CIvit ( Swlntonia florlbunda ) veneer,
dry (1J—12 percent moisture content)
boric acid and 1.9 percent
for 10, 25 and 40 minutes,
three-ply plywood.
1.5 mm thick, both green and
were soaked in 1 25 percent
borax solutions separately at 90° —100°C
These were conditioