3- 1-1955 21- 5-1956
20- 5-1956
DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST TYPES OF BURMA C.W.D.Kermode (1)
The following is only by way of describing the dominant forest types as illustrated on the front cover. A committee consisting of Prof. C.W.D. Kermode, U Thein C. F., U. Tin Htut, C. F. and U Aung Din, Silviculturist, had drafted a revised description of the types which we will endeavour to publish in the next issue. Throughout the world, "the distribution of vegetation is influenced by climate and governed by soil" and is dependent on the other forces of environment including manmore often the maker of wilderness than the landscape gardener. Suffice it to say then that the pattern and types of forest in Burma like anywhere else are the end-result of the interplay over the centuries of so many factors. The following types have been recognised and adopted:-(i) Tidal forests. These are found along the coasts of Arakan, Tenasserim and the islands of the Mergui Archipelago. Main species of the outer belt (Champion's type Tr. M/1S/2ab---Mangrove forest) are byuchidauk and kabaing which are true mangroves of the genera Rhizophora and Ceriops, and kyana (Carapa moluccensis). Main .species of the inner belt (Champion's type Tr. M/1S/2cd---Heritiera forest) are kanazo (Heritiera fomes var. minor) and thayaw (Excoecaria agallocha) with an undergrowth of thinbaung (Phoenix paludosa) and thinban (Hibiscus tiliaceus). Beach and dune forests. (Champion's type Tr.M/1S/1--Beach forest). These form narrow belts along the coasts of Arakan and Tenasserim above high-tide limits and on sand dunes formed by the action of the wind. The species of this type are partly evergreen and partly deciduous. They are thinwin (Pongamia glabra), thinban (Hibiscus tiliaceus), nabe (Lannea grandis) and pinle-kabwe] (Casuarina equisetifolia). Swamp forests. (Champion's type Tr. M/1S/5-Moist riparian forest). These are formed throughout Burma in fresh water swamps on low-lying alluvial ground usually near rivers and lakes and are subject to inundation during the rains. The higher parts are often covered with coarse savannah grass (Andropogoneae). Forests are mostly evergreen. Kyi (Barringtonia acutangula), yon (Anogeissus acuminata) and anan (Fagraea fragrans) are the main species. Evergreen forest.-(Champion's type 1a/b/C1 2 & 4-tropical evergreen forests). These predominate in localities where rainfall exceeds 120 inches. Within a rainfall range of 60 to 120 inches, they also occur in shady valleys and places with a moist cool aspect. Characteristic bamboos are wathabut (Neohouzeaua helferi) in Pegu Yoma and Lower Burma generally, wanwe or waba (Oxyteanthera nigrociliata) in Tenasserim and wabomyetsangye (Dendrocalamus hamiltonii) in Upper Burma. These forests provide a number of species of
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
The Burmese Forester. Service Centenary Issue. Vol VI. No 1. June 6 1956
commercial importance amongst which are Kanyin-byu and kanyin-ni (Dipterocarpus alatus and turbinatus), thingan (Hopea odorata), thingadu (Parashorea stellata), pyinma (Lagerstroemia speciosa,) thitka (Pentace burmanica), taungthayety (Swintonia floribunda) and baing (Tetrameles nudiflora). (v) Mixed deciduous forests. These are found usually where rainfall varies from 40 to 120 inches but sometimes extend to regions beyond these rainfall limits. Most trees in these forests lose their leaves during the hot season, February to May, and put on their new leaves towards the end of the season or at the beginning of the rains. Three main forms or sub-types may be distinguished. (a) Moist Upper Mixed Deciduous forests. "Champion's type 3a/C 2-Tropical upper moist deciduous forest). Occurring on well drained slopes with good quality soils and characterized in Lower Burma by the presence of kyathaung (Bambusa polymorpha) and tinwa (Cephalostachyum pergracile) and in Upper Burma wabomyetsangye (D. hamiltonli) or wapyu (D. membranaceus). This sub-type contains the finest teak (Tectona grandis) in association with pyinkado (Xylia dolabriformis). A peculiar type of forest which may conveniently be classified with this is found in Arakan where kayinwa (Melocanna bambusoides) is taking over wide stretches and turning such areas into pure bamboo forests. (b) Dry Upper Mixed Deciduous forests--(Champion's type 4a/C 1-Dry teak forest). These are characterised by the presence of myinwa (D. stricta thanawa (Thrysostachys oliveri), and particularly in Lower Burma thaikwa (Bambus tulda). Teak, pyinkado, taukkyan (Terminalia tomentosa), padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus), hnaw (Adina cordifolia), ingyin (Pentacme suavis) and thitya (Shorea obtusa) are the principal species. Lower Mixed Deciduousforests. Occurring on low grounds sometimes alluvial and usually clayey are characterised by scarcity or absence of bamboos. Teak, pyinkado, pyinma, zinbyun (Dillenia pentagyna) yon, sit (Albizzia procera) and myaukchaw (Homalium tomentosum) are the main species.
(c)
(vi) Dry forests. Are found in localities where the annual rainfall is 'below 50 inches. The better dry forest merges gradually into the dry upper mixed deciduous type but is distinguishable by the fact that it does not ordinarily produce saw timbet. Myinwa is usually found in the better class of dry forest. Two main sub-types can be recognised:(a)Than-dahat forest. (Champion's type Tr. D/E2b) Occurring on the edge of the dry zone is characterized by the presence of than (Terminalia oliveri) and dahat (Tectona hamiltoniana), (b)Thorn forest. (Champion's type 5a/C1-Southern cutch thorn forest) is found where the annual rainfall is less than 40 inches and is characterized by thorny species which include sha (Acacia catechu), tanaung (Acacia leucophloea) and thanatka (Limonia acidissima).
Deciduous Dipterocarp or indaing forests occur throughout Burma from the Myitkyina to the Tavoy districts usually, on sandy, gravelly and laterite soils up to an altitude of about 2500 feet. The main species are in (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus), ingyin and thitya. The type varies from high indaing (Champion's type Tr. D/E1a-- high forest) to poor indaing (Champion's type Tr. D/E1c--Indaing scrub forest). The indaing forests often have extensive areas of grass and bamboos are usually scarce or absent. (viii) Hill and Temperate Evergreen forests occur at altitudes of over 3000 feet and consist of broad-leaved and pine forests. (Champion's type 7b/C 3-Subtropical Evergreen forests) contain oak (Quercus spp.) chestnut (Catanopsis spp.) maibau (Alnus nepalensis), some Magnoliaceae, many Lauraceae, Ilex and Rhododendron arboricum. (Champion's type 8/C 2-Assam-Burma Pine Forests). Tinyu (Pines insularis) is found at elevations over 4000 feet. Pinus merkusii is found usually at lower elevations and in areas of deciduous dipterocarp forests.
(vii)
Extent of the above forest types are estimated as follows Type(s) Percentage cover
Types (i) (ii) and (iii) Type (iv) Type (v) (a) & (c) (v) (b) Type (vi) Type (vii) Type (viii) 4 16 34 5 10 5 26
HIGHLIGHTS OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF FORESTRY IN BURMA By H. R. BLANFORD, C.B.E I.F.S. (Retd.)1. Late Chief Conservator of Forests, Burma. (2)
INTRODUCTION. General opinion has rightly placed the true start of organized forestry in Burma with the appointment of Dr. Brandis as Superintendent of Forests in the Pegu Province in January 1856. Brandis was the first technically trained officer to be employed, not only in Burma, but in India and the British Empire. Nevertheless attention had been drawn to the importance of Burma's teak forests as long previously as 1827, when Dr. Wallich was deputed to examine forests in the Tenasserim Province, at that time the only part of Burma under British rule. A further examination was made in 1837 by Dr. Helfer, who commented on the absence of teak reproduction and recommended the formation of plantations. In 1841 Captain Tremenherre of the Bengal Engineers was appointed Supdt. of Forests. He was responsible for drawing up sound rules for the control of teak extraction, but these received little support from the authorities and unregulated exploitation went on apace to the serious deterioration of the Tenasserim forests. In 1847 Mr. Colvin, then Commissioner, did start the organization of a Forest Department, but owing to lack of vision by Government, few adequate steps were taken to control extraction, and the rule that private timber extractors should plant 3 to 5 teak for every tree felled was not enforced generally. There does, however, seem to have been some effort at reservation and two areas at Thingan-nyi-naung and Upper Mittagit were reserved sometime in the 40's. At the same time the teak plantations at the former place were started. In 1849 Dr. Falconer, Supdt. of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens, was deputed to examine the Tenasserim Forest and submitted a report in which he advocated the appointment of a qualified Inspector with no other duties than the charge of the forests. No immediate action was taken and by 1856 under the license system without adequate control, the teak forests of Martaban and Tenasserim were almost cut out. The province of Pegu was annexed in 1852. Under the Burmese Kingdom the forests, and especially all teak trees, had been royal property and after annexation were proclaimed as Government property. This had never been the case in Tenasserim with the result that control o extraction had always been difficult. Dr. McClelland was appointed Supdt. of Forests, Pegu shortly after the annexation, and it was a result largely of his report to Government in 1854 that in 1855 the Governor General of India, Lord Dalhousie, laid down for the first time the outline of a permanent policy for forest conservation. One of the main points of this pronouncement was that, in the management of the forests, the teak timber should be retained as State property and that all teak trees should be selected, marked and girdled by the Supdt. of Forests. McClelland's report and the work he had done in controlling extraction in Pegu led to the appointment of Brandis as Supdt. of Forests Pegu in 1856. In 1857 the forests of Tenasserim
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and Martaban, which with Pegu then constituted British Burma, were added to his charge. Organisation of the Forest Department 1856-68. Brandis was in charge of the forests of British Burma from 1856 to 1862, and the progress in the organization of the forests in that short time was remarkable. Early in 1857 new rules were published bringing the Pegu forests under regular conservancy and controlling the removal of teak trees. Shortly after, Brandis drew up the first working plan for Burma teak forests. From ring counting and observation of trees of known age, he calculated that it would take 24 years for all trees between 4'6" and 6' girth to attain the dimension of a 1st class tree (6 feet and over). He accordingly laid down that 1/24th of the number of 1st class trees could be cut annually. Based on an estimate of the stock of teak obtained from linear valuation surveys, he laid down a yield of 2,400 trees for the Pegu teak forests. Although revisions were made subsequently, many of them by Brandis himself, this method of management was maintained for many years, and indeed, except for the institution of concentrated systems over the more accessible areas, forms the basis of management to the present day being universally known as the Brandis Selection System (BSS). At the same time, while considering that extraction of teak by private agency was the ideal method, he instituted departmental extraction with sales in Rangoon in order to start the work on sound lines, the previous uncontrolled extraction by private agency having had such disastrous results in the Tenasserim forests. This system of departmental extraction has continued in the forests draining into the Myitmaka river to the present day. The first attempt at 'taungya' teak plantation was made as early as 1856. It is recorded that actually the first plantation to be so made was formed by U Panhee, a Karen in the Thonze forests, as a personal present to Brandis. Brandis' foresight in the matter of taungya plantations is clearly shown by his statement: "This, if the people can ever be brought to do it, is likely to become the most efficient mode of planting teak in this country" a statement that has been fully borne out, not only for Burma and teak, but for many parts of India and the Colonies with many other species. A small start was also made in reservation. By July 1858, just over 2 years after his appointment, Brandis was able to leave the executive work in the Pegu forests in charge of assistants and turn his attention for a time to the Ataran forests. He found these forests an awful warning of the results of lack of control over timber licensees and in an almost devastated state. As a result of his inspection he initiated such steps as were possible to save what was left of these forests by preparing the way for a gradual resumption of the leased areas. In December 1858 a revised set of Rules was sanctioned. These dealt with, among other subjects, the control by Government of drift timber. Towards the end of 1859-60 there was a clamour to allow private enterprise to exploit
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the teak forest, and Brandis was forced to agree to the introduction of the permit system, whereby 12-year leases were granted to private agencies to remove teak timber from trees selected and girdled by Government. At first this led to many abuses, and after Brandis left Burma in 1862, there was a strong movement in favour of throwing the whole of the girdling and extraction to private enterprise, which Brandis, as advisor to the Government of India, was able to a large extent to stop. Even so the Myitmaka forests continued to be worked under departmental extraction throughout. During the later years of Brandis' time in Burma, examination of the forests with some topographic survey and valuation surveys were carried out, and the drawing up of rough working plans was extended over the rest of the forests of British Burma-West of the Irrawaddy, the Sittang Valley and the Thoungyin and Salween areas. A start had also been made in the control of 'taungya' cutting. Brandis left Burma in 1862 for India. After his departure, there was a difference of opinion on the subject of reservation - the Conservator advocating the formation of plantations in place of the demarcation of reserved forests. This difficulty was overcome mainly through the insistence by the Secretary of State in England on the vital importance of reservation. The first forest legislation applied to Burma was the Indian Forest Act, VII of 1865. Rules under this Act laid down the procedure for reservation of forests. At the end of the period the officer staff of the Department was composed of:-the Conservator (Capt. Seaton) and six Deputy and Assistant Conservators (one of whom was Dr. Schlich, the second fully trained forest officer employed in Burma). PROGRESS IN ADMINISTRATION 1868 TO 1884. In spite of some opposition, progress in reservation continued steadily, and in 1870 planting was approved up to a total of 30,000 acres. It is interesting to record that planting of teak in Kyetpyugan reserve (Insein) was carried out about 1870 with such varying 'taungya' crops as sweet potatoes, cotton and chillies. In the meantime increasing interest was being taken in timbers other than teak, and Dr. Schlich visited and reported on the pyinkado forests of Arakan. In 1875-76, Brandis again visited Burma as Inspector General of Indian Forests and laid down that a minimum of 1,200 sq. miles of well-stocked, well-cared-for teak forests should be reserved to supply an adequate quantity of teak timber for internal use and export, an estimated volume of 45,000 tons per annum. He also advocated the protection of a large portion of the hilly forests in the interests of climate and water supply as well as for the supply of bamboo, unreadable fonts are deleted here [ l By 1880, 2,040 sq. miles of forest had been reserved and proposals for reserving a further 1,822 sq. miles had been put
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forward. The area of plantations was 3,389 acres, mostly of teak. Fire protection of teak forest had been started over 150 sq. miles. The small deficit in Revenue in the period 1856-59 had been converted into a surplus of over Rs. 6 lakhs. In 1881 the Burma Forest Act XIX replaced the Indian Forest Act of 1865. The gazetted staff in 1880 consisted of two Conservators, 7 Deputy Conservators, 7 Assistant Conservators and 4 Sub-Assistant Conservators. Survey of reserved forests, started in 1882-53 by the Survey of India mostly on a 4"to 1 mile scale, enabled the Department to draw up more detailed working plans. Brandis had drawn up the first rough working plans fixing the yield of teak early in his tenure of office as Conservator as has been noted above. These rough plans had been renewed and revised as further knowledge of the forest was obtained, but in 1883 J. W. Oliver started a detailed working plan for the Thonze reserve in Tharrawaddy division. This was based on a division of the forest into compartments and 25 % enumeration of the growing stock in each compartment. It provided the pattern for a number of detailed working plans which were to follow in the next 20 years. Annexation of Upper Burma and Progress in Forest Organization, 1885--1900. Upper Burma was annexed on January 1st 1885, and for some years the meagre staff formerly employed in Lower Burma was stretched to its limit in attempting to undertake the new responsibilities imposed on it. By 1889 a new staff of 21 officers had been sanctioned for Upper Burma and a special forest law had been enacted. Rapid progress was made with the exploration and reservation of forests. Upper and Lower Burma were amalgamated in 1895 and the Burma Forest Act was extended to Upper Burma. By 1899- 1900 no less than 17,154 sq. miles of forest had been reserved, and progress with regular working plans had resulted in an area of 2,883 sq. miles being either under sanctioned working plans or plans under preparation. Survey of reserved forests made considerable progress and work by the Survey of India was supplemented in 1891 - 92 by a special Forest Survey Branch. By 1897-98 more than 5,433 sq. miles had been surveyed on 4' scale, and 4,385 sq miles on the 2" scale. One particular effect of the annexation of Upper Burma was in the arrangement for teak extraction. Previously most of the teak forests in Lower Burma had been worked either departmentally or by licenses covering various periods. Many of the forests in Upper Burma had been worked by the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation under lease issued by the Burmese King, and these agreements ware continued by the British Government. Following this, towards the end of the period, there was a general move towards extending this policy of leasing large teak forests to European firms. Period 1900 to 1920.
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(1) Administration. In 1900 there were 4 circles-Pegu, Tenasserim, Northern arid Southern. About 1905 the Conservators in charge of these circles put up a case for the appointment of a Chief Conservator to co-ordinate administration over the whole Province. As a result the appointment was approved and Beadon Bryant became the first officer to hold the post of Chief Conservator, a post that was then new in the Indian Empire. (2) Reservation. A further 12,000 sq. miles was made into reserved forest giving a total in 1920 of 29,874 sq miles on 11.8 per cent of the total area of Burma including the Shan States. (3) Survey and Working Plans. The area of reserved forests surveyed was increased to about 18.000 sq. miles or about 60% of the area of reserved forest. About 1910, the policy of surveying the majority of reserved forests on the 4" scale was given up for reserves covered by the Survey of India in their normal topographic surveys and a scale of 2 inches substituted. This did not prove satisfactory for forests of sufficient value for the preparation of detailed working plans and greater reliance for forest surveys was placed on the special Forest Survey party working on the larger scale. Up to 1900 all working plans had been based on a 25 % enumeration. In order to meet the girdling requirements of the teak lessees, in 1904-05 field work for some of the less valuable teak forests was based on a stock map and an enumeration of teak only, by linear surveys covering 10 % of the area. In addition, divisional girdling schemes were drawn up for periods of 10 to 20 years to bring into production all areas not already under working plans. In the meantime the preparation of more detailed working plans was continued for the more valuable forests and by 1920 working plans, sanctioned or under preparation, covered 11,183 sq. miles. The great majority of these plans prescribed the Burma Selection System for teak, though a start had been made in the Mohnyin plan in 1910 and the Tharrawaddy plan in 1919 with methods aiming at producing even-aged forests by a system of concentrated regeneration. (d) Silviculture. Up to 1906, `taungya teak and cutch plantations had been made scattered over wide areas to a total area of about 60,000 acres. In this year a Government resolution put an end to such scattered work, and plantation work, except in a few specified cases, was closed down. Instead more attention was concentrated on Improvement Fellings, later classified as O(old) and Y (young) according to the age of growth to be especially assisted. In 1910 at the first Burma Forest Conference, Troup, a former Burma forest officer and then Silviculturist at Dehra Dun, put forward proposals for working teak forests by a system of concentrated regeneration, which would result in the formation of even-aged crops. The Conference, while considering that teak forests should continue to be worked under the Selection System with improvement fellings, agreed to a trial of the proposed system in the Tharrawaddy Division. The fieldwork for the revised working plan of that division was carried out in 1912-13 and 1913-14 under E. V. Ellis, but work was suspended by the 1914-18 War in which Ellis was killed in action. A first attempt at concentrated regeneration had been
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made in 1911 under the working plan for the exceptionally rich teak forest in the Bilumyo and Mohnyin Reserves in Katha Division. This had shown that, although teak could be naturally regenerated by clear felling and burning quite successfully in almost pure teak forest, as good, if not better, results could be obtained much more economically with the use of teak planted with 'taungya', in which case moreover success did not depend on the presence of abundant teak seed-bearers. When work on the Tharrawaddy working plan was resumed after the War in 1918, the method of concentrated regeneration relying mainly on 'taungya' plantation was adopted. (e) Fire protection. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, doubts began to be raised on the then accepted policy of fire protection for teak forests. Although at first little notice was taken of these views, opposition to fire protection grew and resulted in an investigation, which showed that natural, regeneration of teak in moist teak forests had been seriously reduced by fire protection. As a result of this investigation and a further study by Beadon Bryant (C.C.F.), it was decided in 1907 to abandon fire protection at least over the moister teak forests. In 1907-08 no less than 7,327 sq. miles of forests were protected. By 1913-14 this area had been reduced to 4,548 sq. miles and by -1919-20 to 1277 sq. miles. (f) Research. The first Forest Research Officer appointed in Burma was A. (Later Sir Alexander) Rodger in 1913. He tried to combine research in Silviculture, Botany and Utilization and in addition was responsible for the control of all working plans on behalf of the Chief Conservator. To add to all this, in April 1917 he was appointed Deputy Controller of the Indian Munitions Branch to arrange for the supply of timber required for war purposes. Rodger's lasting memorial is the Burma Forest Herbarium. (g) Education and training of Forest Officers. Training for the I.F.S., which since 1887 had been at the Royal Indian Engineering College at Coopers Hill, was transferred to Oxford University under Prof. Schlich in l905. From 1910 recruits were also taken from the forestry schools at Cambridge and Edinburgh. Training for the Provincial Service started in Dehra Dun in 1906. A vernacular class for training Deputy Rangers was started about 1900 in Tharrawaddy and was transferred to Pyinmana in 1910, where an English class for direct recruitment of Rangers was added soon after. (h) Teak extraction. Up to shortly before the end of the nineteenth century, apart from the Bombay-Burma, few large firms had interested themselves in the extraction of teak, much of the extraction having been carried out departmentally. With a view to avoiding a monopoly, 4 other European Firms (Steel Bros., MacGregors, Foucars and Findlays) were given 15 years leases with a renewal clause for various teak forests all over the country. The only large scale departmental extraction continued to be in the Myitmaka drainage. Here Timber Assistants working under the territorial divisional officers supervised extraction.
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The outstanding success in departmental extraction of the period was the River Training work in the upper reaches of the Hlaing (Myitmaka) river. This was started by Leete, then Conservator, Pegu Circle and will always be connected with the name of George Cheyne. By river training of the courses of the hill streams where they debauched on the laha (low lying ground along the main Myitmaka which was always flooded during the rains), it was possible to float logs right down to the main rafting river instead of having to retrieve them from the sandbanks deposited by these streams on entering the still waters of the laha. This reclamation of flooded land by directing the silt to the lower lower-lying parts proved eventually to be even more important than the improvements to timber floating and the methods started by the Forest Department were later applied by the Irrigation Department to many other places in Burma. Another step initiated by Leete during this period was the construction of ponds at the Government Timber Depot at Ahlone, accessible to the main river at high tide through sluices, which enabled the sorting and arrangement of teak timber for the monthly sales. (i) The Burma Forest Department during the 1914-18 war. During the war recruiting to the gazetted ranks practically ceased. Many of the junior Officers joined the Forces and four were killed in action Allington, Dickson, Ellis and Jeffery. Even though shorthanded the Department supplied during the last 2 years of the War, 198,404 tons of timber (over 50% railway sleepers) for use on battlefronts of the Middle East. Rodger, Forest Research Officer, carried out the duties of Deputy Controller to the Indian Munitions Board. For their services in this supply of military timber, three members of the Department were honoured by conferred with O.B.Es. and many others were honourably mentioned. Period 1920 to 1930. During this period the Burma Forest Department reached it's zenith. (a) Administration. The first step was a considerable increase in staff in 1920. The territorial circles were increased to 7 and in addition Working Plans and Utilization circles were formed. Posts of Silviculturist and Botanist were provided, to be followed in 1927-28 by the Zoologist and in 1928-29 by the Forest Economist. Provision was made for 42 territorial Divisions (increased to 44 in 1926-28), 3 Depot Divisions and one Extraction Division. The cadres were increased as follows:- I.F.S. 63 to 113; Prov. Forest Service 72 to 106; Rangers 178 to 230; Deputy Rangers 306 to 482; and Foresters and Forest Guards 1709 to 1885. In addition a special gazetted staff of 20 posts, mainly of Forest Engineers, was sanctioned. Under the Reforms of 1922, Forests became a Transferred Subject under the control of the Forest Minister. At the same time forestry in the Federated Shan States was placed under the Commissioner, though staffed by the Burma Forest cadre.
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(b) Working Plans and Survey. The preparation of working plans was greatly accelerated by the formation of the Working Plans Circle under H. W. A. Watson in 1920. One of the first changes was the decision to draw up working plans for whole divisions. The increase in staff allowed of an increase to 7 working plans parties. At the start of the period 10,855 sq. miles or 36 % of the area of reserved forests were under plans with 328 sq. miles under preparation. At the close of the period 22,685 sq. miles or 69 % of the area of reserved forests were under sanctioned working plans and a further 4,272 sq. miles or 13% under preparation. A great change was made in the silviculture system. Previously, except for the Mohnyin and the more recent Tharrawaddy working plans, all forests had been worked under the Burma selection system. The Tharrawaddy working plan, with its system of concentrated regeneration and the early success of regeneration with taungya plantations, led to a wave of enthusiasm for this method2. The method could, however, only be successfully carried out in reserves accessible to the extraction of timber other than teak, and the general policy adopted was to confine concentrated regeneration to such areas and apply the selection system for teak over all less accessible forests. One particular point of importance was the setting aside of the most accessible forests divided into small felling series to be worked under short rotations for the supply of village requirements3. Control of all working plans was placed under the Working Plans Conservator acting for the Chief Conservator. Progress in working plans is largely dependent on maps. During the period, the area of reserves surveyed on a scale of 2 in. or larger increased from about 18,000 sq. miles to nearly 22,000 sq. miles, about 66.5% of the total area of reserved forests. In 1924 an aerial survey of 873 sq. miles of reserved forest in the Irrawaddy Delta was undertaken on a scale of 3 in. to the mile with very satisfactory results. In the following year an aerial reconnaissance of the Tenasserim forests was carried out over 15,178 sq. miles previously surveyed on 1 in. scale, producing a stock map which showed the main types of forest and the extent of shifting cultivation over this vast area, about which little was known previously. (c) Reservation. The area of reserved forests was increased from 29,874 sq. miles to 3,008 sq. miles during this period. A revised policy on reservation was promulgated by Government in 1925. (d) Silviculture. The appointment of a Burma Silviculturist in 1920 led to increased attention to regeneration and thinnings and allowed the build up of silvicultural and statistical records. The introduction of a system of concentrated regeneration under the Tharawaddy working plan had led to a wave of enthusiasm for taungya plantations. Further experience showed that while this method was highly successful on suitable areas it was essential to examine the forests very carefully before actual planting was undertaken and to
2
The good start of hands-on involvement of the people shows how well that the idea of people involvement was highly appreciated. SH The concept of community welfare and social forestry prevailing in those days was highly laudable. SH
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confine plantations only to such areas as were found suitable for it. While the older plantations had been confined to teak and cutch, a number of other species, especially pyinkado were raised in the more concentrated plantations. In addition to regeneration work, increased attention was given to thinnings in plantations and to natural regeneration of the In (Dipterocarp) forests of Upper Burma, especially Katha. The period commenced with about 80,000 acres of plantations. By 1930 these had been increased to nearly 120,000 acres. (e) Fire protection. At the start of the period, fire protection as a general operation over wide areas had definitely been abandoned. It was however retained for all young regeneration areas where the value of the crop fully justified it. The early burning of such areas, which was tried experimentally in 1923, did not prove a satisfactory substitute. (f) Protection of the Fauna. Up to 1925-26, although the Forest Department had been responsible for Game Preservation under the Burma Forest Act, there had been no particular organization or special staff to carry out the work. H. W. A. Watson (later Sir Hugh) when he became Chief Conservator in 1925-26 took up this subject with enthusiasm. In 1926-27, he obtained the appointment of H. C. Smith on special duty to study the whole subject and at the end of 1927 the existing Game Rules were revised and published, including with the rules made under the Forest Act the regulations under the Elephants Protection Act. At the same time Smith was appointed to the newly sanctioned post of Game Warden. Among other tasks, he re-organized and controlled the capture and training of wild elephants and organized special Game Sanctuaries. (g) Recruitment and training of Staff. As a result of the transfer of the control of Forests to the Government of Burma in 1922, recruitment to the I.F.S. for Burma was discontinued. The last directly recruited I.F.S. Officer joined in Burma in 1926. Efforts to recruit temporary officers of the requisite qualifications failed and for some time there was little recruitment to the senior service. In 1928-29, the Burma Forest Service Class I was organized and the first recruits under the new service joined in 1930-31, by which time the old senior service composed mainly of I.F.S. officers was no less than 39 below it's sanctioned strength. The new service included a number of Burmans who were selected in Burma and sent to take the forest degree course at Oxford or Edinburgh. For the old Provincial Service, then Burma Forest Service Class II, a forestry course, first of 2 years and later extended to 3 years, was started at the Rangoon University. The training for the Subordinate Service continued in the two classes, English and Vernacular, at the Pyinmana Forest School. (h) Extraction. Early in the period the 15-year leases for teak held by the five European teak firms were renewed for a further period of 15 years and a start was made in the execution of leases with indigenous contractors. With the increasing demand for timbers other than teak following the first World-war, leases for a more concentrated extraction of such timbers by the use of logging
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railways were executed in Pyinmana, Toungoo and Shwebo. For a time these worked with a certain degree of success, but continued only with difficulty with the reduction of demand and prices following the slump in the early thirties. (i) Organization of Departmental Teak Extraction and Timber Research. The appointment of a Conservator of Forests for Utilization in 1920 led gradually to the setting up of a separate organisation for extraction and sale of teak from the Myitmaka drainage previously managed by the territorial staff. Separate divisions were formed for the extraction side and for the Government sales depot at Ahlone which acted as the agency for sale and disposal of the teak timber produced. At Ahlone also a start was made in building up a Timber Research Division comprising a sawmill, seasoning sheds, experimental kilns and a wood workshop together with the necessary specialist staff. A Forest Economist was appointed in 1928-29. Among the results of the timber research work was the discovery that yon 9Anogeissus acuminata) was eminently suitable for tool handles and sucker rods for oil wells. Several other Burma timbers were also shown to be suitable for high class furniture. (j) Finance. In 1926-27 Forest Revenue reached it's zenith, not only for the period but for the whole 100 years of Forestry in Burma up to 1955. Revenue, Rs. 235.96 lakhs. Expenditure, Rs. 88.18 lakhs. Surplus, Rs. 147.78 lakhs or 62.6 % of the gross revenue.
Period 1931 to 19361 This period was a sad one for the Burma Forest Department. It started off with the Burma rebellion, just before Christmas 1930 in which H. V. W. Fields Clarke and 5 subordinates were murdered and which greatly disorganised forest work for 2 to 3 years. The Burma Forest Department played a very useful part in subduing the rebellion and 4 O.B.Es, 2 M.B.Es, and many other awards and mentions were bestowed on it's members. Following the outbreak of the rebellion, the world depression of the early thirties added to the difficulties and there was a heavy retrenchment of personnel and funds. There was a reduction of 3 Circles, 8 Divisions, 4 working plans parties and the retrenchment of the posts of Game Warden, Botanist, all Forest Engineers and a number of other posts of all ranks. Indeed the staff was reduced to numbers only slightly greater than had existed in 1913-14 before the first World War. There was also a temporary cut of 10 %, reduced later to 5 %, in all salaries. The Rangoon University Forestry degree course and the English Class at the Pyinmana Forest School were both closed down in 1934. The special Forest Survey party was disbandedin 1931=32. On April 1st 1937 Burma was separated from India and became responsible for its' own Government. ITS. Officers still serving were transferred to the Burma Forest Service Class I.
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(a) Working Plans. Field work on working plans ceased in 1931-32. The practice started in 1922 of recording teak trees over 4 ft. 6 in. left standing at the time of girdling in each compartment provided a reliable basis for calculating the future yield, and it was decided that future working plans should be based on these records and on such additional enumeration and examination. as was found necessary to ascertain the progress in stocking of the younger age class. By 1940, 29054 sq. miles of reserved forests or 83.5 % of the total reserved area were under sanctioned working plans. (b) Silviculture, The most important event of the period was the unhappy controversy on plantations in 1932-33 at the depth of the slump. The Chief Conservator put forward proposals for the complete cessation of teak plantations. Combined research by the Zoologist and Forest Economist had shown that danger from the beehole borer was 3 times as serious in plantations as in natural forest. The Chief Conservator based his arguments on the poor quality of timber that would be obtained from the heavily beeholed teak and the greatly increased world use of subsiitutes for timber. He was opposed by a majority of his Conservators, who drew attention especially to the vital importance of plantations for providing produce for local supply from the most assessible areas, while agreeing to the cessation of planting teak in areas prone to a high incidence of the beehole borer. They considered plantations should be carried out on suitable sites provided the financial prospects of such planting were reasonable. The Chief Conservator declared that no teak plantations could possibly be financially justifiable and recommended to Government the complete cessation of teak plantation. At the depth of the slump Government was only too pleased to accept anything which helped retrenchment of funds. They accepted in part the recommendations in a policy statement in 1934-35 and at the same time directed that increased attention should be paid to natural regeneration while fully approving planting mainly of teak and pyinkado for the supply of the internal demands of Burma. By the time this policy was announced the slump was over, revenue was rising and efforts were made by the Department to modify the ruling that Government believed would reduce planting to 300 acres a year. In 1937-38, Government revised the policy to allow of 1,500 acres per annum being planted in the period 1938-39 to 1942-43, the bulk for village supply. Plantations which averaged 3,822 acres per annum from 1929-30 tol933-34 dropped to 1,665 acres per annum in 1938-39. The total area of plantations in 1940 was 138,688 acres and of concentrated natural regeneration 69,548 acres. (c) Preservation of the Fauna. Although the post of Game Warden was placed in abeyance, the work was carried on by N.C. Smith in addition to his duties as Divisional officer and this allowed for the full revival of the post in 1935-36. For some time it had been felt that a new act had become necessary to replace the various rules in connection with wild life made under the Forest Act and other legislation. A bill embodying all existing rules and including a number of new features was placed before the Legislative Assembly in 1936 and passed into law as the Wild Life Protection Act 1936.
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(d) Extraction. The slump of the early thirties had a very adverse effect on the out-turn and exports of timber. At the depth of the slump in 1932-33 the out-turn of teak sank to 61 % of it's highest out-turn (1923-24) and export in 1931-32 to 50 % of the peak in 1925-26. One of the effects of the lower prices and reduced demand for teak was the demand on the part of the long term leases for a greatly increased percentage -,ntage of timber to be passed as "Refuse." As a further relief in 1933-34 a 30 Y. rebate to of royalty was granted. This was reduced in 1934-35 to 15 %. In 1935-36 in view of the difficulty involved in Refuse passing, an arrangement was come to with the le sees to pay an all round rate of royalty on all full-sized timber (30 cu. ft and over) based based on the average royalty for the 8 years 1927-28 to 1934-35. This arrangement was continued with some modifications in 1936-37 and 1937-38, and in 1938-39 an arrangement was made for assessing royalty on the sale price of departmentally extracted round logs sold at the Government auctions in Rangoon. Negotiations for the renewal of the long term leases were started in 1937-38, but no finality was reached before the outbreak of World War 11 in 1939. (e) Anti-Anthrax innoculation of elephants. In 1929-30 investigations into an antianthrax innoculation of elephants had been started by a team of the Burma Veterinary Department under Mitchell. By 1931-32 the investigation had been proved a striking success, and all elephants used both in transport and extraction were innoculated annually, resulting in a very considerable decrease in mortality. So much so, that many of the big teak lessees were able to keep up the strength of their herds by relying for replacements on calves born in captivity.
Period 1939-1955, With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Forest Department was for a second time in it's history called on to supply timber and other forest produce in large quantities for supply to the war fronts. Many members of the Forest Service and of the timber firms were called to the Forces. Extraction was increased generally to the limit of the sawing and transport capacity and large quantities of timber were produced. In addition to the normal annual outturn of teak and other timbers (just under one million tons), no less than 213,700 tons of timber and 125,000 sleepers were extracted for the Burma Warfare Supplies and Economic Warfare Department between June 1940 and February 1942. All this ended with the invasion of Burma by the Japanese early in 1942, resulting in the evacuation of all European and most of the Anglo-Indian staff to India, many suffering great hardship on the way. Officers of the Forest Department played a notable part in the pre-evacuation operations and during the evacuation, as is shown by the long list of decorations and commendations received. After the occupation, while a nucleus of the evacuated staff under the Chief Conservator (N.C. Smith) collected in Simla to carry out planning for reconstruction of the Department against a future return to Burma. the remainder were posted to duties with the Forces or in
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connection with war supplies. Several of the members of the Department and of the teak firms were employed on intelligence work in Japanese occupied territory or in long range penetration groups, where their knowledge of the forest and it's communications were of outstanding value. In Burma, after a period of disorganisation following the occupation, a few of the Burmese forest officers managed to reorganise the Forest Department and start some forest work. In the meantime, in order to exploit the timber resources of the country, the Japanese' formed a large combine called the Nippon Burma Timber Union which extracted a considerable volume of timber, mainly teak, from all the more accessible forests of the country. To effect this all the available working elephants (about 3000) were collected. It is estimated that some 700,000 logs were extracted by the Union during the occupation. A number of girdlings were felled and a few teak were girdled under working plan prescriptions. With the reoccupation of Burma, a special Forest Branch was formed which took over forest administration as the Allied Army advanced, starting in Myitkyina in January 1945 and becoming established over the whole country by the 31st December 1945 when Military Administration ended. Special extraction units were attached to this branch. They were staffed by assistants and employees of the teak firms and took over the rehabilitation of the timber trade and supplied timber and other produce during the early part of the Civil Administration. Saw millings in Rangoon were at first operated by the Royal Engineers and up country by the Forest Department. Until the end of 1945, practically the whole outturn of timber was absorbed by the Army, both for its own needs and for rehabilitation of railways, docks, bridges, etc.
When the Civil Administration took over the control on 1st January 1946, the Forest Department was already re-organised and extraction was then undertaken by the Timber Project, a combination of forest officers, representatives of the teak firms and one or two indigenous traders. It was staffed mainly by assistants and employees of the timber firms. To close the account of this war period, it is worth recording that the services of members of the Forest Department and of the teak firms during the war were acknowledged by the grant of the following distinctions:-D.S.O., 1; CABLE, 1; OBOE., 6; MARBLE., 1; N.C., 7; Rao sahib, 1; Kaiser-i-Hind (silver medallion Hill. The King's Commendation, 1; Mention in Despatches, 2. In addition no less than 32 members of the Department received recognition from H. E. The Governor of Burma for Exceptional Devotion to Duty or Loyal and Devoted Service. During hostilities, 5 members of BUFFS. Class I and 8 members of BY Class 11 were either killed in action or died as a result of war conditions. To this must no doubt be added an unknown number of members of the Subordinate Service.
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On the whole the damage to the forests was confined mainly to the more accessible areas, including plantations. The bulk of the less accessible forests remained unharmed. About 50 % of the forest buildings were destroyed and all roads and bridges were in a very bad condition. From the extraction point of view perhaps the most serious loss was in elephant power which dropped to about 40 % of it's pre-war strength. Re-organisation of management was very seriously impeded by the loss of most of the records, especially the records of teak trees 4 ft. and over left ungirdled on which the estimates of future yields so greatly depended, and of record maps, particularly those showing the detailed boundaries of compartments. The Burma forest herbarium was removed to Japan, but was fortunately returned later almost intact. During the Military Administration following the re-conquest, extraction mainly for military purposes had necessarily to be largely uncontrolled: but with the advent of Civil Administration, control of fellings and forest organisation was soon placed on proper lines. Even so forest work and extraction was for some years and to a great extent still is (in 1955) seriously impeded by the unsettled state of the country, and the presence of lawless bands in the main forests. To add to other difficulties, the Department was faced with an acute shortage of staff owing to the lack of recruitment during the war period and the casualties and retirements of gazetted officers. The country was still suffering under these conditions when the Union of Burma received full independence from the British Commonwealth on January 4th, 1948. As a result the services of all European Officers were terminated, though five European Officers were retained for 2 or 3 years in an advisory capacity. The Burma Forest Service was organised under the first Burman Chief Conservator, U Hman, and all extraction of timber was placed under the control of the State Timber Board. The first hundred years of Burmese forestry thus ends with an acute shortage of staff and conditions in the country so unsettled that it may still be many years before full forest operations can be reconstituted. Nevertheless the organisation gradually evolved over the 100 years of forestry is still there and given more settled conditions, which are gradually being established, has bright hopes of the future. He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and
follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of his time is like a ray of light which darts itself through all his occupations. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidents, all things lie huddled together in one chaos, which admits of neither distribution nor review. HUGO.
APPENDIX A Outturn of Timber and Firewood in Burma (Inclusive of the Kingdom of Burma and the Federated Shan States
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Average Outturn per Annum (tons) Average Teak per Annum (Trees) Girdlings Teak Period Reserves (1) U.C.F. Total Outturn Tons (5) Imports Tons (6) Exports Tons (7)
(2)
1856-69 No 60,471 88,785 38,360 No 1869-79 76,480 103,659 116,330 No 1879-89 92,260 129,280 150,100 No 1889-99 247,900 65,990 203,800 1899-09 60,200 165,400 No Re 44,470 78,540 228,470 1909-19 115,346 170,068 314,440 38,930 156,780 188.2 1919-29 146,703 210,847 501,480 25,920 216,860 373.6 1922-39 121,525 204 008 430,560 51,040 196,281 299.6 Notes (1) Col. 4; 1929-36 only. (2) Col. 7; The decreasing proportion of export tonnage total outturn and import i internal use of teak timber, but largely to the increasing export of converted tim almost exclusively round timber or square. (3) Volumes in tons of 50 Hoppus feet. Money figures in Lakhs = 1,00,000 Rupees,
(3) records records records records 34,070 54,722 64,144 82.483
(4)
Value of Exp Total Ave Lakhs per (R (8) (
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APPENDIX B Finance Figures in Lakhs Revenue per Annum 6.86 11.62 22.44 57.97 83.70 108.47 202.10 140.46 Expenditure per Annun 2.72 6.08 11.67 18.91 32.30 45.75 87.74 67.35 Surplus per Annum 4.14 5.54 10.77 39.06 51.40 62.72 114.36 73.11
Percentage of Surp
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AN OLD FORESTER LOOKS BACK By U KYAW, K.S.M., A.T.M., I.F.S. (Retd.) (3)
In this communication the writer will describe the work of the Forest Department in Burma with which he had the good fortune to be associated. It is expected that the account will interest those who are still in the service.
In 1895, as even now, the Forest Officer had to be occupied with the exploration of the forests, with a view to offer recommendations for the reservation of certain tracts; this was a necessary safeguard against destructive taungya cutting and also excessive indiscriminate cutting of timber by the villagers and timber traders. The rights and privileges of the public for the use of forest produce were however maintained by Gazette Notifications after due determination of their needs.
After a thorough valuation survey and the enumeration of the existing stock the dead teak was allowed to be extracted through small contracts, each Government contractor being advanced some money to purchase elephants and buffaloes for use in the extraction of timber. At that time the contractors were getting prosperous and some even possessed two to six elephants and a number of buffaloes with workers according to the size of their work. The teak logs thus extracted from the upcountry forests were classified and measured locally for settlement of accounts with the contractors, leaving them a good margin of profit as an encouragement for future work. The timber was then brought down to Mandalay in rafts and classified and sold by public auction. Most of the lots of higher quality and size were purchased by the European firms for export. The other lots were purchased by the saw-millers and local traders-for conversion and selling to the public for local use. Unlike the petty contractors, Messrs. The B.B.T.C.L. and Steel Bros. were working big areas, embracing a whole drainage of certain floating streams on long term leases. Some of their logs were so big that a man could not see a man on the other side of the log. These lessees did not sell their timber for local use, but rafted it down to Rangoon from where they shipped it to foreign countries. They enlarged their work more and more and gradually absorbed the Government contractors who were reduced to the state of being their employees. Thus, the native Government contractors lost their elephants and .gradually became their servants. The poor contractors who were their co-workers at first, had to prostrate themselves before the young European assistants of the big firms, hailing them as Paya etc . By this arrangement, the revenue swelled more and more but the supervision work of the Forest Officers got much reduced.
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The Forest Officers almost all of them, being Europeans, were very friendly with the managers and assistants of those European firms. Consequently, hardly any native forest officer could dare to write a report against the firms even when they infringed certain clauses of the lease: also it was difficult to give straight-forward and bold explanations to the D.F.O. if he received reports from the European lessees against his native officers. That the Forest Officers, even in those days, were exposed to certain risks will be evident from the following personal anecdote: The writer sent in reports for preservation of certain tracts of unclassed forests for the reservation of 7 reserves. While doing it he was threatened to be killed by some Kachins. The Kachin villagers argued that their taungya cutting areas were becoming smaller and smaller because of these being included in the reserves. They thought that if the writer and his fellow workers were killed all shall be well. The writer explained to them that the matter was not so easy, as the Officers, D.C. and D.F.O. knew the whereabouts of all the workers. If no reports and diaries were received in time, suspicion would be aroused and Police would be sent to the place. If these Policemen did not return in time, Military Police would arrive. Then, if it were discovered that the workers and Policemen had been killed, Regular troops would be sent, to surround the culprit village and to fire at them with the mother gun (Amyauk). On hearing this, the threatening Kachins came to their senses and gave up their attempts of mischief.
Girdling, climber cutting and Nyaungbat felling were carried out according to the working plan prescriptions in the reserves and girdling scheme in unclassed forests. Naturally the lessees tried to avoid extraction of timber from forests, which were difficult on account of the scarcity of water, distance from river and absence of big streams for floating down their logs. For instance, the Mahamyaing Forests of Myittha Division covering an area of 200 square miles in the reserve and about the same area of unclassed forests adjoining to it had no regular floating and the water flowed down the Yos in which no log would float. The extraction had to be done by cart, and water had to be carried from the neighbouring villages. As these areas were included in their leases these had not to be left unworked. When the lessees were pressed to work them they promised to concentrate on the area by bringing animal power from several camps and finish the job quickly. In order to make the forest available for extraction, the Forest Department had to girdle the teak in the shortest possible time. Thus the work of 8 years was planned to be done in 3 years. This was necessitated because the European lessees did not like to work the difficult forest over long periods. Therefore, Forest Officers were sent out to do the girdling in these areas to finish as quickly as possible, but they returned as there was no flesh water to drink and for even cooking and bathing purposes. The writer was specially chosen for the job. He went with a party of girdlers from the neighbouring villages and worked for some two or three months but had to leave the work for there was no water. 1n these forests wild beasts were plentiful which was a great attraction for those fond of shooting. The
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villagers, fond of hunting and enjoying the meat, offered to work in the rainy season when the small pools would provide enough of rainwater. The D.F.O. on hearing the suggestion and knowing about the risk of malaria fever, somehow approved the proposal, and the writer was sent to attend to the job. Thus in three seasons the reserve area of 200 square miles and 100 square miles of unclassed forest were done. There were no maps to mark the numbers of trees girdled in groups; so, every time the camp moved, the place was surveyed to get details for the maps. With the help of prismatic compass survey a good girdling map was prepared and attached with the girdling report. After hard work the writer fell ill in the second year of girdling and was brought to the nearest village, Thetkegyin, in a doolv, the journey lasting from 8 a.m. to about 6 p.m: he got wet in the rain and his fever worsened. The village phongyi came forward to treat him. In the meantime the D.F.O. (Mr. V.H.T: Fields-Clark) on hearing of the illness, ordered the Range Officer to fetch the patient to Kindat for proper treatment. After recovery and a little rest, the writer resumed work: this time in the Matu Reserve, decidedly in a more comfortable place. Here a shocking discovery was made that an area of 4 square miles of the reserve forest, which was regularly shown as successfully fire protected in the Forest Journal for several years, was really left absolutely unattended. This is a reflection on human nature, which avoids to attend to difficult tasks, if the negligence can easily pass undetected. The place certainly was extremely difficult, steep and precipitous, almost unreachable. Perhaps the lie would have ever remained undetected if the writer had not dared to venture into the difficult place. Once the late Mr. S. Eardley-Wilmont, Conservater of Foresters, afterwards I.G.F. and also vested with a Knighthood, told him in Mohnyin Reserve about 1898 that there were forests in India successfully fire-protected for 60 years and in which a year's seedlings could be found. But in Burma the forest being burnt every year no such seedlings could be found. The late U Po Thin, K.S.M., A.T.M., then a Ranger and the writer could not accept it, so that all got down from the elephant and pulled out several young shoots of teak which they thought a year's seedlings, and showed them to the Conservator. He showed two to five small stumps of the plant showing that the first year shoot was burnt down and the second year, third year, up to 4th year shoots were also burnt and now the 5th. year stem showing as the seedling of the 1st. year. We tried several times but not a single plant was found to be a year's seedling. The reserves in those days were fireprotected, but in latter years the policy changed and abolished the fire protection work. Jungle fire is very destructive because it makes teak trees hollow and it retards their growth. ROAD CONSTRUCTION, In Myitkyina Division there are two routes for the D.F.O. to travel, viz. by Irrawaddy River from Myitkyina to Sinbo by steamer and by
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rail to Ropin. Sinbo to Hopin one has to cross two ranges of mountains, i.e. Kindu Pum Range and Lamai Range with the Kaukkwe drainage in the middle. The distance between these two places was 58 miles by the footpath, running on the plain and over the hills, the latter being too steep for laden elephants. In 1906 when the writer was transferred to that Division he was put in charge of the construction of this road. In three seasons the work was completed and named after the name of the then D.F.O. Mr G.R Jefry, D.C.F. of the I.F.S. though the real engineer to get the work through was the writer, then only a ranger. Mr. J. Copeland, Conservator of Forests, who was a qualified Engineer as well, came to inspect the road a year after completion. Mr. E. M. Buchanan, D.F.O. and the writer accompanied him from Sinbo to Hopin. The Conservator seemed very pleased to note that a big curve of some 20 miles road in the Kaukkwe Valley was shortened by making a straight line for about 5Y2 miles reducing a day's march towards Watu and shortened the length of road from 58 to 48 miles. On arrival at Hopin he said the writer is more an engineer than a forester and he will get him promotion soon. The promotion did come: the writer superseded 17 seniors. Also promotion and rewards came to the D.F.O., an I.F.S. EXPLORATION OF FORESTS Before an area was leased, the Forest Officer had to do the valuation survey and enumeration of the existing stock, noting the quality of timber, cost of extraction and the rate of royalty to be fixed as a reserved price in calling for tenders. TIMBER MEASURING The timber-measuring for payment of revenue had to be attended to, the timber being classified as full sized, under-sized, and refuse at certain rates. The measuring officer had to know the value of each log he measured, so that if a log was claimed for refuse, he should be able to tell the lessee representative that the log in question was actually worth so much. If he did not agree P.P.S. hammer was affixed and the log was kept aside for auction. Difficulties often arose in case of border-line logs, which could not be easily settled as full-sized or refuse. In most cases discretion had to be judiciously exercised and the fate of the log amicably settled. The work of valuation needs knowledge, experience, and tact. It is not as easy as may seem. In the beginning one feels wavering, but as experience matures things become easy and judgment is invariably sound. Thus the writer could easily do 1000 logs a day after a good number of years in the department. A matter of practical importance, however, is this that the logs should never suffer under-estimation as in that case the State suffers loss. It was the writer's ability in the correct valuation of the logs that brought him into prominence in the eyes of his superiors who, in appreciation of this, helped him considerably. The writer at times was instrumental for doubling or tripling the revenue through correct valuations. This brought to the writer the epithet of a `Timber Expert.' This point is strongly commended to the present generation of young officers. They must see that their valuation is correct.
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GIRDLING The biggest tree the writer ever girdled was the tree in Pyaungbok forest of the Upper Chindwin Division. It measured 23 feet 6 inches in girth at 4 feet 6 inches from the ground. Mr. Cubitt and a B.B.C. gentleman came out to see this tree; it was about 1904. At about 12 feet from the ground it forked into three branches to yield 3 huge logs. The second largest one was found and girdled in Nwedan Yo, North Mahamyaing Reserve of the Myittha Division. The girth of this tree was 18 feet and some inches at 4 j2 feet from the ground. In former years teak trees, which did not show signs of deterioration, were left ungirdled as seed bearers. It will be of interest to record the conversation that once passed between a British D.F.O. and a half-Kachin D.R. On the D.F.O. leaving a lovely tree ungirdled the D.R. murmured to him saying that it was no use to leave the tree for the next 30 years as only God knows whether the British will be still in Burma then. The D.F.O. promptly and sternly retorted back, "Oh, No! The British will stay here for ever, as rulers." The minimum girth limit before the first world war was 7 feet 6 inches for moist forest and 6 feet 6 inches for the dry forests in the reserves. In unclassed forests the limits were 6 feet 6 inches and 6 feet respectively. But in later years after the war the girth limits were reduced down to small trees with a small defect in order to get more timber and cash, which was interpreted in certain quarters that perhaps the British were losing self-confidence regarding their protracted stay in Burma. Forest life is enchanting but full of certain risks. Lack of home comforts is invariable. Even one has to thirst for water at times and the food is a matter of make-shift. Malaria is an ever-threatening danger and even human threats, as already mentioned, come in the picture. One has also to face and bear the whims of wind and weather, storms and rain. Then snakes and wild animals like tigers and elephants keep one ever on the alert. Once while the writer was on the road construction duty he very narrowly escaped from a wild elephant. One evening at about 4 p.m. he came with a Kachin follower from one camp to Sangaw village in the Kaukkwe valley and on arrival at a ponzo they heard the noise of breaking boughs. The writer asked the Kachin man what could it be? He Said a herd of bison was coming towards them. He got on a taw-shauk pin (Citron tree), which had a girth of about 3 feet and forked into three branches at about 10 feet from the ground. The writer got on to a top broken Nyaungbat (ficus bound) tree with several upright shoots of walking stick size and stood on the top of the tree with his double-barrel gun m his hand waiting to shoot a bull when it came in sight. Not even one minute after getting on to the tree, the writer came to know that the animals could not be bison but wild elephants and that if they were really elephants both of our trees were not high enough from the reach of a tusker. Immediately, we heard the trumpeting of a tusker. It needed not only the presence of mind but also a quick decision for action. Such are the times when people get confused and easily fall prey to danger. We knew it was a matter of life and death. With courage in our
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hearts, we immediately decided to get down from the trees we were on and to climb trees suitably safe 'from the danger. But the moment the writer reached the ground the elephants were heard coming nearer. As there seemed to be no other alternative, the writer climbed up the citron tree and his companion another tree nearby. No sooner were we up, the elephants appeared, but luckily the herd passed by without doing any harm to any of us. When this was over the writer looked round as far as his eye could reach and was shocked to see a haing (tuskless) big elephant hiding under a leafy tree nearby, and shaking its head preparing to charge the writer's tree. The writer at once shot him on the head, at which he turned round to run away. Another bullet hit him on the hind part but yet the animal ran away. Hearing the sound of two gunshots the animals of the whole herd, female, male and calves, ran away till no noise could be heard. The writer came down and noticed blood on the ground where the elephant had been shot. A post was erected on the spot and the party returned to camp. Next morning the writer and the villagers of Sangaw came to see the place and to their astonishment they saw the post missing and the elephant tracks round and round the citron tree to show that the wounded elephant came back at night and looked for his enemy to kill him. His foot-tracks and blood spots were followed by the writer and the villagers. The missing post was found at a distance of about a mile from its original place. Then the track entered a thick shaman bamboo forest where the pursuit ended as it was considered risky to go further. At one time the writer was going from Sinbo to Hopin along the Forest Department Road. On arrival at Kaukkwe chaung the mahout of his elephant became mad and let loose the elephant. The elephant coolie went out to look for it. He did not return that evening nor at night. They left their beddings, rice and other cooking materials in a place called Ohn. Nearby the writer, his wife and daughter spent the night. At midnight they fell asleep. In the morning when they woke up they noticed big wild elephant tracks only about 4 feet from their head and the belongings of the Mahout were smashed, blankets torn into pieces and thrown on to bushes. At about 9 a.m. the elephant attendant (coolie) came back with the elephant and said that the mahout had gone towards Hopin, leaving the elephant without the tethering chain. From that camp we came to Hopin and by train to Mandalay to enjoy a 10 days casual leave. Snakes are a potent danger in forest life . Once Mr. Buchanan, D.F.O. came to see the road work. His syce, a Moslem, slung his gun on one shoulder and pulled the reins of the pony by the other hand. Appreciating the difficulty of the syce, the writer took the gun and cartridges from him. Not long after, the party entered a ponzo. Shortly, Mr. Buchanan jumped back and without turning back gave out his hand asking for the gun. The writer gave the gun with the 2 rounds of cartridges which he held in his hand. Mr. Buchanan shot down a big black snake smashing its head. It measured 12 feet in length with a girth of some 10 inches. If Mr. Buchanan was slow or missed in shooting, the snake would have certainly attacked us.
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TEAK PLANTATIONS Messrs. Parker, C.F., Villar, D.F.O. and the writer inspected some old plantations in the West Salween Division, where a great number of trees were dead. Mr. Parker said that the area was not properly examined before planting the teak: it seemed to him that the soil was not suitable. The Burman guide, however, smiled on hearing the remark as he knew that the soil was alright but the forester in charge of the work of weeding had not spent the money allotted for the work, in consequence of which the weeds killed the plants. Another case was in Myitkyina Division in Indawgyi where a bamboo flowered area of some 200 acres was in the process of being cleared by contract. The writer, then a ranger, happened to be there and gave orders on behalf of the D.F.O. to stop the work at once, and he sent a report to the D.F.O. saying the, it was a mistake to have chosen for teak plantation in an area where there were already so many teak trees of various sizes. The D.F.O. came and inspected the area and ordered to carry on with the work. This illustrates the attitude of the British officers in those days: when one divisional officer issued an order, his successor invariably upheld the order whether it was right or wrong. In due course the writer himself was promoted to the position of D.F.O. the first Burman to hold this rank, and it so happened that the same D.F.O. came to relieve him in one division. The writer in a reminiscent mood alluded to the past and said that if he himself had become a D.F.O., his old D.F.O. should have become by now a Conservator of Forests. It is to the credit of the British love for truth that he frankly admitted that because of his numerous miscalculations, in the silvicultural and other works, he lost his chances of promotion as otherwise he would then be not a C.F. but a C.C.F. After some years a new D.F.O. who was previously the writer's instructor at the Forest School and quite fond of him, was appointed to that division. He however wanted to support the writer's view and invited the C.C.F. & C.F. to the plantation. They considered the writer's original report favourably and accordingly orders were issued to remove the big trees and coppice the broken small trees. It may be mentioned that the plantation is today 50 years old. When the writer's thoughts go back to the concluding years of the last century and the early years of the current one, he finds himself crowded with memories. That was the time when the Forest Department in Upper Burma was witnessing a re-organisation under the British, who in 1885 had liquidated the monarchical regime in the country. Then, most of the tracts were virgin forests, full of interesting flora and fauna: some of the teak trees were of huge dimensions and of first class quality, and besides there were other kinds of trees, some very rare. The writer found it very interesting and thrilling to discover new varieties, one of which bears his name to date, namely 'Rhododron kyawii'. During the last 30 years or so the forests in Burma have undergone substantial changes, the quality and girth of logs having deteriorated and besides the quantity has stepped down considerably.
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The old thrills and dangers associated with the virgin forests are no longer to be witnessed. The life of the present day foresters is comparatively confortable. The risks experienced in the olden days are now rare, but new risks, as from the insurgents, have raised their head, because of which the forests seem to be suffering from lack of due attention. It must be emphasised that the forest wealth of a nation is a great asset, which must be zealously guarded against all destructive processes. The forests and elephants in Burma suffered grievously under the Japanese, who indiscriminately cut down precious trees everywhere; after the war because of the insurgents the forests could not be looked after properly, with the result that the forests present a pitiable sight today. Reorganization of this valuable asset on proper basis is strongly recommended to the authorities, otherwise there is every danger of the State substantially suffering from fall in revenue from this source. In olden days Burma teak had its reputation in the world market because of the excellent material available and that also judiciously extracted for export under working plans prescriptions. Burma can earn considerable foreign exchange through her forest wealth. It is time that the authorities give concentrated attention to rehabilitate the forests; even if they start now vigorously, it will be at least another 50 to 80 years for the results to show. But such a patience is worthwhile. Once it bears fruit, the future will be brighter.
A word to the young officers will not be out of place here. They must not spare any pains to make the Burma forests to return to their past glory. Times are easier now and besides more comfortable because of the advances in the field of protective medicine. There is no reason why forests should not grow better now than before. Improvement-felling and sowing and planting are urgently indicated. This will help the forests to come up well: this will, also immediately save the country from the danger of soil-erosion and besides create a potential wealth for the future: also there will be obvious climatic advantages.
Forest life teaches the virtues of patience, hard work, and devotion to duty, besides love of nature and ever-readiness to combat risks and dangers. Forests also teach people for long-range projects and programmes. It is expected that the new generation of foresters will rise to these ideals, thus helping New Burma to come up to her rightful glory
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Hony. Editor's Note:- The writer of this communication is a man of remarkable personality, and was intimately connected with the early history of the Forest Department in Burma. Starting life as a Camp Clerk in 1895 at the age of 18, by dint of sheer honesty, hard work and devotion to duty, he rose to the position of a D.C. Forests in the I.F.S. in 1923, retiring from the Department in 1932 after 37 years' of meritorious service. Now though in his 80th year, he keeps quite fit and active and regularly attends to duties as the Chairman of the Governing Body of the Mandalay University College and as the Trustee of the Arakan Pagoda and Shwekyimyin Pagoda, Mandalay. His excellent state of physical and mental fitness at this advanced age, he ascribes partly to his active life as a forester and partly to the training he received under his parents: he still vividly remembers the colourful days of King Thibaw in whose Court his near relations held high appointments.
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WHY WE HAD FAILED? By U Thein Lwin, B.F.S. (1) (Retd.) (4)

Every one who sees the above caption will, I am sure, want to know why I had chosen it for this forestry centenary number. All are aware that when Sir Dietrich Brandis, the father of our Indian Forestry laid the foundation of our forestry in Burma, in 1856, the natural forests which we had to deal with were already in process of degeneration as result of indiscriminate exploitation of teak and. other timbers both for domestic uses and for trade purposes, unrestricted felling and burning of forests for shifting ultivation, starting from time immemorial, and clearing growths for extension of permanent cultivation, roads, and village and town sites etc. etc. But in-spite-of these, and the many difficulties which were met, great progress had been made, since the forests had been managed by our trained men. So the government, the public, and last but not the least the members of the forest department, both past and present, who had contributed their share of work in resuscitating our destroyed forests from their dying state, naturally expect to read good accounts of what had been done by them. They will expect it all the more, because the writer himself is a member of that proud service which is made up of men with unparalleled tradition of being conscientious workers, having a high reputation for integrity, ability, tact to deal with all classes of people, and special qualifications to stand hard solitary forest life, for long periods at a time, under stress of great discomfort, or fatigue, and exposed to dangers of 'being attacked by malaria, typhoid, or sprue, wild animals and bad hats while they are on duty, in areas remote from civilization. Many had died or were crippled for life, on account of malaria, typhoid, or sprue, and several others were killed by wild animals and bad hats. Yet all who had joined the service continued to carry out their duties without caring for the said dangers. In time of internal trouble and war, they were the most faithful servants, who took additional duties of police and soldiers, voluntarily. In connection with the above qualities of our service men, I remember the late Sir J. A. Maung Gyi describing us as men of virtue at a function. "This was no flattery, but `admiration, for only such persons can live, alone, for long periods at. a time, in deep forests" he said. Sir. J. A. knew about our men very well, for he had many opportunities to mix freely with them, when he acted as legal adviser in forest matters of a British Timber Firm in Thailand for a number of years, where he first met our forest men who were sent to that country for service on loan, (we had also trained some of the
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Thai Forest Officers, at Pyinmana Forest School in those later days), and when he had served, not only as Minister of Forests and Agriculture, for two or three terms of office, but also as the first Burman Governor of Burma in 1930. He also knew that in the forest department there are plenty of temptations to make money, if one likes to, out of road and building constructions, river training works, timber extraction, and many silvicultural operations. The forest officers had also used cheques and handled lakhs of money each year, both in time of peace and in war, without any abuse of trust laid upon them. In fact all members of the Imperial and Class I rank of the service had not only resisted the above temptations successfully but also saw that whatever work they had to do was done well and cheaply too, and there was and is not a single case of bribery and corruption against any one of I them, from the time this service was formed rip till now. During this long period of ones hundred years, even their sub ordinates who were lowly paid had not done badly in this respect. The report of bribery and corruption enquiry committee supported this. Other departments of the government cannot boast much about the above qualities. Not even some ex-ministers of ow country, for we had often read about them in newspapers. I quite realize that some may not like this subject, but I feel that the truth must be out one day; the earlier it is, the better it will be, for our country. Moreover we gain nothing by boasting about our achievements. It will be more beneficial to our country and our forests if we frankly admit what our aim was, and why we bad failed. After all to err is human, and so there is nothing to be ashamed of. Only when our mistakes are known, the present and the fit future custodians of our forests will be able to see their way to take all possible steps to prevent the repetition of failings and mistakes of the past. All, which I now write, are based upon my own experience and the notes which I had taken from all I had read, but these books were all lost together with my belongings during the second world war. So I am sorry that 1 cannot quote all references definitely. Now to know what our aim was we must first know the meaning of forestry. Chamber's dictionary simply gives the definition that "Forestry is the art of cultivating forests". Sir William Schlich quoted "By forestry is understood the human action directed to the production and utilization of forest produce. It is based upon the yield of the land and forests, therefore part of agriculture in the widest sense. Forestry as now understood was developed by degrees in the course of time." He then explained how the various branches of forestry developed-namely forest utilization, forest protection, forest working plans, silviculture, forest valuation, forest laws and regulations, and forest policy.
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I think it was Mr. John M. Coulter, Head of Department of Botany, University of Chicago, who once wrote the most suitable description that "Forestry is not much a science as an art, but it is the practical application of several sciences the chief among which is Botany. In its broadest sense it means the use of forests; but this inciudes many things to care for, and many things in view. It does not mean the kind of preservation, which amounts to miserly hoarding. It means use as well as preservation; in fact the freest possible use c consistent with preservation. It does not mean merely care of forests already existing, but also replacing of already destroyed forests, and the development of forests on area where none exist naturally." "The two chief purposes of this care are to maintain forests as the source of products necessary to human welfare, and as a check to floods that carry off soil." Another remarkable article, which I had read, was full of meaning. It was the eleventh commandment written by Mr. W. C. Lowdermilk on the wastage of land in north Africa and elsewhere which reads: Thou shalt inherit the holy earth as a faithful steward, conserving its resources, and productivity from generation to generation. Thou shalt protect thy fields from soil erosion,and thy hills from over-grazing etc. 1f any shall fail in his stewardship of the land his fertile fields shall become stones and gullies, and his descendants shall decrease and live in poverty, or vanish from the face of this earth. From all the above it will be seen that the forester's object is really to obtain the maximum quantity, and good quality of forest products from soils under his charge, without damaging them or upsetting in any way, their stability and productivity, and to prevent erosion and flood. Now if we examine the condition of land which had been used for various purposes in our country, we will find that all are in a state of chaos. Some villages, paddy lands, tas, forests and grazing grounds had totally disappeared, while the rest are degenerating. Our soils are retrogressing everywhere. Trees with exposed roots is a common sight even inside reserved forests. Aule-natthats (fallen and dead stems) are many, and large stands without standard defects which we were used to see in the olden days are now practically none. On account of the appearance of many defective trees in the forests we had to abandon the old 50/50 policy of girdling and introduce the new system which involves the removal of all trees of and above seven feet six inches in girth taken at breast height from the ground. If we do not manage our forests well, we may have to reduce the girth limit again. Of the plantations which had been formed with the cost of tremendous amount of money some had totally failed and had been written off, while the rest are already on their way to follow the fate of others. To crown all we now find annual floods playing havoc with our rivers, streams, riverine towns and villages, roads, railways,
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paddy fields, and moveable and immoveable properties, with greater force and increased devastating effect each year, beginning almost from the year 1918. On account of floods even lives of men and animals were lost. So our government had to form a flood enquiry committee, I think in 1928. But nothing came out of it. Because they had failed to find the root cause of it, nor could they produce any solution. The above trouble started, long before the out-break of the second world war, and the internal trouble, so obviously, they cannot be held responsible for them, though they are responsible for the destruction of our lands, and forests from 1942 onwards. The real culprit before 1942 was the government which had forced the forest men to mismanage the lands with the following mistakes. (1) Absence or definite forest policy of government, and its failure to classify all lands definitely for various purposes in time. (2) Failure to take the advice of technicians, too much interference with departmental administration, and centralization of powers. Orders were also seldom given in writing. (3) Failure to protect our forests from fire, and non regulations of taungya fires. Up to now no government in Burma has yet classified all our lands definitely for various purposes, namely-town and village sites, grazing grounds, cultivation areas, and forests of all types for various purposes If these had been done from the time the whole province was placed under one regime, and adequate funds and staff were provided, we might have been able to manage our lands judiciously, and avoid the dangers of calamity which we are, now facing. (1) Absence of definite forest policy etc. All lands which we are now using for various purposes, except the reserved forests were selected by the original settlers and not by government with the aid of technicians. So far as I know, the government came in later, only to mark the boundaries of these lands with boundary pillars, and laid down rules and instructions for the guidance of the people in using these lands. The then government did not care whether the area was adequate, or the villagers and others got everything they needed for all kinds of uses; because in many cases, particularly in Upper Burma and Shan States, I found that no attempt had been made either by government, or by the people, to set aside areas for use as grazing grounds, and to improve the supply of fodder and water, though cattle abound in those regions. The cultivators could do whatever they liked with any vacant area. I also discovered that all areas which had been set aside and marked for use as village and town land or grazing grounds were all small. The instructions and rules were also not always carried out. The villagers either extended the area of towns, village lands, cultivation plots. and grazing grounds, or abandoned them and
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shifted to new places where they cleared the forest to settle again. It appears that they had been doing this from time immemorial, so we now find abandoned sites of old villages and towns scattered over the whole province. The latter are usually on flat areas near rivers and perennial streams, while the former are mostly in hilly tracts, for these villagers belong to the class of what we call taungya cutters of nomadic type, who select and clear fell only forest growth standing on good soils, if they can find them. Every one knows that they are responsible for the rapid destruction of our valuable forests, and lands in the country, yet they are still allowed to follow their age-old formula of cut, burn, plant, destroy and move on. This primitive method of cultivation can be found not only in the unclassed forests, but also in enclaves on tops of hills even in the heart of the valuable teak forests of Pegu Yoma and several other reserved forests. It is not known why these above ya cutters are allowed to remain where they were, to' produce the devastating action of hill torrents of the other cultivation areas that lie outside) the reserved forests. I admit that reservation started in Burma in 1862, i.e. before the Burma Forest Act of 1865, became law in 1881. The general forest policy, which is applicable to all forests of India and Burma, was also issued only in October 1894. But all these. do not mean that the old enclaves should still exist. Because the rights are not inheritable. They are to cease with the death of the original right holders, who are in almost all the cases found to be living no more. Moreover the general forest policy advocates the disallowance of honey-combing valuable forests by patches of tangier cultivation particularly in hilly tracts. The whole trouble with us was that we had no definite forest policy. We were too slow to decide to reserve forests or to extend them. We always waited till the forests were honey-combed or destroyed by cultivators and others; but are very quick to disforest even the reserved areas, especially when the people approached the government to do so through politicians. On account of the former reason we find remains of old taungya ponso inside several reserved forests. The example for the latter case is the disforested areas o plains reserves in Meiktila, Myingyan, and Magwe Districts, which are now resumed to afforest them on account of climatic and several other reasons. Our people in Burma fail to realize that the prosperity of our nation depends directly and indirectly upon the management and welfare of our forests. A forest once destroyed cannot be replaced easily at once. We can neither make soils nor produce rapid growing trees of the quality which we need by using fertilisers or manure etc. as in case of agricultural crops. All that we can do is to observe what nature does and work in harmony with it for a number of years which may be from eighty to one hundred and fifty years or more according to the species. It also requires the correct selection. of species to suit the locality, climate, condition and type of soil, continuous attention to give the necessary treatment, with long term policy, and to spend money unflinchingly up to the maximum extent the foresters need for successful protection and
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tending of their forests; preservation of soils, and to maintain an adequate number of trained staff to supervise the work of various branches of forestry. Did we get all we need? To this my answer is decidedly never. We were always working with understaffed, both in the gazetted and subordinate ranks. On account of this shortage of staff, I as Divisional Forest Officer of Allanmyo, had at one time to do the girdling. There were also many other cases in which the Divisional Forest officers had to do the work of their subordinates, and their assist assistants to do the work of police as theft of timber and forest products is extremely rife in the plains, reserves and the delta areas where the forests are surrounded by many villages which have various routes leading into them. For in such places we usually have just one or two beat officers to look after the beat measuring from 30-35 square miles. When we found that we could neither tend our forests well nor prevent their destruction by the unruly villagers, who usually committed their offences at night, we had to simply neglect or disforest them, without considering the effects they (the disforestation of forests) may have on the climate of the locality and the welfare of the people. The same was true with the plains reserves of Meiktila, Myingyan, and Magwe districts, which had to be disforested partly-because we had no funds to tend the forests well, and control timber thieves, and partly because the villagers wanted to get new areas after they had destroyed all the available areas lying outside the reserved forests. Of the above Popa reserve was the best, which was disforested, I think in 1934. When I inspected it in 1923, the whole hill was still covered with trees, and there were stream running at the foot of it even in the month of February. Small game such as gyi and themin were seen here and there; and monkeys were plentiful on top of Taungkalat. The only people one could see in those days were a few Burmese doctors who visited the foot o1 Taungkalat annually to search for medicinal herbs, shrubs, bark and roots etc, and a few others who were looking for what we call 'Zedikyauk' (Amygdules of Chalcedony), or lucky stone, for sale. But now I understand that it has become a bare hill, without a single shade tree and water is extremely scarce. The shortage of staff and the lack of continued attention of forests were in all cases not doe to the fault of forest men. The latter drew up working plans, for long terms, i.e. the programme of work which were necessary to be done for each forest division, and definitely mentioned the number of staff that was required to carry out the works satisfactorily, and submitted the same to government for its approval and sanction. When these plans were received the government scrutinized the same and sanctioned them after having made all cuts on items which it did not like. But when we budgetted for funds to carry out the works, we always discovered that we were never given the amount of money and staff that we needed. On the contrary we received instructions to reduce expenditure on various items, including the pay of temporary staff. Sometimes these were followed by orders to retrench staff without waiting for the department's reply not to do so. The result was the destruction of our valuable forests due to our failure to attend them as they
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needed, and our inability to stop illegal practices inside the reserved forests. So far as I could see the governments policy was to eat into our capital, by putting back nothing even to maintain the forests, not to say of improving them, though it could always find money to use for purposes of unimportant nature, if that be recommended by any strong party man. In this connection, Mr. C. G. Rodgers, C.I.E. in his Forest administration report for the year 1918-19, and the quinquennial review ending 30th June 1919 remarked It is to be hoped that extreme nationalism and ill directed economy will not spoil the fine forests of Burma. Mr. H. R. Blanford, O.B.E. also wrote the following, in his report on forest administration in Burma for the year ending 31st March 1935. There are few states or provinces in the British Empire that can show as high a net revenue as Burma, and there can be no question that a percentage of over 58 of the gross revenue is far too high a proportion for any government to take out of its forests. When it is seen that only 2.1 per cent and 3.2 per cent of the gross revenue is spent on communication and organisation (and nothing on preservation of soil and fire protection), and improvement of forests respectively, it can be realised that this high net revenue is only being obtained at the expense of the forest estate itself." If we mean to use our lands judiciously we must first classify all lands thoroughly and not haphazardly, as some one had once suggested to do so by looking at the old maps, under a punkah, and then work them with. a definite policy for each class. The forest department had been paying back very high net revenue every year since it had been established, but it was never provided with adequate staff and funds to enable them to manage their forests to achieve their aim. If this be not done and if the advice of the foresters be not taken, it is best not to engage trained men at all, for our forests are bound to say good-bye for ever to us, and leave us in poverty and hunger, or let us vanish from the face of this earth. To me it appears that this trouble arose from the fact that government, ministers, and secretaries etc. think like private owners of forests, who look chiefly at the benefits, which they derive from the forests, without considering anything else; whereas the foresters think of not only the benefits which they may derive, but also the effect which their action may have upon the welfare of the people, forests, and the country as a whole, for the present generation, as well as for the future. On account of this difference in view the non-technicians had not always taken the advice of technicians. And so long as they do not change their views, it is unlikely that the technicians will be able to save their valuable forests from total destruction. The living example for this above began from the time the forests of
2) Government's failure to take the advice etc.
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Burma got into the hands of the British-When the technicians saw that the government was allowing the contractors to extract teak and other forest products without restrictions from the forests of Moulmein during the period 1826-1854, Wallich in 1827, Tremenhere 1843, Guthrie 1845, and Falconer 1849, warned the government to control the exploitation of timber and other forests products. In 1829, Wallich wrote:`NO FOREST EXISTS WHICH CAN WITH PROPRIETY BE CALLED INEXHAUSTIBLE AT LEAST NONE THAT IS LIABLE TO CONSTANT AND EXTENSIVE DEMANDS FOR TIMBER. THE QUALITY OF TEAK USED FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES BOTH MILITARY AND NAVAL IS SO GREAT THAT IT WILL GO ON INCREASING TO SO GREAT AN EXTENT IN PROPORTION AS NEW SOURCES OF SUPPLIES ARE OPENED THAT THE MARTABAN FORESTS, AMPLE AS THEY ARE WOULD BE SOON IMPOVERISHED, UNLESS THEY WERE REPLACED UNDER A VIGILANT AND STRICT SUPERINTENDENCE THEIR SUPPLIES REGULATED WITH ECONOMY, AND THEIR EXTENT GRADUALLY AUGMENTED. But the government took no notice of their advice. Its unreasonable obstinacy was thus responsible for total destruction of these so-called Martaban forests in about the year 1854. Only when this had happened the government opened its eyes, and anxiety was beginning to be felt in regard to the maintenance of the supplies of teak. But fortunately, the province of Pegu together with the teak forests of Pegu Yomah, which were among the finest in Burma, was already annexed since 1852. So in 1855, it placed one Dr. Mc Clelland in charge of the said Pegu forests, who could manage to persuade the government of India to issue a memorandum which has been termed Charter of the India Forest. This was practically the revival of the proclamation made during the Alaungpayan dynasty from 1752 onwards that teak was a `Royal Tree', the disposal of which remained the prerogative of the king, but in a modified, form. In 1856 Dr. (later Sir Dietrich) Brandis was appointed to the charge of the forests. The destruction of the forests being, then, still fresh in the memory of the powers-that-be. Sir Dietrich was given all the facilities that he needed, and so he managed to do the following:l. 2. Introduced the working plans and organized staff. Started cultivation of teak with taungya system, but the credit of applying it in its practical details in Tharrawaddy forests and elsewhere appears to belong to Col. W. J. Seaton, and Mr. H. R. Blanford O.B.E. Introduced selection girdling of teak trees with 50/50 policy. Opened out the system of departmental extraction in Tharrawaddy and founded the depot sale at Rangoon. Started clearing of chaungs and river training work. Regulated taungya cutting and burning them. Introduced fire-protection in all the reserved forests. Trained men to become good foresters. Advised government to spend the maximum amount of money required to conserve and improve the forests etc.
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
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Thus much progress was made during the period, the officers in charge of this department were given adequate funds, and staff, and a free hand to manage their own forests. During that time we even had our own man Mr. M. Hill acting as forest secretary up to the year 1889. But this did not last long. The government or at least the powers-that-be resumed their old policy, and adopted a peculiar attitude towards the forest men, as soon as they forgot about the fate of the old Martaban forests which up to date is still an old wreck. Mr. Hill was bribed to take the post of Inspector General of Forests., and the post of Secretary from that time onwards was held by non-technicians, some of them did not know even the nature of work we forest men had to do in the forests. One secretary at least thought that we had a nice time in the forest doing nothing but shooting wild game. Their failings were: 1. TO ATTEMPT TO GET THE MAXIMUM REVENUE FROM THE FORESTS WITHOUT PUTTING BACK ANYTHING, EVEN TO CONSERVE THEM, AND NOT TO SAY OF IMPROVING THEM. THEY EVEN CALLED IT A REVENUE PRODUCING DEPARTMENT, AND EXPECTED US TO PRODUCE REVENUE NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FORESTS. THIS ALONE SHOWED THAT THEY DID NOT KNOW THAT OUR AIM WAS TO GET NOT ONLY THE SUSTAINED YIELD, BUT ALSO TO CONSERVE FORESTS TO PRESERVE SOILS, PREVENT SOIL EROSION AND FLOOD, AND FOR CLIMATICALLY AND VARIOUS OTHER REASONS. 2. INTERFERENCE WITH TECHNICAL MATTERS, IN ORDER TO SAVE EXPENDITURE, OR JUST FOR THE SAKE OF SHOWING THAT THEY COULD MEDDLE TO RETARD THE PROGRESS OF OUR WORK, OR BREAK THE SYSTEM OF SMOOTH RUNNING. 3. Interference with carriage of justice. In this connection, I remember compounding a forest offence case committed by a politician. A few days later I was ordered by the then honorable Minister of Forests and Agriculture to withdraw the case. This order was sent through the accused person. I even wrote about it in the forest bulletin asking if there was any rule for the higher authority to interfere with the power of the Divsional Forest Officer in such matters. 4. DELAY IN DISPOSAL OF CASES. 5. THE MINISTRY DEALING DIRECT WITH THE DIVISIONAL FOREST OFFICER OR HIS SUBORDINATES. 6. USE OF FREE GRANT OF TIMBER AND OTHER FOREST PRODUCTS, AND IN SOME CASES DISFORESTATION OF RESERVED AREAS, AS INSTRUMENTS OF POLITICAL BRIBERY. 7. INTERFERENCE IN DISCIPLINARY AND OTHER POWERS. 8. Adoption of promotion by favouritism, back door influence, or seniority lone, and not by merit as was done in the past. 9. FAILURE TO ENCOURAGE RESEARCH WORKS, AND NOT ALLOWING TO USE MORE THAN RS. LOO/FOR EXPERIMENTAL PURPOSES, AS THE SAME WAS NOT SUFFICIENT.
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Some of the above were responsible for killing the enthusiasm and initiative of our younger men fresh from college, who in a few years were found doing only routine work, and serving to please their Divisional Forest officers or Conservators of Forests. The heads of the technical departments were supposed to be the advisers to the government of their respective branch. But to the annoyance of all concerned, they were not treated as such, and as stated above their advice was not always taken. Instead of dealing with policy alone, the attitude of the powers-that-be was to deal with the administration and to treat them as subordinates. It was worse during the time of the Japanese occupation of Burma, when the powers-that-be instead of taking advice, instructed the heads of departments in various matters mentioned above, and ordered them not to spend even a pie without the specific sanction of Dr. Ba Maw the A-dipadhi. On several occasions we had to ask what our position was. This happened just after we were appointed as heads of departments, and were very busy collecting materials and men. We did not know who was still alive, who had left Burma, or where they were. We had no records and were also not provided with funds even to buy ink, pen and paper. The repeated reports which came in were not encouraging. They stated that there was no law and order in all the districts and that many opportunists were destroying forests to get timber either for their own use, or for trade or to supply to the Japanese military authorities for war purposes. The political men who were appointed as District Commissioners, and District Superintendents of Police, started seizing teak logs for sale to get funds to pay their staffs' salary, and one District Commissioner had killed not less than thirty male elephants under pretence of getting meat to supply the Japanese soldiers, but in reality to get ivory for sale. Thus while the country was still in that state of chaos and we were very busy reconstructing our respective departments, we were summoned unnecessarily to attend the office of the secretary, minister, or meetings, the last of which usually was a farce to kill time, ending with conversation on various topics with jokes and tea. Thus when we (all heads of departments) found that we could not carry out our legal duties, we got together in a body, and reported the matter to Dr. Ba Maw. We even went to the extent of saying that if the secretaries and others thought that they could run the departments as well, we were all prepared to resign; but if they could not, to please let them go when we would be willing to step into their shoes and run two offices. At this the Doctor said, that this kind of clash between the heads of departments and the secretaries had happened very often in the olden days too and advised all of us to treat each other as equals, and to settle all matters amicably. He further ordered that if the secretary wanted to know anything, he should go to see the head of the department in his office, and if the latter wanted to know anything he should call at the former's office. After that all went off very smoothly. In my case with the help of Thakhin Tun Oke, the honorable Minister of Forests and Agriculture, and U Hla Shain I. C. S. his Secretary, I could manage to stop the Japanese Military authorities from destroying our forests, in extracting timber and
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other forest products, by explaining to them that according to an international law which I had read-the belligerent army in occupation of the country may utilize timber and other forest products from the forests to the extent that they needed for war purposes, but they must respect the customs and laws of the country, in order to extract their requirements without destroying the forests. When I was pleading I was no doubt snubbed and called long-tongued by the Japanese Military Offcer called Minami, at the meeting in the presence of everybody. But I was glad that I was not slapped in the face, and that my protest was so successful, that in the end I could manage to get departmental contracts to supply their requirements, and had also the whole country under control. I was however watched from that day onwards. In connection with the above failings, I found out later, after the war that while I was fighting about the above failings in Burma, Mr. H. C. Smith, O.B.E. Chief Conservator of Forests was presenting the same subjects before the Forest Reconstruction Committee, in India. It was neither coincidence nor the case of wise men thinking alike, but the case of sincere forest men fighting to remedy the failings of the powers-that-be, which had rendered the heads of this department impossible to manage their forests and to save them from ruin. So far as I am aware everyone who had served as Chief Conservator of Forests had done so in the past, when he had the opportunity, and there was no yes-man or camelion, they all hold the truth to do right. I am sure that all others who have the welfare of forests at heart, will do like-wise if they find such obstacles in their way of saving the forests from destruction, and to maintain our tradition. In the past, if nothing had been done for the welfare of the country and the people, we could only blame the government and do nothing more for we were under the foreign rule. But now that Burma has become an independent state we should all breed patriotic minds, and do everything for the welfare of our people, forests and our country, now and forever, by purging all failings of the past, and to allow a free hand to the forest department with necessary funds to spend on carrying out all their operations which are necessary to be done to achieve their aim, and also to encourage all enthusiastic young officers to specialize in the branches of forestry in which they are strong and keen, and to allow them to rise to the rank of Conservator of Forests by merit, i.e. the specialist's posts such as Entomologist, Botanist, Silviculturist, Chemist, Ecologist etc. etc. should rank as Conservator of Forests, and draw the same pay as that. If they are really good and willing, they should be retained at the post as long as they can work for the good of the country. i.e. they should not be transferred from post to post or be superannuated soon just because others want to step into their shoes. The above are very necessary research works, which require the service of good men. But the latter will produce good work and stick to the job only when they carry good prospects and attractive pay.
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If none is available locally to fill the above posts we should not be slow to recruit foreigners, preferably our old service men who know our language, custom, country and habit of our trees, shrubs and grasses, and will be able to produce better work than strangers. We must not forget that the first European settlers in America had to use the guidance of friendly Indians who knew the climate and knew which crop to grow in strange soil. Another living instance in Burma was-when the authorities of the Mingaladon Airfield Construction Committee started their work they brought out a Professor of Agriculture from Denmark, to make him check soil erosion and to grow grass on the slopes lying along the sides of the runway and the taxiways which were newly constructed. These slopes have gradients ranging from 1 in 1 to 1 in 10. There one finds the old ravines and drams of the natural ground were filled with made-earth of the most peculiar type of laterite soil which turned slushy and rushed down the slope exposing the drains and gullies in their original state as soon as the rain passed over the place, but it (earth) suddenly becomes as hard as mature laterite rock when water disappeared from it. Expensive concrete drains and retaining walls could not stop the destruction by erosion. To the amazement of all even one of the newly constructed buildings sank underground and collapsed and another one was on its way to follow suit. Being thus faced with peculiar climate, type of soil, and species of grass which were all foreign to him, the said professor could not do anything to stop erosion and grow grass on the area. The other engineers also could not save the situation. They looked at the position, shook their heads in despair, and went away. In the end the then Supervising (American) Engineer Mr. A. Human, and the Technical Agricultural expert Mr. W. J. Greene asked for my help. I had then just retired from the Agricultural department as Agrostologist, and so I took it up and had done the work successfully by applying the methods which 1 had learnt from Messrs. F. A. Leete, C. H. Philipp and G. C. Cheyne, in my young days at Tapun. The whole area measures 250 acres, but I had resigned after I had completed 230 acres of it, because I was not provided with the necessary equipment which I needed, and was also denied the facilities which I had enjoyed for over three years. On account of the above reasons I hope that if foreigners be employed, they will be supplied with all the necessary equipment and facilities, and also that no one interferes with their work. They can of course be asked to leave the work as soon as they are found to be dishonest or inefficient. IN FORESTRY IT IS NOT THE LENGTH OF SERVICE THAT ONE PUTS IN, BUT WIDE EXPERIENCE AND THE ATTAINMENT OF KNOWLEDGE THAT COUNTS. THE FOREST DEPARTMENT SHOULD THEREFORE HAVE NO PLACE FOR DISHONEST TIME SERVERS, AND `YES' AND BUMPTIOUS MEN WHO WOULD GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO PLEASE THEIR SUPERIORS AND OTHERS SO AS TO GAIN THEIR OWN INTEREST. IT NEEDS ONLY HONEST MEN WHO WOULD WORK CONSCIENTIOUSLY FOR THE WELFARE OF THE FORESTS AND OUR COUNTRY. AND LASTLY FORESTRY SHOULD BE PLACED ABOVE POLITICS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE IF WE MEAN TO WORK TO ACHIEVE OUR CORRECT AIMS.
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3) Failure to protect forests from annual fires
Our forests were protected from fires, and burning of unclassed forests by taungya cutters and others were also restricted from the time Sir Dietrich Brandis laid thefoundation of our forestry in Burma in 1856. Rules,regulations and instructions
about the use of fires, and protective measures to be taken still exist in books. But partly due to lack of adequate funds and staff to protect fires successfully, and partly due to someone's wonderful brain wave, fire protection was stopped totally throughout the province, except in young plantations, since 1920-22, even before the forest officers could produce conclusive result of their experiments with fire which commenced in the Bhamo district in 1900, and elsewhere. This above decision was no doubt made at the time when Burma was facing the tightness of money, after the first world war, and every department was ordered to reduce staff and expenditure. But it is not justified at all to stop fire protection. India which was then in the same boat with us, was wise not to have taken such a foolish step. I also do not think that any other country in the world would have burnt and destroyed it's forests under any circumstance, for it knows that fire always leads to retrogression, and that it is not easy to replace a destroyed forest at the same place where the original soil was destroyed or lost. On the contrary the other countries are using even up-to-date equipments like aeroplanes and wireless sets etc. to fight forest fires successfully, and to help nature not only to check soil erosion effectively, but also to produce progressive soils. We must admit that our knowledge of forest ecology, phenology, and pedoIogy is still young and limited, not only in Burma but throughout the world. So when the above experiment with fire was made, we had considered only the appearance of the number of teak trees and seedlings on the area. We did not consider the change in the manner of growth of plants and trees and the change in condition of soil as result of burning. The last i.e. the change in the condition of soil is more important to us than anything else, for both in forestry and in agriculture the soil is our real asset. If it goes everything which it supports will disappear with it. Fire is a useful enemy which always leads to retrogression. When it is allowed to burn, it not only destroys all the close ground covers, but also injures the standing trees, and leaves the ground bare, for the rain water to wash away with it everything including the surface soil and stones etc., down the slope without any hindrance. The presence of awlenatthats (fallen and dead stems,) dying trees, trees with standard defects, knarled branches, trees with exposed roots, exposure of subsoil and rocks, presence of drains and gullies large and small are all due to annual fires directly or otherwise, followed by torrential rain and erosion. On such areas magnificent trees that once grew, will never grow again, for the forest remain a great economic and social asset-a source of welfare and pleasure 'or the people unless the areas be wisely
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managed and well protected from fires and all the other destructive agencies, from now onwards. 1n agriculture we can produce soil to suit the growth of required species of crop by using fertilisers or manure etc. But the same is not practicable in forestry, which is the most difficult subject in which we have to observe what nature does, and help it to perform as it needs. Nature wants us to stop the surface soil from moving away from the place, so that it can receive dried herbs, shrubs, leaves, branches, wood, grass, dead bodies of insects and animals etc., which drop upon it and to allow them to decay and become natural compost to improve the condition of soils. But when fire is allowed to burn over the area it becomes impossible for the soil to remain in situ, since it will destroy everything which will stop its movement. In connection with the burning of forests, Messrs Trevor and Champion wrote in their Manual of Indian Silviculture as follows: The effect of forest fires is one receiving closer study, but there is sufficient evidence that the destruction of the organic matter which maintain or increase the humus content of the soil must cause deterioration. Not only are the organic carbon compounds of the dry leaves and wood lost, but the nitrogen in them is almost entirely lost as free nitrogen, and the only apparent gain is a supply of immediately available potash (I doubt even this for all ash will be washed away with the first rain). Under certain conditions, the above ground portions of the soil cover are in any case lost to the soil so that any gain in organic matter must depend on the decay of roots. (But in some cases even the roots are burnt) The influence of the humus content of the soil acting on its physical, chemical, and biological composition is so far-reaching that its maintenance must be a guiding principle m silvicultural practice, and for many soil types the percentage of the organic matter provides a fair indication of fertility. One of my old sayas, Mr. R. S. Hole, I.F.S. at one time Botanical Research Officer of Debra Dun in 1911-wrote: Fire is a very potent factor in causing regressive successions, for it is not only temporarily depriving the soil more or less completely of its covering of vegetation, but it also directly dries up the soil and destroys the humus. In connection with fire protection, "75 years of fire protection in the tropics," by Mr. C, E. Hewetson, I.F.S., which appeared in the Empire Forestry Review Vol. 29, No. 4 December 1950, is an interesting article to read. Now for a concrete example of the above, if one passes through any type of forest, except mangrove and evergreen, which has been passed over by fire recently, he will see that the whole place is covered with ash, and a few scattered stumps of shrubs below tall standing trees. This ash together with the loose earth will be washed down the low places by rain water of the first few showers, without
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hindrance, and will be deposited in beds of streams which are raised to cause floods. Obviously the loss of surface soil will be quick and great on sloping grounds and hilly places, in localities with heavy rainfall, where even landslides may By occur. For floods which. we are now getting every year, continuously almost from the year 1922, we usually blame the ignorant taungya cutters who attempt to eke their living by it, as they have no other mean of earning their living. But I blame the government for its failure to find suitable work for them and for not keeping them under control as was done in the days of Sir Dietrich Brandis. For when the reserves were fire-protected, and the existing instructions, rules, and regulations regarding the use of fires were in operation no one was allowed to burn forests within five miles of the nearest boundaries of the reserve forests. In those days everyone who wanted to set fire to his ya or cultivation area, had to report his intention to do so to the nearest forest officer about a fortnight ahead, for the latter to arrange to prevent fire from spreading outside the area of the ya. But everyone had used fire recklessly, since that practice had been stopped. The ya cutters also made fire lines around their yas, and set fire to everything that lay outside their yas without caring how far it would spread. Their only concern was that no stray spark could get into their yas before they were ripe for firing. Hunters, travellers and all others who visited the forests burnt all ground covers with the idea to have a clear view of a large area, in order to spot dangers or game which they looked for. Thus in the dry season, i.e. February to about the end of May of each year, we find forest fires raging everywhere, including) paddy fields and grazing grounds. Fire followed by rain water passing through the area is more contributory to soil depletion than anything else. It is a menace to agriculture and forests, and therefore it should be tackled at all costs. This erosion or at least erosion followed by floods had -been a problem in Burma for some time. The matter is serious, But though many had agreed with these views, no one had taken it up seriously, for all knew that government would turn its deaf ear to any scheme which involved new expenditure without getting any revenue. Moreover many consider that fire-protection is an unsuccessful work to spend money on. Some younger forest officers, who had not seen all types of forests in Burma think that my account of deterioration of our soils is much exaggerated. To all these my answer is can you not see what is happening around you every where you go, and are you prepared to fight to avert these dangers, or do nothing and take the consequences? If the other countries in the world can fire-protect their forests successfully, I can see no reason why it should be impossible for us to do the same and save our forests from destruction, by fire followed by erosion and flood. It is time that we part from the old line of over exploiting, and mismanaging our forests, and follow the correct method with efficient fire protection to lay again the foundation of our valuable forests and rich lands of the future in our country. Because fertile soil is a matter of national concern, and the
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problem of timber, cotton, rice and all other agricultural and forest products can be solved only in terms of soil and water. Several other countries have schemes to combat fire and erosion with the co-operation of private land owners. We can follow their example, and also form fire fighting parties both in towns and villages. Anti-erosion measures shoul also be taught to villagers and school children as is done I believe in some parts of Australia, and the problem of soil depletion is now faced by all nations in the whole world. In several countries the slogan is `Do not burn, fire destroys the fertility of the soil,' so let this be our slogan too. If possible let the forest department open a new branch of soil conservation service as is done in some countries, to take up problems of fire protection, preservation and improvement of soils, and water supply, and reforestation and river training etc., which are all directly concerned with forestry. Our cries to reintroduce fire protection judiciously to save our lands from destruction, and to solve the problem of water supply in the dry zone are now partially heard by thepowers-that-be, as I had once read our Prime Minister U Nu's speech, about it in connection with the rebuilding of forests on the Popa hill, etc. Let us hope that this scheme about fire protection and regulation of ya cutting will be extended to all places throughout the country, with a long term policy, without any break as was done in the past, as it is the correct step to preserve the fertility of soils, and to prevent floods, which is the basis of agriculture and forestry. May God help us preserve our forests and our agricultural lands, for all time.
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THE OLD AND THE NEW C.W.D. KERMODE, IFS (Retd.) Professor of Forestry, University of Rangoon. (5) 1. THE FIRST CENTURY. The year 1956 is taken as the closing year of the first century of the Forest Service in India and Burma, and the present issue of the "Burmese Forester" is being largely devoted to celebrating the centenary of the service. May the second century of the service prove a fruitful one which will not only bring peace and prosperity to the country but will bring to the nation as a whole, and not to only a few engaged on forest work, a knowledge and appreciation of the value of the forests of their country. If and when such a state is reached maybe people will realise what a lot of quiet uphill work was done in the first century by men who have sometimes been looked upon as cranks. The opening of the second century shows a change in general outlook towards forests and forestry. It is not so many years ago that a certain committee in Burma, which should have known better, declared that the main function of the forest department was to collect revenue. At that time this remark passed more or less unnoticed except by forest officers. When enlightenment has fully come to the people there is no doubt that many will wish to know why far more was not done in the first century. Let them be referred to this pronouncement of an important committee and let them realise that at many times in the first century the voice of the forest officer was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" and few if any listened. What a change has occurred since the last war in the general attitude to forestry. The opening years of the new century seem to be filled with promise. It is pleasant to hear clamours for disforestation being replaced by clamours for afforestation. And not only clamours work has actually been started. Can Burma take full advantage of the new state of affairs? Can forests be better worked silviculturally, better managed and better utilized than in the past? Certainly they can be but not until peace has come to the country. Foresters and traders must be free to live in and move about the forests as they were accustomed to do. They cannot manage and look after the
51
forests from the relative security of their headquarters towns. They must spend a large part of their lives in the forests. They will only be able to do this when the dark clouds of isms, of death and dacoity have rolled away. When this time has come they will be able to live again in the forests, and sleep secure at night with nothing worse to disturb them than the distant trumpeting of elephants, the `sawing' of leopard or the bark of a gyi A heartfelt wish for the new century is that the chatter of the Bren and the stutter of the Sten may soon cease to be amongst the common sounds of the country side. The old century ends; the new one starts with new developments and new ideas; with a widening of out-look and with a co-operation betweendifferent countries and peoples. There are fellowships and scholarships; there is the Food and Agricultural Organization. of the United Nations and there is the Colombo Plan. Forest Officers and students get the chance to go about the world; to study forests in other countries, to study the latest utilization and research technique. Experts are available who are able to draw up the blue prints for a new forestry after a two or three months' visit to a country quite strange to them. All in all the new century seems to be opening into a brave new world, at least so it could be imagined if reading was confined to the many plans and blue prints for the future of the forests of Burma. Perhaps it is better not to be too optimistic. The growlings of the big nations and the yapping of some of the small nations are not good heralds for a peaceful world, a world where the blue prints for forestry can be put into practice. And even as regards the blue prints themselves not everyone is prepared to agree with the findings of the peripatetic experts. II. ANOTHER CENTURY. It may be of some small interest to record another century or near-century. In 1854 a plant of Amherstia nobilis was presented to Kew Gardens. This plant survived until the last war when it perished. A new plant, presented by the Forest Department, was safely delivered to Kew in April 1956 to take its place. Amherstia nobilis. as most readers of this journal know, is a species which is endemic to Burma and is a native of Tenasserim. It is claimed to be one of the outstandingly
52
beautiful flowering trees in the world and some authorities say that it is the most beautiful. This is largely a matter of opinion and taste. It is certainly beautiful but it would be easy to name half a dozen trees equally or more beautiful.
It is a tree that is difficult to propagate. The one that was delivered to Kew this year was obtained from a gootie made in 1955 and was a strong healthy looking specimen. About thirty of the large flat seeds were taken to Kew with the plant. Although they were freshly collected and were taken by air and sown on arrival not one germinated. A few seeds that were seen germinating in Rangoon early this year failed to produce a live seedling.
Although Kew received a plant in 1954 two plants are said to have been taken from Calcutta as long ago as 1837 to England. Only one survived the journey. It is interesting to speculate. how the 1854 tree travelled. It may have been months on the way, the Suez Canal was not in existence at that time so it probably went round the Cape. It is surprising that it survived the journey and lived for so long afterwards. The 1956 plant travelled by B.O.A.C. Constellation, was in London less than 36 hours after leaving Rangoon, spent the night in the bedroom of a London Club and rode to Kew by taxi the next day'. A report received two months after its arrival said it was flourishing.
There is an amusing story of the naming of this tree. It was discovered in Tenasserim during Lord Amherst's period as Governor-General. Wallich, who was then at the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, gave it the name Amherstia in honour of the GovernorGeneral. Sometime later Wallich consented to teach botany to the students of the Medical College, Calcutta, and was gazetted Professor of Botany in addition to his own duties. He got no extra pay for this work and had to drive some 5 - 6 miles to give his lectures. He asked for a 1 transport allowance which was refused. Wallich filed this refusal with the comment ` If 1 had anticipated that Lord Amberst's Government would do this, I would not have named the tree Amherstia." The story, old as it is, has a topical quality which will appeal to some preset day readers who may feel that they have a personal bond of sympathy with Wallich. A century or more may have passed since then but governments still behave in a similar way in some respects.
53
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF FORESTRY IN BURMA By TAN CHEIN HOE, B.Sc. (Hon.), B.Sc. (For.) (Edin.), Burma Forest Service. (6)
It is with particular pride and pleasure that the last Chief Conservator of One Hundred Years of Forestry in Burma and a Burman takes this opportunity of closing the century and of looking back on the past events recording achievements and drawing lessons from failures and omissions. I may also be permitted to dream about the shape of things to come. The history of the Forest Department has been high-lighted elsewhere in this issue by Mr. H. R. Blanford, under whose direction I first learnt the intricacies of regeneration by the taunggya method and did some experiments on the germination of teak seeds after treatment in a number of ways. The mutual regard between the two of us was further cemented when in the winter of 1954 while visiting the United Kingdom, I made a point of meeting him in his own home and paying respects which only a Burman knows how to do towards his old Saya. Mr. Blanford's article recording the work of our great Department is surely an example of modesty. The British are never tired of being called by certain quarters as imperialists, capitalists, and blood-suckers, but their record of service in Burmese forestry for 92 years out of the 100 must be the envy of all Foresters working in the Tropics. They have left us a legacy of tradition, integrity and honesty of purpose which we of the present generation are proud to maintain. Factual data are presented elsewhere. In this article I propose to deal with certain events of recent history in which I was keenly interested or had played some small part.
BURMANIZION OF THE SUPERIOR FOREST SERVICE. The first appointment to the I.F.S. of a Burman was made in the person of U Tha Myaing, K.S.M., A.T.M., in 1923 and by 1926, when recruitment ceased owing to the Montagu-Chelmsford Reform and "Forest" became a "Transferred Subject" in charge of a Minister, there were only 4, roughly 5 per cent of the cadre. In those days the cry for Burmaniztion was not so loud and never well responded. Considering that the forest management had been 70 years in Lower Burma, and 40 in Upper Burma, the Burmese leaders must have strongly felt the urge for managing at least a part of their own home and strove through frustration towards the extreme. The new Burma Forest Service Class I rules appeared in 1928 and three Burmans were promoted. Direct recruits first appeared in 1930. In ten years the numbers of Burman and non-Burman direct recruits had become roughly equal. The former swelled in numbers after the second world war owing to promotions. These officers were men of tried merit and replete with experience. World War II had two important effects on Burma. During the war years there was no recruitment except for the four locally trained amidst bombings, shortages of all sorts, and interruption of communications; appointments had to be postponed by three or four years owing to the necessity of training. -The second was the attainment of Independence under the Nu-Attlee agreement, followed by the compulsory retirement with proportionate pension and gratuity privileges of foreign personnel except four retained for advisory purposes, the amalgamation of the two Services and the nationalisation of the teak industry.
The Burmese nationals of the Class l Service were also retired but on compassionate pension and re-employed. The position may be summed up as follows:-
54
OFFICERS. 1947 Pre-Independence Training U.K. Dehra Dun Rangoon Australia U.S.A. Pyinmana National British Others Others Others Others Others Total Cadre Class 1 42 12(a) 13 4(a) ------71 80 Class II --1(a) 2 28(a) ----33(a) 64 71 --11 6 34 ----100 128 --13(b) --43 3(c) 2 52 113 137(d) 1948 1956 Combined Service Post-Independence.
1947 RANGERS With Rangers' Diploma Cadre 62(a) 133
1948 13(e) 133
1956 68(f) 133
(a) These form the backbone of the present service. Responsibility has brought out a number of exceptional men. (b) Two under training excluded. (c) Seven under training excluded. (d) Includes officers for Shan, Kachin and Karen States but excludes Kayan (Karenni) for which orders are awaited. (e) The drop is due to promotion. (f) The deficit is made up by officiating appointments of Deputy Rangers with Lower Certificates. The term "Others" includes a sizeable proportion of Anglo-Indians who decided to leave the country in 1948. This was a great loss and a pity because the Union Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion and equal opportunity for all its citizens. They had played important roles in the technical services and until recently one of their community served the country as a Minister of the Union. The anxiety felt by some quarters as to the adequacy of the staff immediately after the Independence proved to be unfounded. Sithu U Hman served with great distinction as the first Burman Chief Conservator and as a member of the Forest Nationalization Committee. He is now the Chairman of the State Timber Board, a sister organization of the Forest Department and a body unique in the world timber industry. Burmese post-Independent forestry received (and is receiving) its greatest fillip from the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Senior staff attending Regional Commission meetings and Conference meetings met, for the first time, their counterparte of the outside world and had opportunities for self-examination and revaluation. The Organization sent out Experts on Forest Industries, Mechanical Extraction and Forest Research Institute and supplied a pilot-plant for quick seasoning and timber impregnation. Fellowships were awarded for integrated forest industries, utilization, timber grading, Eucalyptus, forest research, mechanical extraction, sawmill engineering, etc. The Colombo Plan countries, too, offered assistance for the self-help programme of the South East Asian Region. India, Australia, United Kingdom and Malaya generously gave us training facilities in silviculture, anti-erosion, cutch and katha, lac and shellac, resin and turpentine, general and advanced forestry and plywood.
55
Assistance was also received under United Nations Economic Development Programme. I may say quite candidly that the efficiency of the present staff is satisfactory. A real crisis may come about 1970 when the pre-war crowd will have retired. Men of the Post-War Years, look out and prepare yourselves for the future! On your shoulders squarely rests the responsibility of improving methods e.g. regeneration, yield, etc., and expanding operations e.g. research. The State Timber Board The refugee Government of Burma drew up in Simla an Agreed Financial Arrangement for the Rehabilitation of the Teak Industry in Burma. This is incorporated in what is generally known as the Waight Memorandum which defined the interim period as the period intervening between the resumption of operations on the return to Burma and the resumption of operations under normal practice of long term leases (Italics are mine). For this period a Government controlled Timber Project was to be established to make suitable arrangements with the five long term lessees acting jointly as a Consortium for the extraction, delivery and millimg of teak; under the terms of this Memorandum the Government of Burma was to contribute the finance, capital as well as on revenue account, to enable operations to be resumed and to be maintained at "the desired rate of expansion." The Consortium, too, was to contribute new finance and assets recovered on the return to Burma together with their staffs, organizations, etc. The financial arrangement was .that any margin (surplus or deficit) in any year between costs of timber sold and the returns on that timber to accrue to the Government and to the Consortium in the proportions of 60 and 40 % respectively "provided that any finance required to cover the necessary expansions of stocks of logs will be met, as far as possible, by the Government, and by the Consortium, out of any surplus, in the same proportion." Any residual balance remaining out of any surplus was to be paid to Government as royalty and to the Consortium as profit. When the Government of Burma returned to Burma and established the Timber Project Board in 1946, the public opinion was unfavourable. The Waight terms were severely criticised and pronounced to be one-sided; the lack of granting similar-facilities to indigenous traders was commented upon by the Press. By 24th September 1947 the Constituent Assembly had enacted the Constitution of the Union of Burma. Clause 44 (2) of this constitution reads "The State shall direct its policy towards exploitation of all natural resources in the Union by itself or local bodies or by peoples' co-operative organizations". The Union of Burma formally emerged after the handing over ceremony very early on the morning of 4th January 1948.
The Take Over. According to plan, the leased forests were to be taken over annually on a 3-year
programme. The first third of the areas comprising Central Burma was nationalized on 1st June 1948. The Forest Nationalization Committee and the representatives of the lessees met several times to discuss the valuation of different assets proposed to be taken over by the State. From the very outset of the negotiations there had arisen a wide and basic divergence of views on the question of valuation of assets. The firms entrenched themselves firmly behind the principle of compensation based on the market or current value of the assets obtained on the date of handing over to the State. On the other hand, the Government Committee aided by experts while accepting the principle of compensation rejected the claim and offered to pay what the teak industry could bear on a long term basis. The dominant idea underlying the Committee's basis of valuation was the necessity of putting the State in the same position as the firms as regards capital costs so that the State could reasonably expect a commercial return from the undertaking. Messrs. MacGregor & Co., Ltd., the principal firm involved in the nationalization, decided on tile judicial proceedings. As a result of the High Court case the firm obtained the necessary decision and the remaining four firms followed the principle of the High Court award. The claims and the compensations paid were as follows:
Messrs. MacGregor & Co., Ltd Messrs. Foucar & Co., Ltd
In lakhs of Kyats Claimed Awarded 33.42 75.50 43.84 21.20
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Messrs. T. D. Findlay & Sons Ltd Messrs. The Bombay Burmah Trading Co. Messrs. Steel Bros. & Co., Ltd. Total
3.34 15.26 17.20 155.14
1.95 7.40 8.17 72.14
By applying the same principle, the two indigenous lessees U Ba Oh and U Po Dan received respectively 0.67 and 0.73 lakhs. Part of the Forest Department also came under the nationalization programme. The Myitmaka Extraction Division, a unit departmentally working the teak forests of Tharrawaddy, Zigon and Prome, together with the depots and sale ponds with logs thereon, were handed over to the State Timber Board for a book figure of K 35.99 lakhs. For the remaining two-thirds of the Burmese forests, arrangements similar to the Waight Memorandum were made. A draft Joint Working Agreement was drawn up, but this was never signed because within three months of Independence, Communist insurrection broke out over various parts of Burma. Taking advantage of this unhappy position, the Karens and the 'Mons set up National Defence Organizations and also rebelled against the Government. Most of the principal towns outside Rangoon were overrun by the insurgents and heavy lootings were the order of the day. Rangoon itself had rebels within four miles of its borders and the Government of the Union of Burma had the signal distinction of being dubbed "The Rangoon Government".
The Hand Over. Instead of waiting for the second nationalization on 1st June 1949, he remaining lessees offered to hand over all their remaining forests and negotiated with the Government; an agreement was :;;ached with the B.B.T.C.L. and Steel Bros. on the 10th June, 1949. They were to receive 50,000 tons of the Irrawaddy outturn at Rangoon free )f cost and free of royalty or any other form of tax and to mill and market the teak and to retain the foreign exchange earnings abroad. The price of the round teak log was unofficially estimated at K 225 per ton. Out of the 50,000 tons, 34,000 were earmarked or their residuary rights and non-duty paid logs. The remaining 16,000 tons were for all other assets with the exception of buildings at Mandalay and Maymyo and their two sawmills at Rangoon. The sawmills were later purchased separately.
Deliveries of logs under the terms of the agreement could not immediately be made for he bulk of the Irrawaddy outturn was held up at Yenangyaung, right in the centre of the insurgent-held areas. This was a blessing in disguise because the price of teak in the world narket was steadily rising. However some 25,000 tons made over in 1950 were converted the lessees sawmills and exports began immediately. The balance being converted in a private sawmill for market requirements of the day called for delicate adjustments and .were therefore more closely studied. By November 1952, shipments of the second handover were completed-11,474 converted tons, K 111.30 lakhs f.o.b. value. To Messrs. T. D. Findlay & Sons Ltd., 4,750 tons were handed over at Moulmein--2700 tons for residuary rights and non-duty paid logs and 2050 tons for all other assets with the exception of a piece of land at Mupun and one 50 KW engine. The Timber Project Board was replaced by the State Timber Board by an Order effective from 10th April 1948, following the directive of nationalization referred to in the Constitution It became a statutory body under an act of Parliament in 1951. The State Timber Board received the Timber Project Board's assets to the tune of K 299.04 lakhs and by the end of 1954-55 had steadily built up extensive log assets both up-country and at the principal log depots of Rangoon and Moulmein.
Kyat in lakhs Assets 31-Jan1 949 194849 194950 195051 195152 195253 195354 195455
Variable Logs upcountry Logs Rgn/
222.77 15.76
205.14 2.94
193.68 1.65
182.79 53.43
175.23 108.32
205.36 174.48
226.36 210.02
282.96 195.11
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Moulmein Converted timber Stores Total Fixed Buildings& lands
--21.26 259.79 21.44
11.79 65.14 285.01 19.46 3.51 65.11 263.95 18.68
15.19 66.67 318.08 18.16
27.64 70.86 382.05 18.05
30.44 67.11 477.39 17.79
41.63 66.08 544.09 17.09
65.89 66:00 609:96 16.58
New Office Saw Mills (1,2,5) Motor launches Elephants Mechanical equipment Saw Mills (3,4) Others Total Grand Total
--10.70 23.38 50.75 1.04
--13.95 32.74 45.68 0.75
--13.06 29.48 46.16 0.10
--12.29 26.24 49.36 Less than 0.01 1.74 4.44 112.23 430.31
--11.46 23.25 48.26 Less than 0.01 3.93 5.13 110.08 492.13
--10.95 20.42 47.49 Less than 0.01 12.25 4.90 113.80 591.19
1.94 10.06 17.65 46.97 13.07
5.78 10.03 14.87 46.47 11.11
--3.35 110.66 370.45
1.09 6.45 120.12 405.13
1.17 5.05 113.70 377.65
56.91 5.12 168.81 712.90
58.15 4.166 167.65 777.61
The Land and Agricultural Planning Commission. The Forest Department actively took part in the deliberations of this commission and submitted a forestry part of the report. By a curious case of accident the Commission Report appeared early this year almost exactly 100 years since Dr. Brandis first landed in Burma. It is therefore possible to assess the situation resulting from the century of forest management as follows: Areas not under Forest Working Plans.
Sq. miles.
Kayah (Karenni) State ............................ ......... ................. ...... ... ....... ... ............ 4,487 Putao and the Triangle Area of Kachin State ................. ...... ... ....... ... ............ 22,383 hukong Valley ......................................... ......... ................. ...... ... ....... ... ............ 7,904 Decontrolled Areas in Shan State ..................... ................. ...... ... ....... ... ............ 41,679 Total ............... 76,453 Areas under Forest Working Plans Circle. (1) Teak Selection ......... (2) Commercial Local Match Cutch supply Supply woods (3) 5,270 (4) 181 320 (372) 308 (275) (5) (6) (173) 38 14 3,029 13,071 other Total Spe Protec- ReTotal cial tion serves Circle (7) (8) 9) (10)
Maritime ......... 2,149
649 1,009
9,258 62,178
......... (1,005) (275) Hlaing ......... 2,644 ......... (811) Sittang .. ....... 4,494 13 (9) 5
(217) (372) 48 4,855 15,446
......... (1,230) (269)
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Northern .. ....... 6,127
159
250 332 -9 73 1,434 (721)
(173) 286
177
435
7,148 32,053
......... (1,929) (142) Chindwin .. ....... 5,163 ......... (597) Shan State ....... .. ......... (489) Total: 496 (18) 2,173 (8)
203 (4) -
882
7,362 43,257
(1715) 43 (78) 286
78 -
770 3,13719,302 -
22,750 6016 (6,061)
1,145 3,158 34,789 1,85,307 (800) -
(647)(1,932)
GRAND TOTAL
Union of Burma.
2,61,760
Areas shown in Columns (2)-(8) are all inside reserves. Figures in brackets denote areas overlapping with Teak Selection Working Circles There are, in addition, 11 Wild Life Sanctuaries covering 915 sq. miles. Pidaung is the most famous of all and contains elephants, bison, saing, sambur, hog-deer, barking deer, pig, tiger, leopard, bear, peafowl, pheasant, jungle fowl, partridge and quail. Burma has only 3 % of its total area under sanctuaries. Following the lead given by the Buddhist clergy (the Sixth Buddhist Synod suggesting the formation of a sanctuary to be called the Satta-Wone in honour of the historic event and the Sayadaw of Loikaw demanding another near his town) there is no reason why the percentage could not be gradually increased. So, what of the future? . First, the areas not under Working Plans. The 'case for recontrolling decontrolled areas is slowly gaining momentum and is a matter of time. The difficulties are political and education of the layman. Elsewhere, high power enquiry commissions are proposed in which various government departments and boards are represented to make simple integrated plans for raising the standard of living of the local population. Second, the areas under Working Plans. The first round of working plan revisions post-war are expected to be completed by the end of 1957-58; the second round actually starts in 1956-57 with the Delta (pending the Chief Conservator's approval), Zigon the following year, and carries on at the rate of three to four plans annually till 1968-69. Ye Men of the Post-War Years, look out again! In the case of forest reserves, teak is being worked to the maximum extent possible on a sustained yield basis. The extension of non-teak working circles is certain. Of the total of 1434 and (721) square miles of Local Supply reserves, 1014 and (68) square miles require to be rehabilitated owing to indiscriminate fellings during the Japanese occupation and insurgency. This has been done rather slowly and can .be accelerated only after insurgency has been quelled. The problem looks formidable on paper but should not be so because on inspection very substantial portions are bound to come under natural regeneration-coppice and seedling coppice-with rest and very effective protection against men and fire, nature can look after itself. It is towards the unclassed forests that we must and have been gazing with hungry eyes. To quote the forest report for the Commission :-
59
Circle
Maritime Hlaing Sittang Northern Chindwin Shan State Total:-
Other than Reserves 52,920 10,042 10,591 24,905 35,895 16,165 1,50,518
Total
37,774 5,629 5,178 17,393 25,012 15,968 1,06,954
Areas in square miles. Unclassed Forests Grazing ground Reservation proposed Existing Proposed ProProduction tection 812 434 13,376 3,413 114 102 495 23 270 209 958 1,471 404 471 1316 244 8 1437 1777 4,134 344 1956 347 1952 2653 19,878 9,632
Heavy Taungya
Village forests
Soil Conservation 204 249 337 790
Further survey
686 2782 1868 921 3812 11070 21,139
1,559 724 15 298 948 3,544
16,145 966 278 13,100 12,099 2,248 44,836
The proposed grazing grounds and village forests are fairly well wooded. In the case of the latter more than half are already under forests and only require to be notified before they come under the axe. Forest consciousness has lately increased tremendously owing to gracious sympathy and encouragement of the Hon'ble U Nu, the former Premier. He inaugurated the Trees Festival Day in Burma and is the driving force for the Dry Zone Afforestation scheme. As for planting under this scheme free labour but with food has been obtained. Owing to the magnitude of planting in the village forests as well as in the. local supply reserves, drastic methods are called for, at least in the first few years of the first round-wider spacing, better choice of species, exotics if necessary, perfect planting in the first season without subsequent beating up and fire protection. There is neither the time nor the finance to practice the Regeneration by the Taungya Method perfected in the days of Mr. Blanford over all the vast stretches of land. There is no intention to stop shifting cultivation. Control by the Dpartment will be by consent and confined to the fixation of a fair period of rotation, strip or contour cultivation, quite often leaving exposed ridges uncut, replanting, etc., or any combination of these methods. At the same time, improved methods of agriculture are to be introduced -better cash crops, orchards, coffee, etc. A simple plan has been worked out by the Chin Hills Development Committee comprising representatives from the Forest, Forest, Agriculture, Veterinary, Public Works, Public Health, Education, Mines. General Administration, etc. The forestry section of the Commission Report has 32 projects which ca be broadly classified as follows: (a) Continuation of existing projects: Enhanced Girdling of Teak and Marking of Hardwoods. Revision of Working Plans. Education and Training of Staff: Rehabilitation of Local Supply and Cutch reserves and Buildings. Revision of Forest Policy. Roadside Planting. (b) Improvement of existing projects. Access Roads-New Construction and Metalling. Rangers' College. Reorganisation of Game Establishment. Utilization of Mangroves. More Grazing Grounds. Further Reservation. Soil Conservation. River Training
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(c) New projects: Integrated Forest Industries. Formation of Village Forests including Dry Zone Afforestation. Management of Popa Catchment area. Forest Research Institute. Chin Hills Forest Division. Recontrol of Decontrolled Areas. Resin and Turpentine. Lac and Shellac. Control of Areas subject to Heavy Shifting Cultivation. (d) For further study. Kayah State. Putao and the Triangle Area. Hukong Valley. Portions of Unclassed Forests. The total capital cost for all these projects some of them extending over a period of 80 years is in the neighborhood of K 2,500 lakhs which represent 12 to 15 times the annual revenue realized by the Forest Department. One of the urgent tasks of the Department on the threshold of the second century is the proposal to erect a Forest Research Institute. Through the technical assistance programme of the F.A.0. we are grateful to secure the advice of Professor M. Naslund of Sweden for Forestry Research and Dr. F. F. P. Kollmann of West Germany for Forest Products Research. The latter is the second accident of 1956. Forestry was started by a German in Burma in 1856 and it seems auspicious that another German should be tackling Forestry Products one hundred years later.
No place is complete without trees; A home without trees is charmless: A road without trees is shameless; A park without trees is purposeless; A country without trees is hopeless.
F. G. GERRATY. late Chairman, Forestry Commission, Victoria, Australia.
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SOME REMINISCENCES-1916 TO 1956. By SITHU U HMAN, Chairman, State Timber Board. (late C.C.F., Burma). (7)
My first experience of life in the Burma Forest Department began in 1916, when as a student probationer I was sent to the Zigon Forest Division. It was an early November morning at Tapun when the Taungnyo chaung had an unusually late log bearing rise. At the time the new river training projects had been under operation for about two years after the Wegyi boom-cum-railing scheme had been superseded. The controversy over high bunds versus low bunds had just ended in favour of the latter which was in the following few years succeeded by training methods without use of earth bunds but aided by stake bunds, etc. and drainage schemes. From the thegaw area I went to the Taungnyo range in company of the late U Hpu at the time an untrained deputy ranger and was just posted to charge of the most heavy range in the Division. To U Hpu office work was an anathema. He would lie flat on his stomach to draft a report to his D.F.O. but he had a good knowledge of improvement felling and his knowledge of plantation work and control of labour was so good that U Hpu could get over 90 % success sowing teak direct at a time when teak plantation practice had advanced to transplanting and stump sowing. His promotion to the Class II service was a well deserved one. I also remember walking along a broad, cleared, fire line along a reserve boundary near Nyanle or Thapanchaunggyi one December afternoon for the first time in company of a forester. Walks along broad reserve boundary fire lines soon became pleasant memories as this idea of fire protection of natural forests gave way to non-protection in about 1918 and to a certain extent to early burning in about 1920. One of the most enthusiastic advocates of early burning at the time and who was also my D.F.O. would take a delight in burning teak plantations with a view to improving the stock and reducing growth of weeds. He was a keen and active field silviculturist. In 1919 on my first calling at the Pegu Circle Conservator's office at Rangoon, I found Mr. Smales in conference with Messrs. Rodger and Blanford. As our school long tour covered the Nilambur teak plantations I was questioned over Bourne's idea of plantation work. In Zigon Division plantation work had been revived since about 1916. I must acknowledge my debt to Mr Watson (late Sir Hugh) for the interest he took in training me as a forester before I went to school and, also as a budding forester on my return from school. Mr. Watson said he liked me because I knew when to keep my mouth shut and that I was not afraid to speak. I well remember Mr. Watson instructing me not to be afraid to ask questions if I did not know about anything and never to get into a groove and also to keep up doing physical exercise. I have tried to follow that advice as far as I could. Mr Watson's keen interest in the work in hand and the analytical turn of mind possessed by him could be surpassed by few forest administrators anywhere. He was, I believe, one of the first men to instil into members of the Indian Forest Service to treat all officers of local domicile as one of themselves. The most enthusiastic supporter of the taungya method was then in charge of the Tharawaddy Forest Division. The drive from about 1916 onwards was to increase the annual area of coupes planted with teak or other species. The annual area planted in 1929 amounted to 4466 acres but
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following the trade slump and change of Chief Adviser to Government the controversy over plantations policy was carried out with great heat and vigour. The Government followed the midway course of restricting the annual plantation area only to that required for purposes of local supply. Just a few years before the World War II the kyathaung flowering over which foresters had been discussing for some 25 years past began to take place. Experiments to find out a suitable method for improving the stock of teak were carried out but the work was interrupted by the war and its aftermath. Before I conclude I would like to pay a tribute to one of our Burma Foresters now happily alive. He is Mr. Blanford whose enthusiasm for working plans, plantation improvement felling and even road work had no bounds. To him and other foresters of the Burma Forest Service we owe a deep gratitude. Even after the transfer of power when the last British forester departed we parted as friends. The Burma Forest Service has established a fine tradition for hard, honest and conscientious work and I am sure that those who joined the Burma Forest Service after World War II would do all they can to maintain the high tradition and strive to solve the problems facing them enthusiastically, courageously and intelligently. To the rising generation we send our greetings and good wishes. To those Burma Foresters who have crossed the threshold of life we offer our Ahmyas. Our kind regards and wishes for all the best go to all Burma foresters who have left the service and are either in active service or are spending the evening of their lives in retirement.
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BURMA AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY A. LONG, B. F. S. (Retd.) Late Lecturer in Forestry, University of Rangoon (8) . In the "Burman" of the 15th June, 1950, the following appeared: "Swiss believe in being prepared." Berne, June 13: "The Swiss Government today ordered that the emergency food stocks to be laid up by every Swiss household in case of war must be assembled by the end of September." "For the two month period which the Government estimates food import would be cut off by a European war, each household must hold stocks including seven pounds of sugar, four pounds of cooking fats and twelve pounds of rice, flour or oats. At the time the above was written Switzerland feared that a European war was imminent; but wise counsels prevailed and the threatened war was averted, and up till now diplomacy has triumphed and war has not come and we hope that it will not come; but we cannot say that war will not come. Most nations are hoping for the best but are taking necessary precautions. This question of self-sufficiency is exercising the best brains of the day, and the principle of self-sufficiency is one that deserves earnest consideration by every thinking person. It has been said that Burma can remain economically independent and self-supporting, but can never become economically self-sufficient. Neither can any other country in the world. Burma needs foreign markets for her rice and timber and minerals. She also needs foreign exchange to buy from abroad the machinery, equipment and materials she needs. Burma will always need products that do not exist at all in this country or which can be produced more cheaply elsewhere. It will not be possible or desirable to consider this in every field of endeavour or for every commodity, or even every essential commodity; but we might consider one or two products and the experts in their own lines might consider how the country will be affected in their particular departments. The present Note will indicate to some extent what the Union of Burma is doing towards making the country self-sufficient. If we consider the Agricultural Department for awhile we realize that it is mainly a one-crop economy department as was pointed out in the editorial in the "Nation" of the 31st July, 1950. We should now be alive to the fact that many rice-importing countries are now endeavouring to grow their own requirements to reduce the imports of this commodity; some importing countries are paying interest to the cultivation of substitutes of rice, including synthetic rice which is being experimented with in Australia. As we cannot prevent people from buying their food requirements where they like we should consider seriously whether we should not remove certain areas from rice cultivation or set aside certain suitable areas for the cultivation of an alternative crop, jute for instance. The Union Government has now made a beginning and has started the cultivation of jute in certain suitable areas of the country. As Burma uses large quantities of gunny bags, which now come from Pakistan, it would pay this country in her endeavours to be self-sufficient, to grow her own jute from which the gunny bags can be made rather than depend on that country for this important commodity. The importance of this commodity can be gathered from the fact that some time ago Mr. A. R. Khan of Pakistan stated that although Pakistan had large tracts of land suitable for the growing of rice, she preferred to grow jute as this paid her better. The National Planning Committee of Burma realizes this and are cultivating jute in areas
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where it will thrive; and the jute mills which were planned are nearing completion. Besides helping to make Burma self-sufficient in jute, it will prevent capital from leaving this country. Recently Burma spent a large sum of money on gunny bags ordered from Pakistan. This was necessary as gunny bags are not in production as yet. The mills will use imported raw jute from Pakistan till Burma jute can supply the demand. In this article, the forest point of view will be briefly dealt with. Some time ago well known forest authorities, like Professor H. G. Champion, expressed what Great Britain's requirements of timber should be. The last two world wars have shown Great Britain just how she stood with respect to timber and what she should do if she wanted to became self-sufficient where her supplies of wood were concerned. During the last world war, the total collapse of Germany brought home the lesson that wood next to food is the most fundamental product in the life of a community. The United Kingdom imported most of its timber requirements. In the five years preceding the Second World War, the consumption was 1000 million cubic feet, consisting of 93.8 % softwoods and 6.2 % hardwoods, of which only 4.2 % was grown in the country. In 1950 the U.K. imported 93 % of the total softwood consumed and in spite of large fellings in the U.K., they imported nearly two-thirds of the total hardwoods consumed. The United Kingdom prepared plans of afforestation and set up a Commission, the Forestry Commission, in 1919. It planted 138,000 acres in the first ten years, and 230,000 acres in the second decade. The total in 1948 was well over 500,000 acres. The target for 50 years is 3,000,000 new acres to make a grand total of 5,000,000, acres of effectively managed woodlands. They estimate that this area would then carry enough timber to carry them over an emergency involving the cutting off of imports for several years. The Director of Forestry, Wales, in his "The Place of Forestry in Britain's Economy (p. 301 of E.F.R. Vol. 32, No. 4 of December, 1953) placed this period at about five years. He analyzed the European position as a whole and considered that the U.K's hopes of getting full supplies during the next 20 or 30 years were slender, although the consumption per head of population would continue to rise. Economically too he showed that it would be essential that the U. K. produced more timber in home country. One example only need be mentioned to show the wisdom of the step taken: the pit-prop supply without which the coal-mining industry would come to a stop: it is inconceivable that their basic colliery industry should be left entirely at the mercy of foreign supply. Let us now consider Burma's case, Burma has a total land area of 262,000 square miles (roughly three times the area of Great Britain) of which about 58 % is covered by forests. Great Britain, according to the Empire Forestry Handbook, 1952, has about 6 per cent only covered by forests. Of the 145,300 square miles under forests in Burma, 34,800 square miles or 14 per cent is reserved and 110,500 square miles is unclassed forests. As these unclassed forests are a wasting asset, are scattered and are not situated where they can be of the utmost use to meet the demands of the people and the trade, the position is not as good as it appears on paper. On the analogy of Europe about 25 per cent of the land area should be under forest. If the area of reserved forests could be increased to approximate this percentage, the position would be much improved-we cannot depend on the unclassed forests, unless they are reserved; what areas can still be salvaged should be so treated before they are lost entirely by being cut away as the other areas which are now fast disappearing. We should remember what Wallich, one of the pioneers of the Forest Department, wrote in 1829: that no forests exist which can be called inexhaustible; at least none that has constant and extensive demands for timber, etc., made on it.
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Burma is one of the `surplus' countries, which have an excess of exports over imports4. The average annual production of timber was: 1935-36 to 1939-40 Teak 467,836 tons Other timbers 482,363 tons Burma's outturn of teak was about three times the combined outturn of teak from India, Thailand, Indo-China (now Viet Nam) and Java. The average annual export of teak for the above period was Rs. 322.548 lakhs and that of hardwoods Rs. 33.348 lakhs or roughly exports of teak were about ten times that of hardwoods in value. Burma stood first amongst the world's exporters of teak. From a perusal of the above it might be considered that there was no cause for worry; but this picture is an old one, a prewar picture, and does not apply to the present time, although much progress has been made. Since that time Burma has been through the last world war, communist trouble and internal insurgent trouble from the last of which she is just emerging. Exploitation of timber which was difficult many a time slowed down to a full stop. The position can be appreciated when it is known that the sawmills of Rangoon had to close down for lack of timber. Exports suffered similarly. In view of a possible timber famine, which is predicted "say in 100 years or so, little more than the average life of forest trees..." at the present rate of use and waste, Burma, although at the moment one of the `surplus' countries, cannot afford to be complacent even where teak is concerned because she cannot be sure that she will always hold her present premier position in that timber. But what has been can be again if the people of the country wake up and realize the seriousness of the position. Now that conditions have improved there is much leeway to make up. Other countries have shot ahead in almost every field of forestry within the last few years whereas the Forest Department in Burma with all the will in the world finds its hands tied by internal strife. The export of teak, like the export of rice is part of the lifeblood of this country and must stand the strain while Burma makes herself self-sufficient in industry and in her other essential commodities. There are signs everywhere to show that Burma has progressed beyond the Planning Stage and that she is now launching out on many projects. A Steel Rolling Plant will be in operation by 1956, a Pharmaceutical Plant has been opened and is already in production, the textile industry is being organized, certain departments have been nationalized, for example the Railways, the Inland Water Transport, the State Timber Board and so on. It is also proposed to work the coal-fields at Kalewa and this will not only save foreign exchange of over K 2 crores, but provide employment to local labour and supply coal to such industrial projects as the Myingyan Zinc refinery, the Lough Keng Zinc mine ore deposits and others which depend upon Kalewa coal for power and fuel. The project is a worth-while project and would make for self-sufficiency, especially in time of war, a very desirable economic factor. Viewing the prewar picture it can be said that Burma was, and can be, self-sufficient in teak and in other timbers; but if Burma is to conserve her supplies and make them last longer than they would at the present rate of use and waste she will have to plan her forest economy on a more rational basis and make sure that the utilization of her timbers is more complete than it is, i.e., it must cut down waste all along the line, from the felling and logging of the tree, through conversion in the mills, to its actual manufacture; to reduce or eliminate losses due to logging in stumps, tops damaged fellings, defective
4
In the fifties More hardwoods was exported than teak in volume, which is the other war round today.
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logs, unsaleable species; in conversion, in milling, slabs, trimming, sawdust and in faulty or careless manufacture. SUCH LOSSES SOMETIMES TOTAL AS MUCH AS 70 PER CENT, I.E., ONLY ABOUT 30 PER CENT IS USED. The volume of useable timber has been placed by another source at 40 per cent of the total. Thus it will be seen that less than half the total volume of the tree is used. Even if we assume that half the total volume of the tree is used the need for a more complete and closer utilization is apparent if accessible stands are not to be too rapidly depleted and if our forest resources are to be carefully husbanded. Better utilization through improved manufacture or more complete utilization offers an immediate means of prolonging the present supply of timber. It will also mean increased financial return with a consequent reduction of the unit cost of the finished product. Another way in which timber supplies can be conserved is to utilize the lesser known timber species for home consumption and reserve the well known -timbers for export to bring in much needed revenues. A certain amount of research has already been carried out in this field but additional research will be necessary into their strength, durability, seasoning, preservation with suitable `preservatives, suitability as substitutes, etc., of the lesser known species of timbers. When the demand for these increases they will release the other well known species for export or for special purposes. In addition to cutting down losses due to felling, logging and conversion, the utilization of the waste that results from the above operations should also be considered. Where wood waste is produced far from a consuming centre costs of transport and handling sometimes prohibits its utilization at a profit at present. The Timber Research Division is carrying out experiments in the seasoning and preservation of timbers other than teak, and a pilot plant has been installed and has started work on many of the pressing problems of the day, including certain problems which confront the army in connection with pre-fabricated houses. Integrated forestry has also been initiated and in the near future it is likely that this research division will have its own experimental forest, and that the timber, in the round, will enter the Depot at one end and come out as the finished product, high class furniture, etc., at the other end; it will be mass produced in the same way that motor cars are produced; where the raw materials go in at one end and the assembled car comes out at the other end ready to be driven off. In connection with the utilization of waste, it is interesting to note that the main topic in the Third World Forestry Congress held in Helsinki in 1949, in the Industry Section, was the need for a concentrated effort in better utilization of waste; the desirability of developing methods leading to the greater use of wood from broadleaved trees for pulp was also stressed. The pre-fabricated house was also discussed at some length. Canada and other countries have studied the developments in mechanical and chemical utilization of wood, and particularly of wood waste and have indicated further lines of research. It is realized that although they have gone far in this field that a great deal more research is necessary to widen the use of the large amounts of wood which are at present entirely wasted or put to uneconomical uses. They have plywood plants as well as factories for pulp and paper. Their objective is to use the larger logs in the sawmills and plywood plants and the smaller logs, thinning and so on in the pulp and paper mills. Their problems are not Burma's problems as they deal mainly in softwood timber, in coniferous woods, whereas Burma deals mainly in hardwoods. But we may be able to learn certain lessons from them and when the country is industrially developed the lessons can be put to practical use. At present Burma is not self-sufficient in paper and plywood, wood derivatives, to mention only two commodities which figure largely, especially the former, in present day civilized life. Paper is an indispensable commodity vitally necessary in the progress of any
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country and particularly to a country like Burma. With the awakening of the masses and their education, the consumption of paper is sure to increase at a greater rate than the present. In India, the imports of paper rose from 87,415 tons in 1925-26 to 166,645 tons in 1935-36: the quantity made in India rose from 28,221 tons in 1925-26 to 47,711 tons in 1935-36; and the total consumption rose from 115,636 tons in 1.925-26 to 216,356 tons in 1935-36. The Planning Commission has estimated the consumption of paper in India in the next three years at 1,75,000 tons per annum and this figure is expected to go up to 2,00,000 tons by 1956 ("Burman" Editorial of 8-6-52). The per capita consumption of paper in India is hardly 1 lbs. as compared with 150 lbs. in the United States of America and 44-66 lbs. in Central Europe and is the lowest of all countries in the world, except perhaps China . Burma at present does not produce any paper and has to import all her requirements. She used to import prewar about 17,000 tons per annum and this brings the consumption per capita per year to 2.2 lbsg.This figure is sure to increase, and under normal conditions the prewar level will be exceeded. The value of imports of paper into Burma has varied from 3 lakhs to 6 lakhs of rupees. The imports greatly decreased after the war as a result of difficulties of obtaining foreign exchange. The number of paper mills in India in 1913 had been quadrupled by 1950 when the number increased to sixteen. Although production has increased considerably, it is estimated that India will have to double its paper production if it is to meet its own requirements. It is considered that in spite of the erection of new plants and the modernization of the existing factories, she will find it difficult to achieve the task because of insufficient raw material resources and the fast growing population and the increasing demand. So that Burma, when she constructs her paper mills as she will be doing very shortly will be able to manufacture paper not only for her own consumption but will be able to export the surplus to India. The raw materials for paper making in Burma have been surveyed and bamboos offer the most suitable material for the purpose. Three areas have been found, one along the Tenasserim river in the Tenasserim area, another in Arakan and the third in the Toungoo Division. The best of the three appears to be the Tenasserim area as a good supply of water will be available and firewood and coal can be obtained easily. The area favoured in the Arakan Division is the Lemro drainage area; the Saingdin area is another possible area and this area also has hydro-electric possibilities. The paper mill will be sited in the most suitable place after considering fully every aspect, particularly the financial aspects. A 40-ton daily capacity mill is considered the best economical unit for Burma. About 25,000 tons of bamboo will be needed per year and this quantity is available on a sustained annual yield basis in each of the three regions. At present there is a small cottage industry of paper making in the Shan States --Maingkaing paper as it is known---from the paper mulberry, thale (Broussonetia papyrifera). In Rangoon there is a small plant which makes card boards from waste paper, and there is a small paper mill in Martaban, which produces chemical pulp and papers of different types on a semi-industrial basis. There is also a small straw-board plant near Mandalay. These small enterprise should be encouraged so long as they confine themselves to making such paper types as cardboards, wrapping paper, etc., which can be made economically in small plants. The higher quality papers require a modern industrial unit for economical production. Most of the bamboos found in Burma are suitable for paper-making and bamboo is already a staple raw material for the paper making industry in India. Another material that grows as commonly as certain bamboos is grass and India has been using sabai grass (Eulaliopsis binata) for a very long time. Species of grasses found in Burma suitable
Not today (SH) Based on population of 19 million (1952-53) the per capita consumption is estimate d at 0.8 pound. (Comparative report Economic and Engineering Development of Burma)
g
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for manufacture of paper pulp are Saccharum spontaneum, S. arundinaceum and S. fuscum, all of which go under the name kaing, and kyu (Phragmites karka). It has been estimated that 150,000 tons per annum of dry grass could be obtained between Rangoon and Bassein, but there is no doubt that grass covered areas are either being brought under cultivation or converted into grazing grounds and that the prospects of pulp-production from them on a commercial scale are poor. (Handbook of Forest Products of Burma, Reprint 1951). Certain hardwood species are also suitable for paper but they do not occur in sufficient quantities or together so that they would have to be mixed in treatment. There are certain objections to this but developments in technique may render some of these hardwoods available for paper making. The list is given below:
1. 2 3 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Spondias mangifera Gmelina arborea Anthocephalus cadamba(Syn A indica) Salmalia malabarica Macaranga denticulata Tetrameles nudiflora Salmalia insignis Sterculia colorata(syn. Erythropsis colorata) Ficus glomerata Lannea grandis (syn. Odina wodier )
Gwe Yemane Ma-U-Lettan-Shay Letpan Petwaing Baing Didu Wetshaw Thapan Nabe
It has been mentioned that thale, the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) is used for making paper. A company was formed to grow this thale in the Shan States to manufacture paper on a commercial scale but, although the culture of the tree presented no great difficulty and small quantities of good quality pulp were made, the restricted areas on which thale flourished and the difficulties with labour and transport compelled the abandonment of the enterprise in spite of the good financial backing it had. It was found that in (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus) yielded a coarse pulp well suited for adding bulk to the superior product from thale.
Tinyu (Pinus insularis syn. P. khasya) which grows over large areas of the Shan States
also gives a good quality pulp, but the yield is less and the amount of pulping reagent required is more than in the case of bamboos. Although the supplies of the tree are large the forests are at present land locked and inaccessible. In New Zealand and South Africa large areas have been planted up with exotic conifers which are now providing them with pulpwood for paper. New Zealand's large resources of exotic softwoods will bring industrial life and wealth to large areas and reduce the country's dependence on overseas' sources for newsprint and heavy paper. There are two projects in New Zealand, one a state enterprise, and the other a private enterprise, and they will play an important part in New Zealand's economy, will give added vigour to the forestry industry and will contribute increasingly to the country's exports. Once the paper mill has been constructed in Burma and is functioning normally, she will have solved her paper problem and will become self-sufficient in that commodity and be able to export her surplus paper pulp. So far the chemical possibilities of wood have not yet been seriously considered in this country, as attention is being concentrated on more practicable problems of local application. Today, however there are wood products that have the strength and
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durability of mild steel. There is an impregnated paper made from wood pulp that has the tensile strength and lightness of aluminum. "Grain" alcohol is being made out of sawdust and other sawmill waste. More and more plastics are now being made out of wood. The discovery of compreg will have far reaching results. Occupying about one-third of its original bulk, it has the strength approaching that of mild steel and can be made from woods considered too soft for most commercial purposes. The process can be applied either to solid pieces of wood moulded to shape or to thin laminations built up into any desired shape or size. Compreg is being used for airplane propellers and special products but with improved techniques and reduced costs its use will become more extended in both building trade and furniture manufacture. It resists water, alcohol, mild acids, decay and termites. As its finish is uniform throughout, if it should get scratched or nicked it can be sanded to its original finish. There are also other products such as papreg, a resin impregnated paper, which can be used where lightness is desired; uralloy, made by soaking green timber in a solution of urea, and fixed with formaldehyde or similar chemical, which can be bent into any desired shape and can be used for ships' keels and other curved objects; staypak, even tougher than compreg, which can convert soft weak woods into tough, hard, iron-like substances like lignum vitae. There are other processes which reduce its tendency to swell and shrink about 40 per cent either by application of heat alone (without pressure) or by treating it with gases. Such products offer promise for use as furniture parts, windows and doors. Plywood, veneer, etc.---India is said to be lamentably backward in plywood, veneer and allied industries. If that is so, Burma's activities in these products can be considered as negligible. Persia with an area of 13,900 square miles (approximately 5.3 per cent the size of Burma) boasts of an only sawmill, state owned, at Temishan, operating on the Caspian Sea with an average output of 25 cubic metres (882.2 cu. feet approx.) a day. It has, however, one small plywood/veneer mill which has a reported output of 4 cubic metres (141.2 cu. ft. approx.) a day. Burma, on the other hand, has many sawmills but has, up to the present, no plywood mill. She has, therefore, to import all her plywood requirements. She is now planning to have a plywood mill. The cutting of luxury veneers and the plywood trade are large and profitable in countries like France, Finland, Poland ,Japan and America. In India although it was the second largest importer of plywood in the world (1930) coming next to the United Kingdom, the difficulties of the complicated process of plywood manufacture are realized. Foreign competition is keen and the woods must be suitable as well as cheap and abundant and the species so far found to be suitable do not satisfy all these conditions. It is necessary for the factory to have a large output to pay its way, since a large turn-over with a small profit is the best method of meeting foreign competition. It has been estimated that even a small commercial plywood mill will require at least 4,000 to 5,000 tons of timber a year if it is to be a financial success. That is a lot of wood, and forest officers recognize the difficulty of producing such quantities of suitable timber (preferably of one species). India considers it may be possible to run a smaller type of plywood factory profitably in that country and this is likely to be tried in the near future; but they realize it is a matter that will need very careful consideration, extreme efficiency and good organization on the part of the owners. As regards veneers, India and Burma possess some extremely ornamental woods. India considers this is a more hopeful subject than plywood. A few examples of the woods suitable for cutting into veneers are: Padauk (Pterocarpus maccrocarpus), taukkyan
Wooden board made out of sawdust and waste saw mill products, compressed and impregnated with glue and preservatives.
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(Terminalia tomentosa), kokko (albezzia lebbek), kanyin (Dipterocarpus species), hnaw (Adina cordifolia), yinma (Chukrasia tabularis), etc. Veneers prepared from these woods
would command a good market and good prices. Dealers would prefer to buy veneers of known figures and appearances rather than purchase the timber in logs of unknown quality on the chance of their containing figured wood. The establishment of a Veneer Board factory in North India and another in South India may be possible. There are indications that a plywood factory in Bombay Presidency and a veneer factory in Calcutta may shortly be established. Timber for laminated construction also deserves study and consideration. The use of plywood in Burma can be considered to be still in its infancy and there are great possibilities for its development and extension. In Canada, in an a attempt to ameliorate the hardwood flooring shortage, the laboratories have developed a flooring in which birch veneer strips on a softwood base have provided a satisfactory wearing surface. A test floor which has undergone heavy traffic for a period of two years has so far shown no appreciable surface deterioration, or any apparent defects in the adhesive structure. Although not yet produced by factory methods there is a possibility of using a considerable volume of scrap veneer in the production of such flooring in strips ranging from 3 inches to 4 inches in width. There is at present no hardwood flooring shortage in Burma but the use of plywood and similar material to the above is not ruled out in the construction of pre-fabricated houses which may help to solve the heavy rehabilitation problems still facing the country. REFERENCES 1. The Future of Our New Forests" Presidential address by Prof. H. G. Champion, C.I.E. (E.F.R. Vol. 28, No. 4, December, 1949). 2. The Place of Forestry in Britain's Economy" by A.P. Long, C.B.E., Director of Forestry, Wales. (E.F.R. Vol. No. 4, December, 1953). 3. The Forests of Burma by F. T. Morehead. 4. Burma Handbook of Forest Products by Sir. Alexander Rodger. 5. Empire Forestry Handbook, 1952. 6. The Third World Forestry Congress, Helsinki, 1949 by Professor H. G. Champion, C.I.E. (E.F.R. Vol. 28, No. 4, December, 949). 7. Soil Conservation and Afforestation (Indian National Planning Committee).
8. Integrated forests and forest industries by Dr. J. A. Von Monroy. 9. Handbook of Forest Products of Burma. Reprint, 1951.
10. Comprehensive Report-Economic and Engineering Development of Burma..
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THE ROLE OF FORESTERS IN AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

U TIN HTUT, B.Sc. (Rangoon), M.A. (Oxon), Chief Executive Officer (Forests) A.R.D.C. (10)
1. The A.R.D.C., was born in the brains of our progressive Prime Minister Minster Honourable U Nu and was brought into being under the Essential Supplies and Services Act 1947 on 20th October 1955. The corporation is run by the Board of Directors of which the Prime Minister is the President and the Honourable Minister for Agriculture and Forests, the Vice-President, The panel of Directors represents the various departments of the government which are directly or indirectly connected with the development of land, physical resources and the welfare of the masses. With this strongly coordinated team, the corporation has practically no obstacle in the implementation of its various projects. The main branches of the corporation fall broadly under-(a) Agriculture (b) Forestry and (c) Animal Husbandry. Irrigation branch is slowly forging ahead and the importance is being felt by its absence. 2. The Forestry Department under a Chief Executive Officer deals for the present with the following Projects:(a) Dry Zone Afforestation. (b) Popa Catchment Area Management. (c) Forest Industries. (d) Festival of Trees. (e) Coffee Planting. (f) Rubber Rehabilitation. (g) Rehabilitation of Thamada Lake, Botanical Garden, Maymyo. In this issue, only the first two items will be described. 3. DRY ZONE AFFORESTATION. The Dry Zone of Burma covers roughly the Shwebo, Lower Chindwin, Mandalay, Meiktila, Yaw, Minbu, Allanmyo, Thayetmyo and Yamethin Forest Divisions. I this zone 640,000 acres (ca.) will need rehabilitation of vegetative soil cover and due to Various reasons the Project to-day covers only Meiktila Forest Division.. The standard of living in the Dry Zone is very poor compared to the other areas of the country. To-day, the Dry Zone, especially the Meiktila Division, which comprises the Meiktila, Magwe and Myingyan civil districts, is well on its way to the desert stage in the process of retrogression in spite of its rain-fall of 20 to 50 inches a year. The picture indeed is gloomy. There is very little precipitation of rain water and the water table is very low. Sheet to gully erosion are common. Thorny shrubs and mutilated stumps stand mute testimony of the accumulated action of the enemies of the forests-human beings and his cattle. Gregarious Toddy palm trees are a common sight for jaggery (Burmese candy) prepared from the palm juice is about the main source of income in the area. So far, groundnut is the chief agricultural crop and from the forest man's point of view, a wrong crop. In harvesting, the whole groundnut shrub is uprooted, shaken to drop the fine particles of fertile soil sticking to the roots and this important subsoil is lost in the wind erosion leaving the soil impoverished. The shrub which should be ploughed back to serve as green manure would be carted away for the greatly needed fodder. With these factors of over exploitation in the past, overgrazing, wrong agriculture and having to depend on jaggery as the main source of
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income (one toddy palm tree consumes about 10 other trees a year as fire wood) combined with negligence to plant trees have led to the present deplorable state in the Meiktila area. THE BURDEN OF REFORESTATION OF THE DRY ZONE TO ROOT OUT THE SOURCE OF TROUBLE HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED TO THE FOREST DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL ON FOREIGN SERVICE IN THE A.R.D.C. The Scheme aims to plant 200,000 acres in the three districts to stablise the soil and raise the water table. The forests will be " Protective and Utility. The latter will be formed by the government when it will be known as Demonstration Forests and as Village Forests when the villagers give their free labour in its formation and maintenance. The scheme started in the rains of 1954 and (2202) acres were planted. 6' x 6' with cutch (Acacia catechu), subyu (Acacia arabica), kokko (Albizzia lebbek) and the exotic mesquite Prosopsis julifolia in circular pits of 9" diameter and 1' 6" depth. Unfortunately, drought followed the planting and combined with inadequate protective measures about 15-20 % survived. In 1955 rains some of the 1954 areas, (695 acres) were replanted with the same species but in staggered 15 'x 1 f 'x 1 Y2 ' trenches fifteen feet apart along the contour and twenty five feet down the gradient. Some species were planted haphazard, 3" apart in two rowsone in the trench and another on the mound which has been formed on the lower edge of the trench. In a number of trenches, some seedlings died due to excess water. This method generally produces satisfactory results but it is open to criticism whether the trench system is necessary in this area where average rainfall is about 30 inches. Failure in the first year was most likely due to sowing too many seeds in one pit, not having mounds to catch the run off into pits, drought and the free grazing. Close planting (3 apart) without thinning after a month or so of growth produced weak and sickly seedlings. The cost of seeds is a large item with such close sowing. Experiments will be carried out this year to find out how weeds effect the growth of these deep rooted dry zone species- adversely by root competition or benefically by retention of moisture. All the demonstration areas are fenced in and the results are very encouraging in both the small pit and the trench method areas. All the species are doing quite well.-Mesquite seeds were not adequately treated before, sowing so germination percent was poor but some patchings have been done with seedlings from the nursery established by U Su, late Divisional Forest Officer, Minbu in his quarters compound. In this rains directives have been issued to plant in small pits, spacings of 9'x 9', 12'x 12, 15'x 15' and 18'x 18' and same spacings with quincunx sowing. Pure strips and different kinds of mixtures are to be experimented. Another new feature of the year is to establish two minor and one major nurseries. The same species are to be planted for economic values. Altogether about 2000 acres will be planted. Some 5500 acres has been protected with the help of the hard working and forest conscious Lt. Col. Mya Thoung, the Military Administrator of the area and it is gratifying to see the contrast-the green islands in the red coloured devastated land. Lt. Col. Mya Thoung has succeeded in setting up a jaggery plant burning oil residue and with the proximity of the oil wells it is hopeful that the heart burning question of fuel shortage would ultimately be solved and afford great help to the Afforestation Scheme. 4. POPA CATCHMENT AREA MANAGEMENT. Most of the large streams in the Meiktila and Myingyan districts have their sources at Popa Hill-an extinct volcano, 5000' elevation, a conspicuous land mark in the plains of Myingyan District. The volcanic soil invites people to cultivation and the whole populace in the neighbourhood earn their livelihood from their banana plantations established on the Popa Hill. From prewar days cultivation of banana by permits was allowed in the Popa Reserve and Extensions i.e. in the upper slopes of the hill. In those days, all the world over, not enough load was given to the protective functions of the forests. The number of cultivations increased many fold during the Japanese occupation and the present insurrection. These plantations are formed by burning the clear felled forest cover and the practice of clean weeding after formation have resulted- in erosion and lowering of the water table. The hill, in the past, was credited with ninety nine perennial springs but to-day one can count the number on one's fingers. Our target is to give back the people their heritage by preventing further erosion and raising the water table and bringing back to life again the old springs to augment the water supply. We have to, reforest the whole of the Hill, at least over the eight, thousan odd acres of reserves. The project came into operation in the cold weather of 1954 and a total of 2370 acres (1605 in the reserve and 765 in the unclassed forests) were planted in the 1955 rains. In the grass lands and
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gaps, direct sowing was done at a spacing of 9'x9' with species varying Yang with the altitude. In old ponzos (deserted shifting cultivation areas) coppicing, coppice cleaning and planting of gaps were resorted to. In the banana plantations, fruit trees (mostly Jack and Mango) were planted 21'x21' and will ultimately replace banana. Not to upset the social economy of the cultivators they are being allowed to keep their banana trees for the next three years but all the weeded materials have to be placed, stag red, along the contour to prevent erosion. Small areas have been put under coffee and being a ,paying crop more areas, especially in the unclassed forests, will be prepared for coffee planting next year. A nursery will be maintained by us and potted seedlings distributed )uteri free with technical advice at the cultivators disposal at all times. Subsequent mar eting will be in the hands of the Producer's Co-operative. We hope in the end to make the people not sorry for having to abandon their old love, the bananas. All the seedlings are thriving satisfactorily and will be firmly established if we could protect them from the severe annual fires. The long grass is tinder dry now and a spark, accidental or otherwise, would start a real good roaring fire all over the hill. All precautionary measures of fire protection have been taken and local people are trained in the fire fighting with modern pack a equipment The Military Administration has issued very strict instructions even to the detail of confiscation of matches one they enter the danger zone. Up to the time of writing we are happy but still we have about a month before the dreaded summer ends. We have done all that is humanly possible to prevent fires and we can now only sit and hope without relaxing the vigilance. FUTURE OF DRY ZONE AND POPA CATCHMENT AREA MANAGEMENT PROJECTS. It will not be amiss to reiterate the factors resulting in erosion, excessive run-offs and low water table in the Dry Zone and Popa Hill. They are:-(i) Over cutting of trees for formation of banana plantations and for use as firewood in the manufacture of jaggery and cutch, which are the main source of income to most of the people in the dry zone districts. This practice of generations has not only denied the soil of cover but has also produced wide open spaces resulting in heavy wind erosion and leaving only coarse sand-the beginning of a desert. (ii) Rearing large herds of cattle, goats and sheep, without proper grazing ground: and insufficient stall feeding led to over grazing-destroying vegetation especially new growth and hardening of the soil which increases the run-of of water. (iii) Wrong agricultural practice i.e. not only bad technique but also the choice o: commodity planted viz: in the Kyaukpadaung Township they rely on ground nut cultivation. In reaping the harvest the whole tree is taken out of the ground by hand and the lump of soil shakers off and the plant, which shouk have been ploughed in as green manure, used as fodder for cattle. The loos( soil especially the fine fertile particles are subject to wind erosion due to absence of trees has left most of the area with coarse sand which will not support any vegetation. (iv) (v) No protection against the annual fires. Absence of tree planting habit by the masses.
Our Target should be:-(i) (ii) To stabilize and improve the soil. To raise and maintain the water table. (iii) To change the economic pattern by improving or replacing the present mode of earning the livelihood. To raise the standard of living by increasing the earning capacity and bringing the amenities of life within reach.
(iv)
Our Recommendations are:-To fulfil the targets it is obvious that the responsibility of the project must be share by many technical departments co-ordinated into one unit.
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To cover the wide field of proposals, the following departments are urged to integrate with outlines of some of the work desired:-(i) Forestry-- To replant for protection (catchments and erosion), utility (domestic and economic)and creation of shelterbelts (Proper and between individual fields). Extension services to make the people forest conscious. (ii) Agriculture--Advice and demonstrations to plant crops suitable to the area. Improve the existing strains for yields. Improvement of soil by good agricultural practices and manure habit. Extension services to make the masses and teach them processing and marketing of produce. (iii) Veterinary--To protect and improve the live stock. Introduce grazing grounds systematically controlled and teach people proper live-stock management. (iv) Irrigation--To collect sufficient water in the rains or provide for domestic and cultivation use for the rest of the year. (v) Health--Traveling clinics and health teams are required to combat against very poor living conditions of the Dry Zone. Malnutrition, epidemics, diseases of the eye and leprosy need more attention. Education--Apart from 3Rs practical useful utility education should be given to both young and old. Democracy must have its foundation in the schools. (vii) Welfare Services--The usual social services to be rendered, sports and healthy entertainments. Bringing commodities cheap to the villagers are a few suggestions. (viii) Co-operative Services--To help the people to form various Co-operative societies and to help the masses in the processing and marketing.
(vi)
This new integrated scheme should be known as the Dry Zone Development Project and the responsibilities shared by all the departments to solve the multifarious socioeconomic problems involved. BURMA FOREST DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL EMPLOYED IN A.R.D.C. (Forest Branch) U TIN HTUT (Conservator of Forests) Chief Executive Officer.
U SU (Deputy Conservator of Forests) Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
POPA PROJECT.
DRY ZONE AFFORESTATION PROJECT
U SEIN DAING (Extra Assistant Conservator of Forests) Deputy Executive Officer
U ME GYI (Extra Assistant. Conservator of Forests) (Rtd.) Deputy Executive Officer
(1) (2) (3)
U Aye Pe (Deputy Ranger Junior Executive Officer U Be Than (Deputy Ranger) Junior Executive Officer U Hla Pe (Deputy Ranger)
1) (2) (3)
U Be Khin (Deputy Ranger) junior Executive Officer U Tu (Deputy Ranger) Junior Executive Officer U Tin Maung (Deputy Ranger)
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(4)
Junior Executive Officer U Sein Tin (Deputy Ranger) Junior Executive Officer
Junior Executive Officer U Ohn Pe (Deputy Ranger) junior Execub.ve Officer (5) ` U Aye Maung (Deputy Ranger) Junior Executive Officer (6) U Aung Myat (Deputy Ranger) Junior Executive Officer (4)
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A SHORT NOTE ON THE WORKING OF THE STATE TIMBER BOARD
U TUN KYAW Director of Marketing, Milling and Works, S.T.B. (11)
The State Timber Board inherited the assets and liabilities of the Timber Project Board in 1948 when it started its operations. The total value of the assets was 223 lakhs and consisted in the main 208,384 tons of logs in course of extraction, 578 elephants and two sawmills in Rangoon. The then working capital was 62 lakhs kyats. Conditions in the country in general and the forests in particular were not ideal for large scale and comprehensive logging operations. Extraction was possible only in the peaceful areas. However, the Board was able to work to some extent and suffered her biggest setback when large log stocks accumulated in the peaceful area were lost when the places were overrun by the insurgents. Despite these handicaps and the measures of economy, the Board was able to take every opportunity of expanding her activities with the minimum possible staff. Today, the outturn of teak logs to Rangoon by river and rail from over 20 per cent of the total lease area is about 110,000 tons and the Board now has six sawmills operating in Rangoon with another to come into operation in Moulmein in the near future. It might not be out of place to state that since the objective was nationalization of the teak-wood industry, the State Timber Board has as one of its primary objectives the prewar level of log outturn per annum and the milling and marketing capacities of the organization she replaced. The extraction of teak logs has shown a steady increase from year to year. The deficient elephant power is being made up by machines, and as the State Timber Board gains more experience, more machines are being put into the field. One could confidently expect the maximum and peace time level of log production within the foreseeable future. On the processing side the advance has to keep pace with the machines available and the economic condition of the country. In any case, the saw milling capacity has kept up with the increasing log arrivals in Rangoon. The objective is of course to mill the total annual outturn in the year and at the same time to build up a sufficient reserve stock in Rangoon. The problem here has been, and still is, the shortage of the Engineering staff. The engineering staff of the State Timber Board has so far been able to keep pace with the increase in their duties. The pressure on the marketing has been increasing in a rather telling manner when the milling capacity jumped from some 30,000 tons per annum to 170 000 tons in three years. Most of the old teak markets have been revived and new fields are being opened up at the same time. The State Timber Board has been able to dispose of all she can produce and expects to be able to satisfy all her customers in the near future. There is no gain-saying the fact that all the increase in extraction of teak logs with large stocks of logs in the floating streams and bringing in more sawmills into operation imply more capital being ploughed into the business.
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The following is a brief outline of the Board's position over the years. 1948/49 2,85,06,000 1,20,00,000 4,05,00,000 1949/50 2,63,00,000 1,14,00,000 3,77,00,000 1950/51 3,18,00,000 1,12,00,000 4,30,00,000 1951/52 3,82,00,000 1,10,00,000 4,92,00,0001
Variable Assets (at cost) Fixed Assets (at Book value)
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THE DRY ZONE OF CENTRAL BURMA By U PE KIN, D.C.F. (Retd.) (12)
Travelling by train to Maymyo to attend the Divisional Forest Officers' Conference last May, I had the opportunity of seeing part of the Central Burma Dry Zone again after 40 years. It brought back to me memories of my childhood days. The Dry Zone is a big oval patch of land about 20,000 square miles, situated almost in the centre of the country with Mount Popa as a nucleus. It extends from Allanmyo in the south to Ye-U in the north about 250 miles, and from the Arakan Yomas in the west to the edge of the Shan Plateau on the east about 125 miles. With a rainfall of less than 25 inches and a July temperature of above 90 degrees, it is the " Dust Bowl of Burma ". THE MEIKTILA LAKE. I was brought up in the Central Dry Zone. As a young boy swimming and rowing in the northern part of the Meiktila was known as the North Lake. The southern portion of the known as the South Lake. The North Lake was then full of whole year round. I am told this lake is now waterless. I learnt Lake which lake was water the
My father was a teacher in the American Baptist Mission school and we had our house in the school compound which was less than a hundred yards from the eastern shore of the North Lake. During the rainy season the lake waters often flooded part of the compound and we had great fun rowing the school boat into the compound through the gate. The School owned a boat then, a proper life boat made in America and brought over by Mr. H.E. Dudley, the Principal of the school. The students were allowed to use the boat on Saturdays and holidays. We used to spend whole days exploring every nook and corner of the lake including the still existing South Lake. No bathing and swimming was allowed in the South Lake. The Irrigation people were very strict about it. For some reason or other bathing was allowed in the North Lake.
THAMIN AND WILD DUCK. After World War 1, my father was transferred to Thazi where a new A.B.M. School was opened. I was there for four years and I shall always remember this period as the happiest in my life.
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My father was a keen shikari and all his friends were shikaris. I was allowed to accompany them occasionally on shooting trips. The game laws were not very strict in-' those days, or it may be that my father and his cronies were not too conversant with them,; but they consider it only a day's job to go out from Thazi four or five miles, bag a deer; (thamin) and come home in the evening. There were good scrub jungles around Thazi and they were full of thamin. Mr. Auldin, a railway employee who had a new breach loading shot gun (my father had only a muzzle loader) had no difficulty bagging two or three thamin almost every weekend. There were several like him, mostly Railway and Government officials and thugyis. Small wonder the thamin is now near extinction. During December and January we shot wild ducks in the lakes a few miles west of Thazi. There was the Inmagyi Lake, a small lake about 3 square miles but full of teal and snipe, and the much larger Minhla and Nyaungyan lakes where bigger ducks like mallard and shoveller could be shot. These lakes were dug by the Burmese Kings for purposes of irrigation. The Minhla Lake 1 remember extended right up to the Thazi-Myingyan CROWD. car road which became occasionally flooded during the rains. The Thazi-Myingyan railway line runs parallel to the car road here. Low flying ducks often get killed at night by hitting the railway telegraph wires. We often started our shoot at this point at dawn, and the first thing we did was to look for dead or winged birds along the railroad tract. I remember picking up as many as a dozen ducks on a lucky day. The area irrigated by the Minhla Lake must have been over fifty square miles. The Irrigation Department may still have the records. Apart from paddy, dry cultivation such as corn, chillies, white beans, cotton, sesamum, millet, groundnuts, onions, etc., were also cultivated. Nobody of course thought of planting trees. There was an 18 hole golf course just west of Thazi and irrigation water from the Minhla Lake was utilized to keep the putting greens from drying up. The putting greens had to be protected by barbed wire from cattle, but they had a local rule which gave the player the option of replaying his shot after hitting the wire or the supporting posts.
AFFORESTATION OF THE DRY ZONE. Now, after only 40 years or so, the scrub jungle and therein have disappeared, the lakes are silting up and the golf course is no more. The country between Nyaungyan and Thedaw have become semi-arid areas. The carrying capacity of the land in the Dry Zone, through misuse, has been reduced to an absolute minimum, although there is no corresponding decrease in population. In fact, with the rehabilitation of the oil and cotton industries, a population. increase is expected in the next few years.
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It may be explained here that the carrying capacity of the land is the ability of the land to sustain a number of people living on it. In America the nutritionists calculate that at least 2--5 acres of fertile land per person are required to maintain an adequate standard of living. Our Government has become aware of these changes. One of the main jobs allotted to the Agricultural and Rural Development Corporation is the afforestation of the Dry Zone. The Forest Department personnel are now employed on this work. We have been given the opportunity of showing what we can do. The magnitude and complications are such that never in the history of our department has there been a crisis which called for clearer thinking and more broad minded leadership.
THE INDIAN DESERT. We must be careful lest we get carried away by our own enthusiasm, too much of ardent zeal may lead to disservice to our cause by exaggeration. We may even fail to tackle the problem in a cold scientific manner. It is all right for us to attribute every condition of landscape to forests or lack of forests; but we must not fail to give sufficient consideration to geography and geology. The Indian Desert for example was not caused by over cutting and over grazing, although they did much to help spread the desert. According to conclusions drawn by Major H. W. Wright of the Survey of India from geological evidence, the Rann of Cutch within recent geological times, was part of an inlet sea. He concluded that the sand of the Indian Desert was mainly derived from the old sea coast, and its transport into the interior was due to the South-west wind. The desert could therefore spread only to the North east, especially when it is bounded by the Aravali Hills on the South east, the Arabian Sea in the South west and the Indus River and the hills of Baluchistan on the North west. Once the desert has arrived, nothing will make it disappear except irrigation. The best we could do without irrigation would be to check the extension of the desert. Mr. V. E. Fuchs of Cambridge University agrees that man's domestic herds and sometimes careless agricultural methods can accelerate the advance of sub-desert areas. On the other hand, he says, he cannot agree that even the destruction of all goats and other herds, together with conservative agricultural methods and the most ambitious sylvan or other planting programme, could do no more than check the extension of the arid area.
GET THE WATER THERE. According to Mr. Baker, the founder of the Men of Trees Organization, all deserts could be made rich and productive as a
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fruitful garden if you can get the water there. Deserts he said are not necessarily infertile. I am inclined to agree with him entirely. It is surprising that there are some people who exaggerate the dangers from irrigation such as water-logging and concentration of salts in the soil and increasing the salinity of the soil, but the benefits derived from irrigation will always far outweigh any evil associated with it. Irrigated areas in the Kyaukse, Minbu and Shwebo are outstanding examples, Irrigation was started by the Burmese Kings and taken over by the British. For over a century these lands have produced good crops with no adverse effects. Irrigation also provides water for the daily use of both men and cattle. Fortunately in Burma we do not have a real sandy desert, we have only semi-arid lands and it should be fairly easy to make them rich and fertile if we can only get the water there. Can we get the water there? The answer is a big " Yes ". It has been done by our own Burmese Kings with their limited resources. The Meiktila Lake, the Minhla and Nyaungyan Lakes, the Inmagyi Lake and others were dug by them to store rain water for irrigation. What the Burmese Kings did with manual labour we should be able to do much better with our bulldozers, scrapers and earth moving equipment. We have now the technique and the means to make hill reservoirs and dig tube wells. One tube well, according to Mr. John Geddes of Associated Tube Wells (Internal) Ltd., of England, will deliver under favourable circumstances 750,000 gallons of water per day. The area of land this will irrigate will depend upon the type of crop to be grown, the period over which irrigation is required and so on. Mr. Geddes who actually visited the Central Burma Dry Zone during April 1955, is of opinion that a large portion of it can be brought under irrigation by wells. He said that it is common practice in other countries to construct deep wells to supplement or replace entirely the water supply from other sources and that because of its cheapness the use of underground water for all purposes is being greatly extended all over the world. In America, in the Santa Clara Valley, 2000 wells were dug to irrigate 13,000 acres for 20 years until dams are built: We still have about 25 inches of rainfall in the Dry Zone and the obvious thing to do to get more water, apart from digging wells, is to dig more reservoirs to store rain water. However, instead of digging more lakes, we are allowing the existing lakes to silt up and deteriorate. Only half of the Meiktila Lake is left; the Inmagyi Lake has disappeared, and on my way to Mandalay I saw no signs of irrigation from the Minhla and Nyaungyan Lakes. The least we can do for a start is to restore these lakes to their original capacities or build others. The Burmese Kings dug their lakes by embanking the rain water flowing west to east along a
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gradual slope. All the embankments, it will be noticed, are on the eastern shores of the lakes. They did not have the technique nor the means at their disposal to trap the more violent torrents coming down from the Shan Plateau, i.e. from east to west. These torrents do not last more than a few days or sometimes even a few hours, but they are often big enough to wash away portions of the Rangoon-Mandalay rail road. Now, with improved technique in dam construction we should be able to trap some of this water. Earth dams like the Gyobyu are good enough for storage of water. There is as yet no necessity to build huge multipurpose hydro-electric dams each of which would cost 100 to 400 million dollars. A number of small earth dams at strategic points in the hills and on the plain would be far less expensive and would serve our purpose as far as irrigation is concerned. There are earth dams even in America. Five earth dams have been constructed within recent years in the Santa Clara Valley, California. These dams range in height from 100 to 140 feet, and all but the Coyote Dam have a width of 20 feet at the crest. With water at our disposal we should be able to implement without difficulty the most ambitious planting programme. MAKE THE DRY ZONE RICH AND FERTILE. We are now busy looking for trees that would thrive in semi-desert conditions, studying the Indian pit method of planting and so on. We are not paying sufficient attention to the possibility of getting the water there first. Desert planting in India is being done to stop the march of the desert which has been moving at an average rate of half a mile per year over the last 50 years or so, and not to make the desert rich and fertile; although some portions of it have been made fertile by irrigation-the Sukkar Barrage being a notable example. Our aim in Burma, as understood by Government, is to make the Dry Zone rich and fertile. If the object of our present planting programme is to supply the local villages with firewood, charcoal and house posts, it is adequate, but if the object is to make the Dry Zone rich and fertile, it is definitely inadequate. Only a programme of irrigation-cum-planting will be adequate. Some of us have exaggerated the efficacy of trees in increasing rainfall. Some members of the Government have even been told that once the trees are planted they would bring in sufficient rainfall and water to make the Dry Zone rich and fertile. They might as well have been told that the Tropical Rain Forests cause the Equatorial rainfall. A student of geography will point out that the Burma Dry Zone is a " rain shadow " area, the rain being kept off by the Arakan Yomas. The
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South-west Monsoon after losing moisture on the Arakan Yomas descends into the Irrawaddy Valley, becomes warmer and able to hold more moisture, causing very little precipitation. The Great American Desert is a much larger example of rain-shadow. The Sierre Nevada mountain ranges catch the rain clouds coming in from the Pacific and cast a big rain-shadow over the American Desert. The highest dam in the world, the Hoover Dam (726 ft.) has been thrown across the Colorado River, and almost the whole lower portion of the desert has been irrigated and made to bloom. Our Premier U Nu during his American visit, has seen for himself the famous irrigation works at Imperial Valley where the desert has been made to bloom over some 600,000 acres. The Imperial Valley was once an arid desert. To-day it is settled by a community of prosperous farmers, growing wealthy on the produce of their farms. The best cotton in America is grown. Six to eight crops of alfalfa are harvested a year. Oranges, lemons dates and grapefruit are abundant. As a forester I fully appreciate the fact that afforestation is very important; but it is only a happy vision to suppose that any programme of planting will alter the climate and rainfall of the Central Burma Dry Zone. Mr. Alfred T. Grove writing from the Department of Geography of Cambridge University, says, " The protection of existing woodland in semi-arid lands, and the replanting of areas once forested are very important and worthwhile. But advocates of tree planting have often done disservice to their cause by exaggerating the efficacy of forests in increasing rainfall." It is true that vegetation will raise the water table or rather prevent the lowering of the water table. Even the hardy desert species, I agree, will help to preserve the water table. The only way to make the Dry Zone rich and fertile is to raise the water table, and the easiest and speediest way of raising the water table is to introduce irrigation followed by planting. Irrigation must be followed by tree planting in any of its several methods, if there is to be soil conservation. It is alright raising crops without planting trees, but agricultural crops cannot prevent infiltration and runoff of rain water and therefore cannot prevent soil erosion. Only natural plants and trees can prevent soil deterioration. Agricultural crops will lose 50 times as much soil as will woodlands and forests. The vegetative mulch and the forest humus absorbs rainwater and releases it downward by slow gravitation, thereby preventing rapid runoff and subsequent soil erosion. The Dry Zone in fact is a sick land. A sick land is vastly more complicated than a sick man. The correct diagnosis and treatment of the illness will require many specialists, from climatologists, hydrologists, botanists and zoologists, to soil conservationists, grazing experts, irrigation experts and foresters.
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Hony. Editor's Note: The afforestation in the Dry Zone is to form Protection and Utility forests; it is not to alter but to ameliorate the extreme severities of climate in the Dry Zone.
IN RETROSPECT
By E. A. P. REYNOLDS, Principal Forest Ofcer, Shan State (13)
Some months ago,as I was meandering my way through the tangled mass of undergrowth in the Evergreen forest, I came across a recently felled teak stump approximately a 100 years old, a lonely sentinel in the vast sea of Evergreen. As I counted the annual rings on the stump, my thoughts flew back to 100 years when this stump was then a living tree, during the lifetime of which certain events, which struck me as outstanding, are shown below.
1856--(a) The arrival of the Ist scientific officer in Burma in the name of Dr Brandis (Sir Dietrich) who put the management of our Forests on a sound and scientific basis, by putting a stop to the indiscriminate felling of teak, drawing up of sound Wor king Plans, reservation etc.(b) First attempt at Teak Taungya. 1865--First Forest Legislation (Indian Forest Act VII of 1865). 1881Burma Forest Act XIX 1901-- Burma Forest Act IV, 1902 1907Abandonment of fire-protection measures which was detrimental to the regeneration of teak. 1914Formation of Forest Research Division 1918World War I ended. Great demands were made on the Burma Forests Resourcs, especially teak and Pyinkado for war effort. 1920--Formation of the Working Plans Circle 1927-28--My first "Chukker" with a Working Plan's party for 6 solid months in the Pegu Yomas. (North Toungoo Division)
1930--Graduation and appointment in the Burma Forest Service 1936--Wild Life Protection Act.
1942-World War II. Burma under the heels of War. Forest administration ably carried out by those band of foresters left behind.
1948--4th Jan: Burma granted, long cherished independence, and with it the termination of the long role of the Indian Forest Service in Burma, and the valuable heritage, they left behind to its worthy successors. 1953----6th-- Buddhist Synod.
1954----4th World Forestry Congress, at which -Burma was represented. 1956--Eucharistic Congress. A Century has passed, with F. D. achievements, linked with national aspirations of this memorial centenary
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TRAINING UNDER THE COLOMBO PLAN IN THE MALAYAN MANGROVES
Mr. J. B. Carrapiett. Forest Economist
The personnel selected to undergo the training were myself as I been Divisional Forest Officer of the Delta Forest Division for 4 years and knew the Delta Mangroves well, U Sein Win, a Forest Ranger who was doing firewood extraction work in the mangroves, Aung Khant, a Range Officer of the mangroves, and U Tun Hlaing, Range Officer who also had mangrove experience.
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All our traveling expenses were paid for besides daily subsistence allowances while under training in Malaya for 38 days. We left Rangoon on the 28th February at 8.30 a.m. and flew over 1,000 miles by B.O.A.C. tourist via Bangkok to reach Singapore at 5.30 p.m. the same evening. The next day we railed to Kuala Lumpur and continued the next day to Taiping where the Malayan Forest staff met us and took us to the mangroves straightaway. These were the famous Matang Mangroves which made Malaya rather well known all over the world, and in these Mangrove forests of about 97,000 acres we camped on a launch for 3 weeks during March. The tide flow in these mangroves though not swift, spread over the whole of the mangroves due to the general flat nature of the ground and completely inundated almost all the mangroves. It rained everyday while we were there, and this was said to be unusual for the locality which had less than 100 inches rainfall per annum, while Taiping hills, 4,000 feet high behind Taiping town, 12 miles inland directly east had rain everyday totaling over 200 inches per annum. This causes the streams from these granite hills flowing westward to the sea through the mangrove to carry down much sand from the sandy ground below the hills. This sandy ground itself had much sand heaved up by tin dredging operations all over the district causing sandy silt to flow down the rivers to the sea. There were no large rivers in the area.
Review of the Management of Teak Forests in Burma and Possible Introduction of The System of Compensatory Plantation. U Maung Gale. D.G. Forests.21-7-78
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This soil combined with the rain, and the tidal salt waters and the hot equatorial air, I am sure, caused the dense mangrove growth which grew fast and died fast and rotted so rapidly that a year old stump can be pushed over into the mud and two years after felling an area, all dead branches and twigs have rotted to such pulp as to sink into the mud when trodden underfoot. The soil thus became enriched and caused regeneration to grow so fast and dense that a full crop is almost always ensured. This estuarine type of true mangroves had Rhizophora conjugata as the main species in pure stands over wide areas where the ground is flat and subject to middling inundation twice daily at all times. The lower ground along slopes of river banks which are subject to deeper inundation are usually covered densely by Rhizophora mucronata which fringe the Rhizophora conjugata forests so thickly that the forests appear to be a dense Mucronata forest when viewed from the river rather than a Conjugata forest. The latter. forms about 80% of the mangroves however, with the former about 10%. The Conjugata is our Burma Byuchidauk and the Mucronata our Byupadaytha of the same scientific names but there are differences in general appearance as to compel one to call them Malayan species and ours as Burma species of Rhizophora. The basic formation of leaves, flowers and fruits botanically is the same, but the Malay trees are tall and clean and straight boled whereas the Burma trees are not so tall and clean and so well grown and never in extensive, pure formation, but in thin fringes along rivers. The remaining 10% of the crop consists of mixed species of Ceriops candolleana which resemble our (Madama) Ceriops roxburghiana. Bruguiera parviflora which is like the hnit of the Tenasserim coast; Bruguiera gymnorhiza which is almost like our Byu-u-talon of the same scientific name but there is some difference in manner of growth and general appearance. Bruguiera caryophylloides cover large areas behind the sea face and there is no parallel to this species in Burma. The Sonneratias near the water lines, and the Avicennias along the sea face are similar to Burma species. The Nipa Palm is similar to our dani, also called Nipa fruticans and grows under similar conditions. The undergrowth of Acrostichum species here, on little higher ground than the usual mangrove swamp are similar to our hnetgyidaung. Our myinga (Cynimetra ramiflora) is not found in Malaya as well as our kambala (Sonneratia apetala.)
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We came across a few kyana (Carapa moluccensis.) The well known Burma salat (Cerbera odollam) and undergrowth kaya (Acanthus ilicifolius) were seldom seen as far as Matang mangroves were concerned. Derris scandens (migyaungnwe) was common in some places. Other species common in Burma were not found there. Especially our famous pinle kanazo (Heritiera fomes var minor) which forms 62% of our mangroves, does not occur in Malaya. We came across a few Heritiera littoralis. The average forest line was that of regular plantations as they have been managed systematically since about 1908. Nothing was known properly then, and it was not till an aerial survey was made in 1928 that a proper plan was drawn up in detail. Even then, a rotation of 40 years was adopted to be on the safe side as regards conservation and not to be overcutting before anything was known about growth and regeneration. Only now that it is better known that the size of trees reached after 30 years serve the purpose of demands made by the populace that the rotation has been fixed at 30 years. Even then the latest sample plot figures indicate that the mean annual increment culminates at about 23 years and that might very well be the rotation, but 30 years has been adopted until further confirmation can be made on growth studies. The demand made on the forests are firewood, charcoal and fishing stakes. Firewood in the form of five-foot billets with two feet average girths have been exported to large towns and charcoal demand has increased for export even to distant Hongkong. Charcoal here means in billet form as extracted for firewood, for the finished product of charcoal is generally still intact in billet form as was loaded green into the kilns. Fishing stakes are thinning poles from these natural Rhizophora conjugata forests used by sea face fishermen for their traps, as well as for house posts and fuel for curing fish and prawn. The forests are the results of natural regeneration following clear felling, supplemented with patching sometimes by artificial planting by subordinates over a few acres which had failed to regenerate. This system is so successful as natural regeneration is so abundant, that thinnings had to be done after about ten years growth to relieve congestion.
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There were uncontrolled per ods during the war during which uncontrolled cuttings had been done along most rivers and creeks especially near villages. All these areas have been provided for in salvage felling plans whereby a cleaning extraction is done by small types of firewood or charcoal or pole contractors to extract any pole from congested areas inside the patch of forests where illicit cuttings had been done before and to leave the trees as evenly spaced and stocked as possible no matter what age or size the trees are, thereby rectifying all damage done during the war. This devastation however, has not reduced the annual area available for supply of wood either for fuel or charcoal because the rotation of 40 years used before the war has now been reduced to 30 years from 1950. Out of 97,000 acres of Matang forests, about 79,000 acres only are productive, the rest being sea face small mangroves, waterways, devastated areas, and non mangrove types on non swampy ground. This 79,000 acres worked on 30 years give about 26,000 acres available per ten year period or 2,600 acres per year. As charcoal demand is greater, about 1,700 acres per annum have been set aside for it and 900 acres per annum for firewood. The number of charcoal kilns is controlled by this available acreage ---one kiln of the normal size used here requiring about 5 acres per year. There are about 418 kilns. Some are closed. The annual production of charcoal is about 5,80,000 pikuls weight or 34,800 tons. (100 pikuls = 6 tons) and firewood is about 1,600,000 pikuls or 96,000 tons. The yield of wood in clear felling these mangrove forest is 75 tons per acre. Pikul is a current local unit of weight measure used in trade and is equal to about 133 1/3 lbs. All firewood and charcoal are sold by weight. Royalty and premiums are also by pikul weight. It is about 6 dollars per 100 pikuls. Premium is for right to work an area based on enumerations of tonnage in the area. It is about one dollar per 100 pikuls. Premiums on poles have always been on a monthly basis of 10 dollars a month today, the royalty is per pole according to length and girth. Total revenues average about 3,40,000 with an expenditure of 65,000 leaving a surplus of 2,75,000 dollars per year.
Silviculture of the Mangroves

The main theme for which we were under training in Matang seem to me to be clear felling with natural regeneration, though it has been called shelterwood system by some Malay foresters as there are intermediate thinnings and final fellings or regeneration fallings before the clear felling itself, to ensure that full regeneration is
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established in spots where there are no seedlings yet by leaving mother trees, and felling all where seedlings are already abundant. However, in all mangroves, regeneration is always abundant and it seems to me it is better when the seed bearers or mother trees are most vigorous and prolific and cause the most abundant regeneration on the ground that thinnings should be made to give room to these regeneration to establish themselves or clear fell entirely to reap a quick harvest. However, it must be mentioned that many theories have been proposed, adopted, amended and discarded and sometimes re-adopted and discarded again. Before 1910 a selection system of felling above a minimum diameter of 3 inches was adopted, but no proper observations or records were kept. It seems that they were rather like thinnings which encouraged the seedlings which today have been observed to have grown to magnificent stands of almost pure Rhizophora conjugata forests. It seemed as if the woodcutters extracted only good stems which sold easily as extraction was by manual labour as it is today, but perhaps the demand was not so great as now. Then from 1910 to 1920 or so, some new method of retaining standards was carried out with a minimum felling girth of 12 inches. This was reduced later to 8 inches. It was also suggested at that time that planting be carried out to supplement seeding fellings. Later in 1925 this standard system was abandoned. This was re-introduced in 1939 due to failure of seeding fellings to bring about regeneration. In 1930 this retention of standards was modified to selection thinnings whereby a stick was used to fell all trees falling within the radius of the stick measured from the selected tree as centre. By 1940 the retention of standards was entirely abandoned. The minimum girth of 8 inches remain unaltered. But gradually the two stage final felling was introduced on an experimental scale. Essentially, the system was based on the retention of standards, but in very large numbers and for a short period only. Rhizophora fruits heavily and regularly from September to December and felling was arranged in two stages so that a full fruiting season intervened between them. The war interfered and spoilt this experiment. Since the war, control has gradually been re-established but it is not yet as complete as before the war, though no attempt has been made to repeat the two stage final fellings.
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The reduction of the rotation has also necessitated that the forests have as even aged groups as possible, and naturally led to abandoning standards and to carrying out of first thinnings and final thinnings or fellings. All this led eventually to the present system which has been found so successful that the mangroves appear to us generally like well managed rubber plantations rather than forests. The trees are generally growing closely packed and blanks are never found in older woods. The trees average 2 feet girth at breast height and about 60 feet in height at about 30 years of age. The object of management being production of fuel and poles on a sustained yield basis for the local market, no bigger wood seems necessary to be grown. In fact in the southern Malayan States where fence poles and scaffolding timber is required the mangroves are grown to 20 years of age only to get the necessary size for supplying the market. Fishing stakes and fuel for the fishing population is a secondary object of management. Rhizophora conjugata is most popular and is the species of choice and it is just as well as it grows pure over extensive areas. All other species are discouraged or even destroyed by girdling of the sap. There is no such thing as regeneration felling nowadays though the idea was conceived to ensure regeneration in the old days. Natural regeneration, however, was so abundantly provided by bountiful Nature that the trees grew thick and fast a few years after the clear-felling and all felled slash had decayed and subsided flat and flush with the mud. Some blanks were artificially planted, This is limited to 10 % of the area of the coupe in hand. By the 5th or 6th year, a full crop is almost always established unless man, floods, monkeys or crabs have interfered to a great extent. Interference by main is the usual stealing of all sizes of from the forests. By floods is the washing away of all the planted seedlings wherever the tide is strong and high and enough to carry all away before their roots can get a hold mud. timber newly deep on the
By monkeys which incidentally are rather frequently met with and left unharmed are in the habit of plucking off seedlings just through curiosity if not for anything else. They are the fisher variety of small monkeys and are often found crawling on the ground. Crabs in small groups or individually bite off the tender bark of new shoots and kill the plants. If, however, the time of planting in a locality coincides with the evolution of the young crabs, then
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almost all plants are killed by the myriads of crabs which swarm the locality. There are no counter measures against all these sources of damages. However, no extensive or even noticeable patch of forest was found effected by such damage, and the forest grew dense by the 6th year or so as mentioned above and is so close-packed after the 10th or 11th year that a first thinning becomes necessary. Even the threatening danger from the excessive growth of bushy ferns at the beginning are suppressed in course of time. The stems are then about 12 inches girth at 4 feet off the ground and number about 600 stems per acre and yield about 20 tons in volume if clear felled. But in the thinning operation now due and carried out a four foot stick is used. This is called the stick system. A good stem is selected and the stick is based on this stem as centre of a circle with the 4 foot stick as radius and all trees falling within the circle are felled after the selected stem is marked and retained. If trees are not so densely grown, one or two more stems beside the selected one is left not to cause blanks or if there are blanks nearby not to enlarge them. This thinning is usually left to the people who want the poles. Inspection by subordinates is constant. Blanks are feared greatly by foresters here as instead of Rhizophora conjugata swarms of useless species and weeds are likely to grow in the blanks and endanger the future crop of pure Rhizophora. Out of the fellings some unwanted poles may be left in the forests but usually all are extracted by manual labour to the nearest waterway and carried out by boats. After the 20th year the crop is inspected to see if a second thinning is necessary. It used to be done in the old days when 40 years was the rotation, and a six foot stick was used to measure off the circle in which all trees except the most promising ones was felled. Nowadays on a 30 year rotation no second thinning is done. But a final one is carried out at about the 25th year or so or before it, when a 7 foot stick is used. By then the trees are usually about 2 feet girth at breast height or above stilt roots and number about 450 stems per acre and likely to yield about 75 tons volume of wood if clear felled. Extraction is compulsory down to the smallest branches which measure 8 inches girth.
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After this final thinning or regeneration felling as it is sometimes called a clear felling is done at time of final exploitation of the crop. Fellings either in intermediate thinnings or final clearing may take place over some period of time than is desirable as the permittee who carries out the felling is controlled again by demands from the market for the forest produce. And if the demand is great all that ought to be felled is felled fast and extracted and sold quicker than expected. Whereas if there is no demand the thinning is not uniform all over the coupe as the Rhizophora poles if thinned and stored soon decay and become unsaleable, and the patches far from streams may be left untouched due to distance to be carried out on shoulders of labourers. Some wheelbarrow transport is also used. Hence thinning is never completed if there is no market, and even fines and impositions of royalty on unthinned poles will not rectify this, and the stems are left standing. There is no remedy to this state of affairs so far, especially as all come out in final fellings when the fuel or charcoal permittee usually fells all and extracts all Rhizophora conjugata and mucronata down to 8 inches girth branches. After all these extractions a coupe is left for about 2 years to allow felled slash to rot and fall flush with the mud and give a chance to natural regeneration seedlings to pop out through this decayed debris. Usually regeneration comes up satisfactorily and if any patch is found blank on inspection, artificial planting is arranged departmentally, limiting the area to small blanks not exceeding ten percent of the total coupe area. This technique of direct planting in rows of the long Rhizophora fruits is well known to all subordinates of the locality who, however, have difficulty sometimes in getting good fruits at the time opportune for planting. It seems fruit collection is not so plain and straightforward. Good trees have to be selected to get good fruits to ensure full germination. Inspections are made after planting to see if success has been achieved. Thus the whole process of planting, growing, thinnings and final fellings and inspections at all the stages were shown to us and we concluded safely here that the natural equatorial climatic conditions generally and the Matang soil and rainfall condition particularly have caused Nature to provide regeneration and growth of the Rhizophora conjugata and Rhizophora mucronata species so bountifully that they could not thrive so well anywhere else.
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Credit, in fact, great credit is due to those concerned for the intensive attention and care in management going on in these forests at present, a system no doubt evolved after years of trial and experiment.
The staff to manage this particular mangrove of 97,000 acres consists of:-one Grade I Ranger, two Grade II Rangers, five Foresters, 18 Forest Guards and 23 Boatmen.
Rangers and Foresters are school trained and are paid about 3 times more than our Burma subordinates, due no doubt to the high cost of living in Malaya where food costs about 4 times that in Burma. Forest Guards and Boatmen earn about the same as Burma men. Transport is well provided. Motor car or motor cycle advances every three years to Rangers who also have 25 h.p. outboard motor speed boats, and Foresters have 5 h.p. speed boats, and Guards have 1 or 3 h.p. speed boats provided by Government. Boatmen attend to these boats or row ordinary boats or supplement daily labourers in the forests. All are well housed near fishing villages, charcoal kiln centres or nearest ports. Officers have the use of a motor launch. Office procedure. This is rather in detail, The most important being the Control map in the Divisional Forest Officers office, showing compartment histories, and periodic blocks and order of working and annual programmes. The most important records to me seem the sub-coupe histories in office and inspection books kept by everyone. This book has a map to show the current coupe and progress of work and is very interesting. Other records are felling plans, thinning plans, planting plans, contractor's running accounts, outturn, etc., which are all kept up for useful information for both forestry management and revenue accounts. Conclusions. The demand on the Matang mangroves are for fuel, charcoal and poles and the main crop is Rhizophora conjugata which regenerates easily and abundantly and grows fast and reaches the maximum growth at about 23 years of age and the size of 2 feet girth above stilt roots and production of about 75 tons per acre are all very good indeed and possible only in Matang and under conditions obtainable in that locality only. The manner of growth in pure patches over extensive areas also caused this particular management to develop throughout the years.
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Whereas in our Delta mangroves, the manner of growth of this Rhizophora (byuchidauk and baingdaung) is poorer and in such thin fringes along the edge of waterways that such intensive management of planting, thinning and clear fellings and regeneration as done in Matang cannot possibly be done economically. In Matang, Rhizophora forms about 80% of the crop in pure formations, whereas in our Delta, the byu forms about 1%. of the crop in thin scattered fringes along waterways all over a wide area so that they could not possibly be brought under the Matang system. What might be treated under the clear felling system may be the pure patches of low forests (byaiks) of myinga and madama which mature early in small sizes and occur to the extent of 11% (110 square miles) myinga and 11% (110 square miles) madama, and other mixed byaiks with trees of similar size and nature of occurrence. The kanazo which occurs in extensive patches over large blocks of forests to the extent of 62% (620 square miles) of the forest area grows so slow, reaches the mature size of five feet girth above buttress in about 200 years and provides timber comparable to best quality heavy hardwoods that it would be against good forestry and wasting good growth if clear felled early and treated like the Matang Rhizophora. The rotation being high the annual exploitable area would be very small and outturn very low. The present outturn per acre is about 20 tons volume, worked under the selection system on a cycle of 40 years which is the period required for kanazo of 4 feet girth to reach 5 feet girth at 6 feet 6 inches from the ground (above buttresses which are over 6 feet high generally). Hence we should aim at research to find out how best to stop wrongful use of kanazo of timber size as firewood and use it to produce timber for rightful use in the building and sleeper industry. Selection system is best for forests of kanazo especially as these forests change from poor preliminary stage near the sea to optimum stage inland and die off further away from tides. And correlatively to find out how best to bring about use of species other than kanazo as firewood or charcoal or fence posts, house posts or fishing stakes and how to regenerate them and manage them on a sustained yield basis. Clear felling with natural regeneration will suit forests of these species best, I think as they mature early in small sizes. After all our Delta forests are big mangroves and extend over 1,000 square miles of total tidal areas in one big block as compared to medium size mangrove of Matang which cover 150 square miles, also in one continuous block. Our forest is too unwieldy and unsuitable for clear felling entirely though natural regeneration is very abundant in all types of forests.
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However, before anything is decided, I venture to suggest a quick short visit soon to the mangroves of Sunderbans in Bengal to see how the Heritiera fomes var. minor which is the very same as our kanazo occur there and see how they are being treated. THE FOLLOWING IS THE REPORT ON CHARCOAL BURNING IN THE MATANG AREA. As mentioned previously, the annual area available from the Matang forests for charcoal burning industry was 1,600 acres per annum on a sustained yield basis. Before 1950, it was estimated from previous experience that a Kiln of the usual size of 22 feet diameter required wood obtained from clear felling 4 acres of Rhizophora forests per annum which produced about 75 tons volume per acre or total of 300 tons weight of wood for the year. The charcoal obtained from burning this wood throughout the year was about 75 tons. Nowadays however, with improved kiln construction and burning techniques the same normal size kiln required wood obtained from 5 acres. Not that the yield had fallen but because loading of wood into the kiln had improved and increased in volume. Previously there was only one row of billets stacked tight upright on the floor of the kiln. Now there was another row of billets stacked flat and loosely on the original row. Hence the increased use of wood. Still there are over 400 kilns in Matang but some of them are idle and unused as wood is not available for all from the annual available area of 1,600 acres at 5 acres per kiln. The kiln owners will eventually have to reduce the number of their kilns. The coupes are spread all over the Matang forests which forms one Working Circle only with three blocks for separate management of charcoal. Each block is self contained with a full series of age classes over an area sufficient to feed forever the number of kilns existing in the block. Enumerations are usually done in sample plots totaling 2% of the coupe before it is opened so that an estimate could be made of the actual volume of wood available therein. This volume forms a check later on the amount of wood taken to the kiln and the likely amount of charcoal that should be produced. (This check actually is also done for firewood working). We saw batteries of kilns situated at convenient spots from sea face to inland edge of over the Matang forest, but in the particular area we visited for the training of one week, there were three separate
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establishments, side by side in the area, one company had 24 kilns while another had 63 kilns and another 30 kilns totaling 117 kilns all within a few acres of ground but nestled along various branches of the main creek which here seem to have several forks and making it an ideal natural site for the industry. The metal road finely tarred all the way from Taiping 14 miles away ended right among the kilns on the bank of the main creek, and thus there was a natural inlet of waterway bringing in all the raw materials of green mangrove wood from the coupes and an outlet for the finished product of charcoal by lorries to all inland parts of Malaya. Each kiln was 21 to 22 feet in diameter at the base, dome shaped like a beehive and was roughly estimated to hold 1,000 pikuls or 60 tons of firewood (1 pikul--133 1/3 lbs.) which was in turn estimated to produce 163 pikuls or 10 tons of charcoal and each kiln was estimated to require 5 acres of normally stocked 30 years old mangrove area annually. Latest tests, however, showed that the average charcoal yield is 23.87% by weight of the total weight of firewood by most up-to-date devices and burning methods. All these are based on past experience and all these 117 kilns had several coupes set aside in various compartments with the maximum distance of 5 miles to the furthest area at the sea face. The coupes are clear felled and all timber down to 8 inch girth are converted into 5 feet lengths and the big ones are debarked and all loaded into special boats and conveyed to the kilns. Thorough debarking is again done at the kilns. These special boats are open wooden ones made uniformly to hold 1,000 pikuls each and are rowed by one man with the tide from the coupe to the kiln. It may take a couple of days. Coupes are given annually at premium rates of 1 dollar per 100 pikuls and charged on a per acre basis. Reductions are made for presence of inferior species by percentage in proportion to amount of different species present in the coupe. To determine all this a coupe is enumerated by sample plots amounting to 2% of the crop, and proportions of different species present in the crop are determined and premium estimated. The beat officer checks the wood leaving the coupe and the Forester in charge of the kiln checks the arrivals. A kiln manages to turn over about 1 burn per month. The charcoal produced is nothing like the broken pieces of charcoal as is normally known to us, but the billets of raw wood come out as charred billets in the very same shape as they went in, and as charred billets they are loaded on to lorries or boats for the market. Retailers of course may have them broken up and sold in various forms at the public shops, but it seems prices are
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controlled and as millionaires from the big cities have their shares in this business also, that every bit of it is said to be well organized. Having got the general information on the lay out of the business we went on to study the construction of the kilns. And as luck would have it, there was one whole set of 8 brand new kilns under construction for us to watch and study the various processes. They were all one battery of kilns in a new shed. We were a bit late though to see the preparation of the foundation. However, we were told that in this particular area as the ground was high and was on the inland edge of the mangrove, was already naturally hard and made a good foundation. The soil seems sandy loam although within reach of the daily tides, and the ground had to be prepared by laying down alternate layers of closely laid Rhizophora wood poles and river sand altogether totaling about five or six feet thick foundation, especially the ground under the kilns. The final ground surface under the kiln was clay rammed down hard with water. This clay was yellowish in colour and was excavated from the side of hillocks further inland. In the soft mud of the sea face some of the kiln site foundation had piles driven down before the alternate criss cross poles and sand beds are laid upon them. The piles are usually poles 15 feet long and average five inch diameter. The criss cross horizontal layers of poles are tight packed. The normal kiln in use in these mangroves is 22 feet in diameter inside and about 13 feet in height to the apex of the dome inside. The bricks used are of second quality, rejected from among those chosen for house building and obtained from nearby brick kilns. They are whitish in colour compare to the fine pink of the 1st class brick and contain more lime mixture. The size of the brick 3x4x 9. The base of the kiln is not laid in any dug drain foundation, but laid just on the level clay surface as shown in the kiln plan attached, -14,000 bricks go into one kiln, the bricks are held together by a mixture of well kneaded yellow clay, river sand and water. About two 3-ton lorry loads of clay (which really is freshly dug dry yellow earth from the hillside) and one sampan load of river sand (about 100 pikuls or 13,330 lbs) go into the making of one kiln. With all these materials ready at hand, a skilled constructor can finish a kiln as shown in the attached diagram in ten days. The cost of one kiln may be about 300 dollars maximum in labour charges. There are the cost of the shed usually for a whole battery of 20 kilns to be added to the total cost, besides the cost of
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contraction of delivery canals for boats bringing in green wood billets from the coupe, the lining of the banks of these canals with wooden poles, and quarters for workmen in the kiln areas. The Company must also maintain the whole gang of workers in the mangrove coupe with their tools and supplies and the total cost of the whole outfit must be quite a lot. There were small beginnings of course about 30 years before experience was gained of the whole business and before the present establishment came into existence. Now it is a matter of well going concern. According to research results a kiln of 15 feet diameter seems to give a slightly more outturn of charcoal than a large scale size kiln of 22 feet. But in practice it seems most economical to use the 22 foot diameter kiln. In Burma mangroves, of course start may be made with smaller size kilns as indicated by the few already in use in tidal areas in the south delta of the Irrawaddy river. This is because our wood for the kiln is smaller, the average girth of billets burnt being about 8 inch-whereas in Malaya they average about 2 feet. A well made kiln if safe from water lasts about ten years before it is entirely remade. But will collapse if not safe from rain above or tidal water below. The shed which contains the whole row or battery of these kilns is also made of mangrove woods usually in the round except for the main posts which are of the best sawn timber, and the roofs are always of closely spaced dani (Nipa palm.) The life of the wooden posts always on concrete plinths, and the salt water soaked mangrove round timber is about fifteen years with the great help of the perpetual smoke arising out of the kilns. In the ordinary dwellings of the villages this same mangrove wood (Rhiozophora mucronata & conjugata) last about three or four years. In the same manner the perpetually smoked dani roof also lasts about fifteen years compared to three or four years in the ordinary village house. One kiln requires about 64 X 32 space, in the shed half being for the kiln itself and the other half for working space in front. The shed is usually closed with dani walls on all sides to prevent rain beat and wind play and doorway exits have screens made of old jute sacks. Having constructed the shed and the kiln, and got the supply of green billets all brought in from the coupes and loading or stacking of the billets inside is done by sliding in the billets along a raised plank way from outside through the front archway opening to just inside the kiln. Usually a gang of seven men is employed in unloading a kiln of charcoal and reloading with green billets.
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The battery we saw had 63 kilns and employed 3 gangs of 7 men each, so that if one gang was employed in unloading one kiln, another was engaged in loading and yet another in carrying in new billets from the boats to the kiln mouths. If the company pays sufficiently all the billets are debarked by women at 4 cents per billet. Debarked billets give whole charred billets and hence more volume of solid charcoal and unbarked ones get burnt more and produces less charcoal. The fat big billets cut from base of trees averaging about 4 feet in girth are usually cut about 4 feet in length and stacked just inside and as near the entrance as possible. This is only to save carrying. The usual 5 feet long billets with average diameter of 8 all packed tight beginning at the outermost circumference along the kiln walls and the successive layers are packed concentrically towards the centre and the entrance of the inches are leaning upright kiln.
The first outermost ring of billets all rest with their ends on the brick floor of the kiln. After that all the remaining billets are each rested on a 3x2 piece of brick and thus ensure free play of air and heat under all the billets in the kiln. Loading is completed in one day. One layer of upright billets packed tight to within a foot of the entrance door. During all this loading, all the four ground level one-brick-wide air and smoke holes at regular intervals round the base of the kiln are all left open, and so are 4 more one-brick wide holes half way up the wall of the kiln. This latter is also for light and air during loading as the lower holes get blocked by billets. Special carbide lamps with long snouts and holding blue flame are also used for light in the kiln during loading. When fully loaded two thin billets are placed across the entrances to prevent any upright ones falling outwards and bricks are plastered up to close the entrance leaving a hole about 2 feet square for thrusting in the fire brands for firing the billets in the kiln. The front most row gets heated and this heat current is drawn inwards along the floor of the kiln upwards also by heated air which escapes as smoke from the four lower holes and four upper holes. These four upper holes are said to be the very latest development in charcoal burning in kilns, as up to now they did not exist and there are some kilns without these upper holes. These holes, however, may be closed after a few days of burning and if it is judged burning is getting established and getting too fast. So the burning process goes on for a period of 14 to 18 days with a special man coming round removing the ash from the burnt brands and replacing with fresh ones. During this burning period of 14 days or so as much as 100 pikuls of small girth poles may be consumed.
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The smoke coming out of the bottom holes usually indicates whether the wood is getting charred inside or not by the degree of smell and cloudiness of the smoke itself. If the smoke is thin and not cloudy, and has a very strong unbearable gaseous smell, then the fire brands are removed and the fire hole is closed downwards leaving a small one-bricked wide hole at the ground level. In this stage the kiln is left for another 10 or 12 days until the thin smoke coming out of the holes starts bringing out white froth like foam which in turn should become yellow in colour when all holes are blocked and the kiln closed entirely to cool completely for 3 days. When the kiln entrance is opened and charcoal in the usual billet is taken out and loaded straight on to lorries at the very door itself. The most important man is the overseer who guides the work gang and firemen to load, to fire, to close holes and to open all by his own personal judgment of the smell and thinness of smoke from knowledge gained by long experience. No hard and fast rules can be laid down for this food when the chief, judge by smell and sight of is paid the highest, at the rate of $280 (K 400) the senior gangmen and firemen with $180 (K 270) (K210) a month, and then junior men with $120 (K work as for cooking long experience. He a month. Next come a month and $140 180) a month.
Work is hard and dirty but a bonus depending on amount of charcoal produced per year urges the men to work and compensates the labours. Besides all these payments, work gets slack when tides are low and there is short supply of wood coming in from the mangrove coupes. There is also repair and patching work in progress sometimes, or burning time taking longer as kilns get old or cracked by wooden foundation beneath the floor rotting and subsiding and requiring the whole kiln to be demolished and rebuilt all in about 10 days. The difference between these and those few in use in the Burma mangroves are that the Burma ones:(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) are not built on such elaborate foundations and not well sheltered, are about 15 feet in diameter and shorter in height, the billets used are not Rhizophora but Cynometra ramiflora and Ceriops rhoxburghiana, billets are small, long and unbarked, firing is at the top of stack in the kiln and drawn downwards, no small brick plinths on the floor for the billets to rest on, no brick floor laid down nicely in kilns, all the billets are burnt whereas they are baked by heat here, and thus the entire billets in charred form which
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eventully comes out here as compared to the small broken pieces coming out in Burma.
The things to do in Burma are:(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) good foundations, debark billets, use bigger ones also of any species, fire from front door, lay down good brick kiln floor, rest billets on small brick plinths on floor, not burn but try and bake the billets so as to get whole charred sticks and not small broken pieces, be attentive and gain own experience by time, practice, and observation.
The following suggestions are also submitted for trial and experimental work. (1) Construction of 22 feet diameter kilns at (a) Labutta and (b) Kadomkani for try out with Mangrove species, including, kanazo waste tops (for mangrove forests). Construction of a 22 feet diameter kiln at any other selected place inland for try out with hill forest waste for charcoal burning, and eventual all Burma industry and utilization of nearly half a million tons waste tops. Estimates in detail for above to be worked out by U Sein Win, Forest Ranger, for Labutta, U Aung Khant, Forest Ranger, for Kadomkani, U Tun Hlaing, Forest Ranger, for Kyangin or other inland areas and get sanction to carry out experiments.
(2)
(3)
GENERAL The training on the whole was a very successful one and beneficial for Forest Management and Utilization of mangrove in Burma. All thanks are due to the Malayan Forest Department especially the Director, the Perak State Forest Officer and the tireless Taiping District Forest Officer and staff for great trouble in training us. Mention may be made of District Forest Officer, Kuala Sangor, and his Assistant and the Divisional Forest Officer, Kinta, the Director of the Forest Research Institute and his General Assistant, the Wood Technologist, the Chemist, the Officer of the School and last but not least, the Forest Officer of Singapore for all the trouble taken in showing us around, and we hereby state we are prepared to return their gesture of good-will. Thanks above all are tendered to the authorities in charge of the Colombo Aid Plan, especially to those in the British Embassy at Rangoon for all the trouble taken and interest shown in the arrangements for our training.
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We tender our thanks to our Chief Conservator of Forests, Burma, and other Forest Officers responsible for selecting us to undergo this training and finally to our benign Government of the Union of Burma for sending us on this deputation.
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THE TEAK FORESTS OF BURMA1*'
PROF. E. P. STEBBING, University of Bdinburgh.

There is probably more romance wrapped up in the history of the great teak forests of
Burma, without the addition of the latest war chapter of the Fourteenth Army, than in any other afforested region of similar size in the world. To a large extent the teak tree is itself responsible. Our acquaintance with these forests, so far as the British personally are concerned, commenced with the inquiries into their resources made by the Government after the acquisition for political reasons of the Tenasserim and Martaban Provinces, ceded to the British by Burmese under the Treaty of Yandaboo early in the year 1926. Although the British in India and the Admiralty at Home had obtained a certain amount of teak from Rangoon and Moulmein, the largest amount utilized up to this time came from the accessible parts of the teak forests in Malabar on the west coast of Madras. These; in the hands of timber exploiters, were to a great extent cutout by 1930. Dr. Wallich, Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta was sent to the new Province to report on the botanical features of the forests, and also on their potential possibilities both commercially and for the provision of teak timber required for military purposes. There were great stores of teak in the forests, he said. He advised, in view of the destruction caused in the Malabar Forests by unchecked exploitation, that Government should declare its ownership of all teak and that the forests should be managed by Government so as to ensure against their ruin. He added, No forest exists which can, with propriety, be called inexhaustible, at least none that is liable to constant and extensive demands for timber ". The advice was not adopted by the Commissioner -in-Charge of the new Province. A system of leases was instituted under which the lessee was allowed to take up a block of forest on one or other of the rivers and operate as he liked ; the few rules issued were generally disregarded. Moulmein, from little more than a large village soon became important town, and within twenty years the whole of the population were immersed in the teak industry to the neglect of any attempt at an improved and extended area under agriculture. A score of years after the annexation, the greater part of the accessible forests had been treated in a fashion similar to the Malabar ones. The license method had proved to be a difficult one to supervise and, in the late forties, the Deputy Governor suggested to the Court of Directors that long 99-year leases should be given out in order to interest the licensees in growing. teak, a long-term project. Later he earnestly recommended the Court of Directors to give authority to sell the whole of the teak forest lands in tracts of convenient extent and to convey to the purchasers a complete title. The Court of Directors was mercifully too, wide-visioned to adopt this suggestion.
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The Second Burmese War took place in 1852, the outcome being the annexation of the Province of Pegu on December 20th, 1852. Rangoon was the capital, having been founded. by the Alompra dynasty in 1755. It had been the principal mart for tire export of teak timber for nearly a century, teak being the chief staple industry of the port at that time.. The teak tree had been proclaimed a royal tree by this dynasty, and was a royal monopoly, as had been the case with Tippoo Sahib in Southern India, and in the neighbouring. Travancore and Cochin States. Following this precedent, soon after the annexation a notification was issued by the Governor-General that all the forests were the property of Government and no general permission to cut timber therein would be granted to anyone. But differences of opinion soon arose between the Commissioner appointed to administer the Province and the Forest Officer. The Governor-General had proclaimed the teak public property, but both the above officials agreed that the Tenasserim royalty of 15 per cent only should be levied on all timber brought down river to Rangoon. The differences between them were on other issues. This led to the fatuous minute from the Governor General, Lord Dalhousie, which had been termed The Charter of the India and Burma Forests. In this he directed attention to his former notification on the ownership of teak, which laid down that the teak timber should be retained as State property. In effect, Lord Dalhousie laid down that the forests were the property of the State, which meant of the Public, and that the material in them should be sold at a price the market was prepared to pay that the system by which the timber merchant made the greatest profit must cease. I the past, big timber firms had been in the habit of getting a permit to take up blocks of teak forest and work them out for teak, paying the Crown a lump sum down and an agreed price per tree or log extracted. The profits, as in the case in Moulmein, of the timber speculators had been excessive, while the activities of the whole people were confined to one business, to the detriment of agriculture. Lord Dalhousie found a man in Dr. (later Sir Dietrich) Brandis to give effect to his proclaimed policy. Brandis was appointed Superintendent of the Pegu Forests in January, 1856, and shortly after to those of Tenasserim. The first step was put to an end to indiscriminate felling in the forests by obtaining some figure of their volume-value in teak, to enable him to prescribe the volume per unit of area which could be safely cut without overfelling in the forest, He instituted his now well-known "strip surveys " marching through the forests on a line previously laid down and measuring up on either side all teak trees on a 50 feet strip. He made four girth classes; 6 feet and more ; 4 feet 6 inches to 6 feet, 3 feet to 4 feet 6 inches ; less than 3 feet. An area of 30 square miles was covered by these linear surveys, on which 2,423 trees of 6 feet and more had been counted, or an average of eighty trees per square mile. It was estimated that the teak in Pegu was scattered over an area of 7,000 square -wiles, giving a grand total of 385,000 first-class trees of 6 feet and more. On this he based the number of trees he could mark for sale each year. The danger of ignorant over-felling was past. The teak had to be girdled when marked and stand in the forests for two to three years to dry, since green teak will not float, and much of the teak was transported from the forest to the market at Rangoon by floating down the rivers. Later calculations of the volumes of teak in the forests made by a more numerous staff proved that Brandis' figures were extraordinarily accurate, considering the rough methods lie had-to use.
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Brandis considered that Government must show the way that the forests could be worked efficiently, the trees felled and logs extracted with the minimum of damage, while, at the same time, the prices received for the timber would repay all charges of felling and extraction and show a handsome surplus. Bandis started work, hiring contractors to fell the timber, drag it to the floating streams and raft it to the sale depots. Local contractors and others more powerful at a distance put every obstacle in the way of the new departure, and it took a man of Brandis' forceful nature to fight and live down this concentrated opposition. The Government was by no means convinced as to the soundness of Brandis' proposition. In its view the first necessity was to ensure that the annual amount of teak timber required by the Government services was forthcoming without any danger of deficiencies: the second that in the first few years working the costs were larger than the receipts. The powerful timber contractors carried the matter to the Privy Council ; but the Government's view was upheld in its main contention-that the teak forests were public ownership and should not be worked unchecked by timber exploiters. Brandis soon saw that it would be impossible to work such large areas departmentally, owing to the want of staff and other reasons. He therefore suggested that 12-15-year leases should be granted to approved timber contractors for a definite forest area, the trees to be removed to be marked and girdled by the Forest Department, and the lease be subject to certain definite conditions as regards methods of felling, extraction, etc. This practice is still in force. The other directions in which a true forest administration was commenced in Burma are by now well known. In 1861 Brandis was transferred to India and appointed first Inspector- General of Forests to the Government of India, and in 1864 the Indian (including Burma) Forest Service was formed, to be officered by men trained in Europe.
The Third Burma War and the annexation of Upper Burma might be said to have witnessed the third advance in forestry progress in Burma. The political reasons are not under consideration. The proclamation of the annexation of Upper Burma in January 1
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1886 was made just sixty years after the annexation of Tenasserim. The new territory placed an enormous area of potential teak and other forests under the Forest Department, the staff of which was far too small to deal with the task. However, progress was made in a remarkably short time by transferring sonic officers from India. Once again, and for the last time, the big timber contractors sought to get a free hand in the exploitation of the teak. forests in .this new Province. Once again the fight was carried to the Privy Council. But the Inspector-General'of the day, Ribbentrop, who had had long experience in Burma as a Forest Officer, won his case. and all the more easily since it was possible to point to the Pegu Forests thirty years after Brandis had stopped unchecked fellings, and compare them with the position of the cut-out Malabar Forests in (1830 and Tenasserim in 1845. The reservation of the forests went steadily forward during the last thirty years of the century. Another matter, first enunciated by Brandis, but not actually put into practice by him, was to make use of the nomadic shifting cultivation habits of the Shans and Karens by getting them to sow teak seed or plant in teak plants with their (shifting) cultivation. The idea was not new ; both in France and Germany the practice had been in force in the past: In Burma the term " "taungya" " had been given to the method, from the Burmese word for shifting cultivation. Considerable patches of young teak poles existed at the end of the century about the country, but as no record or map had been kept they had mostly beenlost to sight in the encompassing forest. In the early years of the present century the method fell into abeyance, but was revived at Tharrawaddy during the second decade of the century with very great success. This practice was adopted in the case of sal in Bengal .and spread throughout India and out to Africa and other parts of the Empire. I saw it in practice by the French Forest Officers in the Ivory Coast in 1934, copied from the work of British otficers in Nigeria. Forest administration based on sound sylvicultural management and finance made great progress in Burma during the first two decades of the present century. The First World War proved the soundness of the foundations laid. Great demands were made upon Burma to supply the requirements in Mesopotamia, and several other species besides the now .commonly used ones, teak and pyinkado were utilized, some remaining on the market, afterwards. one ' .. m .DVS Since the first successful attempt at protecting an Indian teak forest from fire ( in -the Central Provinces ) during the hot weather season in India had passed successfully, a fire protection system had been devised for all the reserved forests in India and Burma. Fires occurred annually ; but the wholesale scale of former times had come to an end.'- At the beginning of the present century fire protection in the moist teak forest in Burma was called in question. It was found that a low growth of evergreen shrubs covered the forest floor, through which no teak seedling could penetrate. Careful examination showed this to be true in both the moist teak and moist seal areas ( in India ). Fire protection was, therefore, given up save in the very young new woods. As an outcome, a practice termed " early burning " was adopted, with good results. To the trained acrd experienced forest officer, the test of the efficiency, thoroughness and permanency of a forest administration can be studied in one way and one way .only-by the presence of working plans in the area of forest administered, the degree of intensity on which the working plans are drawn, and the manner in which they are worked. A forest under a well-drafted working plan, 'which has passed the scrutiny of the higher forest authority, and been sanctioned by the civil administration of the country, is as safe as man can make it. Such plans laying down the whole management of the forest are usually drawn up for ten-year periods. Burma holds a high place in this important practice of the correct administration of a
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forest It is understood that no serious damage to the teak forests was done during the Second World War. Teak is chiefly a timber felled for export. During the War, all teak exports ceased and the Japanese did not undertake any serious fellings in the teak areas, only cutting what they required for their military forces. In 1939 it may be said that Burnia could show as fine a series of working plans for great forests from, to quote examples, the plans for South Toungoo and Tavo in Tenasserim, South Pegu, Zigon and the Northern Shan States, to the Mu and Katha Forests and those of the Chindwin in the north. The work is not finished. For example, some of these working plans have been revised or re-written several times since the early days of the first real working plan ( omitting the "paper" - or purely volume statistic plans of Brandis' day ) of' the earl. eighties. Others are first plans, as; fur example, the Mu Working Plan drawn up for the period 1929-30 to 1938-39. The total area of the Government r reserved -..,ed forests in Burma in 1938-39 on March 51st, 1930, was 20;1 J0,221 acres, The total - ;oluine of .teak timber felled during 1938-39 was 1,402,543 cubic feet. The total volume `of teak timber exported in 1'138-3':) was as follows in cubic tons Teakwood wood Teak sleepers Teak squares Teak conversions Teak round logs Total, 407,200 cubic tons ; teak keys ( in tans ), 4,753. That long role of British Forest Officers which commenced with Brandis more than ninety years ago is now to terminate. They have done a magnificent work for Burma, and have left a great heritage to the Burmans. The latter are now going to take full control of this finely tempered forest administration and these enormously valuable forest estates. In bidding a farewell we can but wish them all success, coupled with the warning that there is no other property in the world which can be so insidiously depreciated, sine it inevitably takes a term of years before the effects are perceivable or can be appreciated. 203,596 609 59,385 137,401 6,209
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SPECIAL ARTICLE
A REVIEW OF THE MANAGEMENT OF TEAK FORESTS IN BURMA
AND POSSIBLE INTRODUCTION OF THE SYSTEM OF COMPENSATORY PLANTATIONS
U Maung Gale, M.F. (Michigan), B.Sc., Dip.For. (Canberra), Director-General Forest Department, Burma
Dated 21-7-1978
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A Review of the Management of Teak Forests in Burma and Possible Introduction of the System of Compensatory Plantations By U Maung Gale M.F.(Michigan), B.Sc., Dip. For.(Canberra) Director-General, Forest Department, Burma.
Ever since the introduction. of systematic working of the teak forests in Burma by Dr. Brandis in the year 1856, the management of teak has evolved gradually along the lines of what-has eventually come to be known as the Burma Selection System. The underlying ideas behind the system when first conceived have been one of prevention of over-exploitation of teak on the one hand, and. the provision of adequate regeneration to preserve the future stock of teak. Dr. Brandis introduced a system of teak exploitation whereby the overmature and mature sizes were removed by the fixation of a minimum cutting size-class (girth limit) and the adoption of an interval of cutting to conform approximately to the interval of time required to advance one foot girth to the exploitable size from the next girth class below. This interval of time was reckoned to be 30 years5 generally for teak throughout the country. This original system of regulation of teak harvesting prevails to this day with some slight modification6. The attempts to ensure adequate regeneration of teak took the form of improvement fellings whereby all other non-commercial hardwoods interfering with the growth of teak (both young and old) were felled and cleared. This cultural operation came to be known as Improvement Felling. The selection of teak of the exploitable sizes coupled with Improvement Felling operations eventually came to be known as the Burma Selection System (BSS). The system has been adopted in the country continuously over a hundred years, with varying degrees of success. However, by and large, the system has achieved remarkable success in preventing over-exploitation of teak and the best evidence of this is the continued existence of the valuable Burmese teak forest estate, fairly intact, up to the present day as it was in Brandis day. Only the question of adequacy of natural regeneration to replenish the original growing stock seems to be a debatable one. At the present time, this question has been heightened by the fact that in some teak forests there appears to be evidence of declining stock of teak in the smaller size classes, a trend that naturally causes some concern about the sustainable stock of teak for future .yields. Burma Selection System As mentioned above, the system relies solely for a sustained supply of teak from the exploitation of the mature and overmature stock, while entirely dependent upon improvement fellings to induce regeneration and nurse the established crop to maturity. There is no reason to doubt that improvement fellings do assist regeneration as well as the established crop of teak, but it is uncertain to what degree that this had happened. In view of the fact that the best teak forests contain, on an average, only about 10 % of teak of the total growing stock, the greater the intensity of improvement fellings that can be put through, the greater would the teak benefit from it. Nevertheless, from practical considerations, the degree and intensity of this cultural
Referred to as The Felling Circle (FC) The modification w.r.t. the cutting size varies with the quality of forests. Fore good forests the felling girth in the BSS is 76. In poor quality forests depending on the region, the felling girth may be 66, or even 50. (SH)
6
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operation had to be confined within manageable limits. It is rather unfortunate that no meaningful analysis can yet be done to ascertain quantitatively the increase in teak stock directly attributable to these operations. However, there can be no gainsaying the fact that natural regeneration of teak has not been -a success under the Selection System. We do have the distinct pronoucements of foremost forest authorities of India and Burma on this subject of teak natural regeneration under the selection System of working. We may quote the remarks of an eminent forest authority of the time - Mr. C.G. Trevor, After our selection fellings in which we remove our good kinds of trees, the inferior species come in from seed, and the forests does degenerate economically, and in time you would have a forest which has practically no valuable trees left in it ". Yet another, Mr. A.R. Villar had remarked - " Natural regeneration of teak is conspicuous by its absence in the selection forests especially in the better areas ". At this stage, a closer look is again called for to ascertain whether or not there has been sufficient inducement of natural regeneration by improvement fellings. Also coupled with this, an attempt at analysis to discover the capacity of teak and a few high-value commercial species to maintain or increase the original stock whenever openings are created either by removal of exploitable sizes in selection felling or removal of undesirables arable species in improvement felling. However, the fact remains that the annual from the pre-war level of 450,000 tons to time. The reason for this decline may not the growing stock, but may also be due to a) b) c) d) e) sustained yield of teak has declined around 350,000 tons at the present be entirely due to the decrease in the following contributory causes.
The increase in population and the alarming rate of illicit teak extraction. The increasing rate of encroachment of cultivation upon reserved forests. Insecure conditions in many parts of the forests. The rapid depletion of the unclassified forests, and the dwindling of supplies from this source. Inadequate staff and funds for protection.
Analysis made from enumeration data in some of the better known teak forests in the Pegu Yomas have shown the inescapable fact, that, in some considerable areas, the trend of recruitment of the smaller size-classes has been a declining one over two successive felling cycles. ( As shown in the attached stand curves ). Sample surveys carried out in these same reserves to discover the extent of natural regeneration also showed somewhat disappointing results, as can be seen from table attached. From the foregoing, continued operation discernable decline there do not appear growing stock. one is led to the inevitable conclusion, that, under the of the Selection System, there has been a slow but in the established growing stock of teak, and also, that, to be adequate natural regeneration to sustain the original
The Teak Selection Working Circle in reserves cover an extent of about 14 million acres. Of this area about 7 million acres may be classified as falling within the categories of protection forests, rugged terrain of difficult access, and predominantly dipterocarp forests where teak is scarce. This leaves about 7 million acres of good accessible teak forest which should come under some system of concentrated working in favour of teak. If it can be assumed that, in general, the Burma Selection System, has failed to provide for adequate regeneration of teak, then the question still remains to be answered, what other alternative system can be adopted to ensure successful regeneration over wide-ranging forest areas within the physical capacity and resources of the forest administration.
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The Implications of Introduction of the Uniform System of Management in Burmese Forestry with Particular Reference to Teak The Burmese teak forests contain a bewildering mixture of many tropical hardwood species with varying amounts of teak of no more than 10 % of the growing stock on the average, The value of teak is so much higher than all the other associated hardwoods, that forest management in Burma had all along focused attention on teak almost to the virtual exclusion of other species. Burmese foresters of many generations, going right back to the early nineties, had all along shown considerable interest in, and given practical consideration to measures designed to increase the composition and rate of growth of teak in the natural forests, The professional foresters in the country$ as early as 1910, gave serious consideration to the desirability of conversion of the Selection System of teak management to one of Uniform System, over a period of about 150 years, conforming roughly to the rotation of teak in the natural forests. The Uniform System would require the felling of most teak and other associated species leaving only teak and a few valuable hardwood species of the post and pole sizes to develop uniformly into an even-aged crop. The rate of growth and the composition of the desired crop to be enhanced by repeated tending operations at periodic intervals.
British foresters who had spent most of their active field careers in Burmese teak forests including such men as Troup and Blanford had in their day, experimented with attempts to introduce the Uniform System of working in the teak forests in Burma, notably in Myitkyina and Tharawaddy Forest Divisions. Some of the problems encountered may briefly be summarized as follows:-
a) The utilization of teak and other commercial hardwoods of varying sizes down to the smallest ones. b) The inadequate stock of teak and valuable hardwoods of the smaller sizes to form the eventual uniform/even-aged crop. c) The rapid overtaking of the site by weeds and noncommercial species to the almost complete exclusion of natural regeneration of teak: and other valuable hardwoods. d) Artificial regeneration had to be carried out to ensure regeneration of teak and other desirable hardwoods. The same had to be tended continuously for periods up to 5 or more years, e) The cost of operations was found to be unreasonably high. f) Insufficient field staff to cope with the continuity of work.
These endeavours were made as early as 1910, sustained over a decade or so, but eventually abandoned due to diverse impractical reasons. The general consensus of opinion of the professional body of foresters at the time, and of later periods, can best be summarized in the following record of the Burma Forestry Conference of 13th June 1910, which amongst other topics, considered the conversion of the ;election System to the Uniform System for teak management. It was only when the proposal to fell under-sized teak came to be discussed that Mr. Troup failed to carry the conference with him. It was pointed out that
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the success of the change of system was not so assured as to justify the sacrifice involved in felling immature trees. Not only would the market value of stems of 4 feet 6 inches to 6 feet girth be relatively small, but, in the event of failure in inducing regeneration, the forest would be worse off than at the start. The firm of Sandwell/Forestal Forestry Consultants have now recommended (1978 ) the adoption of the Uniform System of management to gradually replace the current Selection System. Their recommendation runs as follows. The following changes in forest management in Burma are recommended:Forest management based on a system of natural regeneration should be continued in all other areas of forest in Burma. However, it is recommended that the following changes should be introduced on an experimental and gradual basis: a) The management and extraction of teak should be integrated in time and in place with the management and extraction of other hardwoods b) On those areas where the stand structures so indicate, the forest management and extraction plans should be gradually converted from the present Selection System to a Uniform System. It is recommended that an average rotation or felling cycle of 100 years be adopted for both teak and other hardwoods anal that all trees over two feet in girth should be extracted. This process should be done gradually by manipulating the felling cycle and the girth Limits as discussed below. Successful implementation of a Uniform System will require careful selection of the rotation which will, undoubtedly, vary from site to site. The rotation must be suitable for the majority of species, although teak will be the decisive influence in most cases. The operation of the Uniform System will undoubtedly, require improvement operations at regular intervals throughout the rotation. Combinations of climber cutting, improvement felling, weeding, enrichment planting, compensatory planting, removal of weed trees, provision of seed trees and other silvicultural operations will have to be developed for each forest type. Due consideration will also have to be given to the prevention of erosion and to the economics of extracting the smaller dimension material from the less accessible areas. c) The present Selection System of management should be perpetuated in forests which are designated as protection forest and in those productive forest area where the existing stand structure so indicate, that is, those in which there is an orderly progression of stems in the successive girth classes. However, in such areas to be managed by the Selection System, it is recommended that the felling cycle should be reduced to 25 years with a maximum deviation of plus or minus five years, dependent on average site quality. In addition it is recommended that the girth limit for teak be reduced 66 with a maximum deviation of plus or minus 6'. Hardwood girth limmits should be set for each species and teak and other hardwoods should be extracted simultaneously. If fully implemented, the foregoing recommendations of a change from the present Selection System to a Uniform System will involve several major changes in silvicultural methods, extraction, transports processing and marketing. It will involve the expenditure of considerable sums of money on roads, equipment, plants, plantation development and silvicultural operations such as improvement fellings. The change from the Selection System to a Uniform System must be gradual and developed only after detailed planning and experimentation. Given the current structure of stocking in the teak bearing forests in the accessible areas, plus the existing backlog of girdled teak, it is considered that a sufficient volume of teak exists for a period of two felling cycles at current cutting rates under the Selection System. It is during this-period of approximately 60 years that the transformation to a Uniform System should take
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place. A start on developing the actual methods should be initiated immediately. In the light of practical experimental results and experience with the Uniform System by generations of past professional foresters in Burma, and their abandonment of this system of working as being unsuitable in Burma, it is indeed surprising, that, a Consulting Firm should make such a recommendation after a few months survey of the Burmese forests. One can only say, that, such recommendation, contrary to the findings and experience of foresters who had devoted their entire forestry careers to working in the Burmese forests, is to say the least, ill-conceived and misguided. Teak Plantations A review of teak management in Burma cannot be complete without an assessment of plantation practices in the country stretching over a long period of time. Plantations have also been the subject of continuing attention and debate by foresters right up to the present day. The technique of successful artificial regeneration of teak in conjunction with shifting cultivation (taungya method) originated with Sir. D. Brandis dating back to the year 1856. From these early days of successful artificial regeneration, foresters have all along attempted plantation establishment in most of the best natural teak forests, with the bulk of the planting in the forest divisions forming part of the Pegu Yomas in the lower half of the country. A large number of Burmese foresters seem to have been preoccupied with teak plantation work in one form or another during their careers in Burma. The earlier attempts took the form of establishing plantations in small compact blocks of 50 to 200 acres in extent in the more accessible parts of the natural forest reserves. In the late twenties and early thirties, some controversy developed as to whether the establishment of teak plantations should be continued or not in view of mounting expenditures. The issue eventually became a heated one with sharply divided opinions amongst foresters, and perhaps not without bitter pronouncements on both sides. The question was finally resolved by the Government of the day laying down the policy of curtailment of plantations to the extent permissible by availability of funds from year to year. This restriction and the consequent curtailment of the planting program continued right up to the out-break of the second world war, The same conditions more or less prevailed for about a decade after the end of the war and national independence, when a new impetus was again given to plantation establishment till the present day. The extent of plantations established in the country beginning from the early times can be seen below.
Teak Plantations
1895-96 1927-28 1941-42 1947-48 1955-56 1977-78
Period to 1926-27 to 1940-41 to 1946-47 to 1954-55 to 1976-77 (Target) Total
Area planted in acres 68,341 22,912 50 35,336 3,3051 129,944
Remarks
War years
The establishment techniques gradually evolved on a standard pattern beginning with a spacing of 6x 6 and a thinning regime of 5-year intervals for the first 15 years, and at 10-year intervals later up to age 40. The plantations beyond this age limit were treated as part of the natural forests for felling and utilization along with those from the natural forests on attaining the fixed exploitable girth sizes. Under this system/ practice of plantation establishment the average results of growth and yield on average sites tend to
115
be in the region of 511 g.b.h. 112 height and 46.44 H/tons per acre at age 60 or an M.A.I. of about 0.77 H/tons per acre. It is of interest to note that in recent years a trial system of elite thinning carried out in India (Madras - 1955/56) where with the initial espacement of 8 x 8 ( Quality I/II ), the remaining elites at about 24 apart showed exceptional growth over those thinned under the conventional system. ( 14 d.b.h. against 10 d.b.h.). The average difference in diameter development was found to be as much as 40% at 20 years age. One can almost say that this serves to illustrate that the thinning regimes of the past for teak may have been too cautious, and conservative, and that substantial yield increases may perhaps be obtained by suitable changes in thinning schedules. In Burmese forestry, mixed plantation trials of teak with other indigenous hardwood species have been tried, such as Xylia dolabriformis, Gmelina arbores, Mitragyna rotundifolia, Adina cordifolia and Lagerstroemia speciosa, but without any marked success, except in the case of Xylia dolabriformis in a few localities. The problems associated with the establishment of pure teak plantations ( in sizeable blocks ) in Burma are to a large extent common with those encountered in various parts of India. Some of these are:-
a) b) c) d) e) f)
Varying degrees of soil erosion, sometimes of serious proportions resulting in rapid decline of growth. Gradual soil deterioration with consequent reduction in increment. More susceptible to insect damage (Bee-hole borers leaf-miners.) Generally, greater occurrence of fluted boles More often than not, a general falling-off in rate of growth and health after 10 to 20 years. Open to dangers of damage from fire and weather, and also of human interference.
From early days fear has been expressed in some quarters that the wood from plantations may prove inferior to that from natural stands, but there seem to be no factual basis, and some authorities have proved this to be quite unfounded. Having had the benefit of some considerable experience of teak plantations stretching over a long period of time, the Burmese foresters do seem to have arrived at the cross-roads, whether to continue with teak plantation establishment on an extensive scale in keeping with traditional practice or turn to a new system in a new setting? Compensatory Plantation System ( C.P.S) In the absence of natural regeneration of teak in the natural forests under the Selection System of working, we have already seen the gradual depletion of the original growing stock, as confirmed by stock-taking after two successive felling cycles. We have now to consider a system of treatment to correct this situation consistent with principles of sound forest management. A possible solution that springs to mind is the temptation to liquidate the natural forests, cash-in, and invest in extensive teak plantations. However, such a step may have serious ramifications, not the least of which being ecological considerations. Therefore, in an attempt to discover a suitable system, it might well be advisable to draw upon the experience and findings of a large body of professional foresters who have devoted their whole forestry careers to working in the great teak forests of India and Burma. In scanning their experience, stretching over a period of more than one hundred years, there seem to be a good degree of general agreement on the desirability, (and indeed many instances of success) for artificial regeneration in small patches in the natural forests to compensate for lack of natural regeneration. The idea seems to have developed originally from the concept agreed upon by all foresters, that the trees taken out in selection-felling should at least be replaced if
116
for no other reasons. Attempts were made with gap-planting of various species in various kinds of forests with varying degrees of success. It appears that in many instances, lack of success could be attributed to the gaps being too small, and the difficulty of close and continuous tending after the planting operations. However, successful plantings have been achieved where the gaps are greater than 25' and with subsequent tending. Nevertheless, there did not emerge or evolve by general consensus, a regular system of such big-gap planting as a means of systematic treatment of the natural forests to ensure adequate regeneration. Drawing upon this experience of the past, it is now proposed for the Burmese teak forests, such a systematic means of treatment to be called Compensatory Plantation . In essence, this can be classified as a form of enrichment planting, in that its primary purpose is not to harvest plantation timber as such, but to compensate for lack of natural regeneration in the natural forest. The use of the name Compensatory Plantation " seems rather more appropriate, because the entire technique of establishment and tending will largely conform to the conventional teak plantation practices. In proposing this system of treatment by compensatory plantations, the following basic considerations have been taken into account:a) To preserve the ecological system and maintain the original character of the natural forest. b) To increase the stock of teak up to desirable limits. c) Operational flexibility to conform to available resources of man-power and funds. The actual operation will consist of the following sequence of work:i) Small planting areas each one to two acres in extent will be selected for planting sitting with teak. ii) Only those areas suitable for teak regeneration will be selected with care, and fairly steep terrain will be avoided to prevent soil erosion.
iii) The plots selected for planting should not only be suitable sites for teak planting but should also contain relatively less amounts of established natural teak. iv) Each selected plot should be as far as possible from the next one within the same compartment and subject only to the stipulated number within such compartment.
v) The chosen plots will be regenerated with teak by the usual teakplantation technique namely clear felling, burning, staking and stump planting at 9x 9 spacing. vi) For convenience of working, a central temporary nursery can be located in the centre of one compartment or at a place adjoining two or more compartments for planting, and the planting stock transported conveniently to scattered planting sites.
vii) The usual weeding/tending twice annually for two years, and possibly once in the third year. viii) 50%. A mechanical first thinning in 5-7 years age reducing the stock by
ix) A second and first selection thinning at 15 years age reducing the final stodk to around 50-70 stems per acre. (Approximately 25x 25) spacing.
117
x) The plantation after this age will be regarded as firmly established and henceforth treated as part of the natural forest. Under this system of planting, the number of plots chosen (hence the area of planting) will depend upon the degree of enrichment of teak desired. The degree of enrichment desired, hence the number of plots to be regenerated as a percentage of the total area (5 %, 10 a, 15 f or 20 %) will depend upon the availability of resources, and adjustments can be made as necessary. If it is desired to do planting up to 10 % in an area of 1,000 acres, then there will be 100 acres of planting in one hundred or less number of plots, if some of these happen to be more than one acre, but less than two, The number of stems reaching maturity will be no less than 50 per acre planted, or a total of more than 5,000. In 60 years time, the stock per acre is expected to reach around 46 H/tons, or 4,600 H/tons for the 100 acres. In terms of the total area of 1,000 acres in which these 100 acres of plantation are included, the enrichment will be at the average rate of 4.6 H/tons per acre. The original natural forest yield is an average of 0.8 H/tons per acre in 60 years (0.4 H/tons every 30 years)) so that the enrichment achieved is of the order of 57.5%. True, the enriched teak would not be found on every acre of the 1,000 acre natural forest, but concentrated in the most productive parts of the area. In this regard, one can best illustrate this by quoting the remarks attributed to the late Sir. C.G. Trevor, one time Inspector-General of Forests, India, Quote The question of small plantations as compared with gaps has been raised. As Mr. Trevor said, economically and financially the former are a better proposition for the quantity of teak that you can produce at a given cost. Mr. Trevor urged that the rest of the forest should not be devastated. After our selection fellings in which we remove our good kinds of trees, the inferior species come in from seed and the forest does degenerate economically and in time you would have a forest which has practically no valuable trees left in it. But there still would be a forest and an area of plantation in the most suitable portion of that forest will produce a larger quantity of teak for the same expenditure than would be obtained from an equivalent area of gap regeneration. You are not destroying the forest; you are merely transferring the productive capacity to a small area instead of spreading it over the whole forest.Unquote. In actual practice, the system of planting in small plots of one to two- acre extent will serve to fulfill the following basic requirements. a) The plots are large enough to be easily identifiable on the map as well as on the ground for subsequent treatment and small enough to enable one family of taungya-cutters to be able to manage effectively, and for his work to be appraised separately. The plots are large enough to be regenerated artificially using plantation techniques.
b)
c)
d)
The plots are small enough to be merged eventually with the natural forest, without altering the character of the natural forest. The plots are small enough to admit encroachment by the surrounding vegetation in due course, establish an under-storey and protect the soil after the teak trees have been firmly established.
The Possible Advantages of Small Compensatory Plantations as Compared to Large-Scale Pure Teak Plantations in Blocks
i)
ii)
The regenerated teak will be fully established with the distinct possibility of no less than 80 % survival, relatively free from fire damage, weather damage, and human interference. Less likelihood of soil erosion, root exposure and consequent decline in rate of growth.
118
iii)
iv) v)
Serious damage from bee-hole borer attack and defoliation by leaf miners is much less in teak from the natural forest environment than in pure teak plantation (A.R.Villar of the Burma Forest Service had stated at the 4th Silvicultural Conference in. 1934, that where the bee-hole borer attacks had occurred, those in plantations were about three times as heavy as that in adjoining natural forests). Fluted boles are probably relatively more frequent in pure teak plantations than in the natural forest environment. Extensive pure teak plantations may lead to soil impoverishment resulting in decline of future yields. (All India Teak Study Tour and Symposium, 1957-58).
The establishment of compensatory plantations is essentially a system to secure regeneration to compensate for lack of natural regeneration in the natural forest. Therefore, the cost of this form of plantation establishment should not be subject to financial evaluation, but should, be considered as a legitimate expense for the development of the natural forest from the revenue realized out of the sale of timber extracted from the same forest. Possible Application of the System of Compensatory Plantation, in the Context of Teak Management in Burmese Forestry This system of compensatory plantation may be introduced in conjunction with the existing Selection System of Management for teak. Burmese foresters have been acquainted with teak plantation practice over a long period of time, and no difficulties or problems can arise with the introduction of this system. One forest division should be able to cope with about 500 acres or more of planting each year. This would mean a coverage of 5000 acres of natural teak forest at 10%, level of enrichment. There are a total of 30 forest divisions in the country covering some 7 million acres of fairly accessible teak forests. At the minimum planting rate of 500 acres per division annually, the total planting each year would amount to 15,000 areas, which would also mean the coverage (treatment) over 150,000 acres of natural teak forest. Assuming that the M.A.I. of the planted stock is around 0.77 H/tons per acre over a period of 60 years, the above stock would represent the equivalent of 11,550 H/tons M.A.I. for the whole country. The M.A.I. at the end of 60 years would also rise to 11,550 x 60 = 693,000 tons. If this scale of planting is sustained over a period of 60 years, then the growing stock of teak would be increased by (15000 x 60 x 46)/2 = 20,700,000 tons, with an addition of 15,000 x 46 = 690,000 tons from this source to the annual sustained yield from the natural forest at the end of 60 years. The annual, sustained yield could well exceed one million tons at this time. In this connection, one cannot help but reproduce Mr.C.W.D. Kermode's observation in his book Some Aspects of Silviculture in Burma Forests 1964. If a big program of regeneration work were started up at once, then the yield of teak should start to rise again in from 70 to 80 years from now. The yield could go on steadily increasing thereafter. Such large areas of forest are available that a target of permanent yield of a million round tons per annum need not be looked upon as unduly ambitious. The compensatory plantations (enrichment operation) would have covered 900,000 acres or say, nearly one million acres of natural teak forest in 60 years.
As has already been mentioned earlier, after 100 years of management of the teak forests in Burma under the Selection System, the yield has declined from 450,000 tons to 350,000 tons annually within the past 40 years. The above estimates of a possible increase of 20,700,000 tons in the growing stock, and a boost of 690,000 tons in the annual yield after 60 years of compensatory plantation treatment, would therefore, appear to be a notable achievement. Hence, the undoubted justification for the introduction of this system of treatment.
119
This proposed system of compensatory plantations (C.P.S.) can be adopted where there is selective exploitation of valuable species in the natural forest, so as to either ensure adequate regeneration or enrich the future composition of the species in such forests. The author acknowledges useful suggestions from Messrs. U Tha Tun San, U Saw Han and U Ohn of the Burmese Forestry Department.
Dated 21st July 1978.
120
B i b 1 i o g r a p h y 1. Blanford, H.R. "Teak regeneration under the Uniform System in Mohnyin - Katha Division". Indian Forester' Vol. XLIII No 8, 1917. Brasnett, N.V. "Enrichment of tropical mixed deciduous forest by planting". Forestry Abstracts, Vol. 10 No. 4, 1949. Champion, H.G. "The problem of the pure teak plantation". Forest Bulletin No. 78, 1932. Kermode, C.W.D. "Some aspects of silviculture in Burma". Laurie, M.V. "Problem of the pure teak plantation". Proceedings of the Silvicultural Conferences October - November 1934. Laurie, M.V. and Ram, B.S. "Yield and stand tables for teak plantations in India and Burma". Indian Forest Records, Vol.IV-A, No.1, 1940. Leete, F.A. "Memorandum on teak plantations in Burma". Forest Bulletin No.2, 1911. Rowbotham, C.J. and Laurie, M.V. "Artificial regeneration with Selection System in mixed forests". Seaman, L.N. "Plantation grown teak-wood versus natural forest teak-wood". Proceedings of the Fourth Silvicultural Conference. Dehra Dun, 1934 Troup.. R.S. "Notes on the application of a more uniform System of working to the teak forests of the Tharrawaddy Division, Burma. Proceedings of the Firet Burma Forest Conference, Maymyo, Burma, 1910, Memorandum regarding prescriptions for improvement fellings in teak Working-plans in Burma and the introduction of a more uniform system of working". Proceedings of the First Burma Forest Conference, Maymyo, Burma, June 1910. Working plan for the Yoma reserves in the Tharawaddy Division Volume I & II, 1919. Planting of one year old teak "stumps". Burma Forest Bulletin No. 3, Silvicultural Series. April 1921. Working Plan for the Tharawaddy away forest division Part II, 1928-29 to 1942-43. Proceedings of all India teak study tour and symposium. December 1957 January 1958. Forest Feasibility Study - Report X4040/2 Sandwell Management Consultants Ltd., 1978.
2.
3.
4, 5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
121
Comparison of Teak Stand Curves in East Pegu Yoma Region During Previous Entry and The Last Entry
East 1. Yamethin 2. Pyinmana 3. North Toungoo 4.6 0.56 0.5 Pegu Yoma Region (230882 acres) (46587 acres) 4. South Toungoo (34104 acres) (99468 acres) 5. North Pegu (9363 acres) (29850 acres) 6. South Pegu (11510 acres) 5.6 6.6 7.6 8.6 0.58 0.46 0.275 0.13 0.55 0.472 0.306 0.085
GBH Pervious Entry Last Entry
9.6 0.08 0.017
122
Comparison of Teak Stand Curves in Yamethin Division (46587 acres) GBH Previous entry Last entry 46 0.78 0.65 5'6" 0.86 0.76 66 0.65 0.62 7'6" 0.24 0.32 8'6" 0.15 0.08 96 0.08 0.04
123
Teak Stand Curves of East Pegu Yoma Region

Pyinmana Teak St and Curves (99468 acres)
0.7
0.6
0.5 of Trees per Acre No 0.2 0.1 0 4'6" 5'6" 6'6" 7'6" 8'6" 9'6" Bresast Height Girth Previous entry Last entry
0.4
0.3
124
North Toungoo Teak Stand Curves (29850 acres)

Stand Curves Teak in North Toungoo Division (29850 acres)
0.35
0.3
0.25 No of trees per Acre
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0 4'6" 5'6" 6'6" 7'6" 8'6" 9'6"
Breast Height Girth Previous entry Last entry
125
Stand Curves of Teak in South Toungoo Division (34104 acres)

0.6
0.5
No of Trees per Acre
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 4'6" 5'6" 6'6" 7'6" 8'6" 9'6"
Breast Height Girth Previous entry Last entry
126
Stand Curves of Teak in North Pegu Division (9363 acres)

0.8
0.7
0.6 of Trees per Acre No 0.2 0.1 0 4'6" 5'6" 6'6" Breast Height Girth Previous Entry Last Entry 7'6" 8'6" 9'6"
0.5
0.4
0.3
127
Stand Curves of Teak in South Pegu Division (11510 acres)

0.45 0.4 No of Trees per Acre 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 4'6" 5'6" 6'6" Breast Height Girth Previous Entry Last Entry 7'6" 8'6" 9'6"
128
Comparison of Teak Stand Curves in East Pegu Yoma Region During Previous Entry and The Last Entry
East Pegu Yoma Region (230882 acres)
1. Yamethin (46587 acres) 2. Pyinmana (99468 acres) 3. North Toungoo (29850 acres) 4. South Toungoo (34104 acres) 5. North Pegu (9363 acres) 6. South Pegu (11510 acres)
GBH Pervious Entry Last Entry
46 0.56 0.5
56 0.58 0.55
66 0.46 0.472
76 0.275 0.306
86 0.13 0.085
2_Yamethin Teak Stand Curves (46587 acres)

GBH Previous entry Last entry GBH 46 0.78 0.65 4'6" 0.6 0.51 5'6" 0.62 0.57 5'6" 0.86 0.72 6'6" 0.51 0.51 66 0.65 0.62 7'6" 0.315 0.33 7'6" 0.24 0.32 8'6" 0.17 0.06 8'6" 0.15 0.08
3_Pyinmana Teak Stand Curves of East Pegu Region (99468 acres)

Previous entry
Last entry
9'
4_North Toungoo Teak Stand Curves (29850 acres)

GBH Previous entry Last entry 4'6" 0.234 0.314 5'6" 0.202 0.258 6'6" 0.135 0.183 7'6" 0.09 0.135 8'6"
9'6" 0.042 0.03 0.051 0.012
5_South Toungoo Teak Stand Curves (34104 acres)

GBH Previous entry Last entry GBH Previous Entry Last Entry 4'6" 0.44 0.52 4'6" 0.45 0.24 5'6" 0.43 0.46 5'6" 0.71 0.366 6'6" 0.37 0.39 6'6" 0.73 0.456 7'6" 0.25 0.28 7'6" 0.51 0.471 8'6" 0.112 0.124 8'6" 0.246 0.15 9'6"
6_Stand Curves of Teak in North Pegu Division (9363 acres)
7_Stand Curves of Teak in South Pegu Division (11510 acres)

GBH Previous Entry Last Entry 4'6" 0.31 0.255 5'6" 6'6" 0.39 0.363 7'6" 0.345 0.41 8'6" 0.258 0.33 9'6" 0.117 0.15
FILE NAME A_Gale 1 East Pegu Yoma Region
FILE NAME A_Gale 2 Yamethin

FILE NAME A_Gale 3 Pyinmana
FILE NAME A_Gale 4 North Toungoo FILE NAME A_Gale 5 South Toungoo FILE NAME A_Gale 6 North Pegu
FILE NAME A_Gale 7 South Pegu
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133
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135
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A - Service Centenary Issue - Burmese Forester - Selected Articles

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The Service Centenary Issue of The Burmese Forester Selected Articles Vol VI. N0 1.

31. Thirlpyanchi U Chein Hoe 32. U Thein Han, T.D.M., A.T.M.

3- 1-1955 21- 5-1956

DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST TYPES OF BURMA C.W.D.Kermode (1)

(3) records records records records 34,070 54,722 64,144 82.483

Value of Exp Total Ave Lakhs per (R (8) (

WHY WE HAD FAILED? By U Thein Lwin, B.F.S. (1) (Retd.) (4)

3) Failure to protect forests from annual fires

1947 RANGERS With Rangers' Diploma Cadre 62(a) 133

1948 13(e) 133

1956 68(f) 133

In lakhs of Kyats Claimed Awarded 33.42 75.50 43.84 21.20

3.34 15.26 17.20 155.14

1.95 7.40 8.17 72.14

Variable Logs upcountry Logs Rgn/

Moulmein Converted timber Stores Total Fixed Buildings& lands

--21.26 259.79 21.44

11.79 65.14 285.01 19.46 3.51 65.11 263.95 18.68

15.19 66.67 318.08 18.16

27.64 70.86 382.05 18.05

30.44 67.11 477.39 17.79

41.63 66.08 544.09 17.09

65.89 66:00 609:96 16.58

--10.70 23.38 50.75 1.04

--13.95 32.74 45.68 0.75

--13.06 29.48 46.16 0.10

1.94 10.06 17.65 46.97 13.07

5.78 10.03 14.87 46.47 11.11

--3.35 110.66 370.45

1.09 6.45 120.12 405.13

1.17 5.05 113.70 377.65

56.91 5.12 168.81 712.90

58.15 4.166 167.65 777.61

Maritime ......... 2,149

(217) (372) 48 4,855 15,446

......... (1,230) (269)

Northern .. ....... 6,127

250 332 -9 73 1,434 (721)

(1715) 43 (78) 286

22,750 6016 (6,061)

1,145 3,158 34,789 1,85,307 (800) -

Maritime Hlaing Sittang Northern Chindwin Shan State Total:-

37,774 5,629 5,178 17,393 25,012 15,968 1,06,954

Soil Conservation 204 249 337 790

686 2782 1868 921 3812 11070 21,139

1,559 724 15 298 948 3,544

16,145 966 278 13,100 12,099 2,248 44,836

F. G. GERRATY. late Chairman, Forestry Commission, Victoria, Australia.

10. Comprehensive Report-Economic and Engineering Development of Burma..

THE ROLE OF FORESTERS IN AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

U SU (Deputy Conservator of Forests) Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

DRY ZONE AFFORESTATION PROJECT

U SEIN DAING (Extra Assistant Conservator of Forests) Deputy Executive Officer

U ME GYI (Extra Assistant. Conservator of Forests) (Rtd.) Deputy Executive Officer

(1) (2) (3)

A SHORT NOTE ON THE WORKING OF THE STATE TIMBER BOARD

U TUN KYAW Director of Marketing, Milling and Works, S.T.B. (11)

Variable Assets (at cost) Fixed Assets (at Book value)

THE DRY ZONE OF CENTRAL BURMA By U PE KIN, D.C.F. (Retd.) (12)

By E. A. P. REYNOLDS, Principal Forest Ofcer, Shan State (13)

TRAINING UNDER THE COLOMBO PLAN IN THE MALAYAN MANGROVES

Mr. J. B. Carrapiett. Forest Economist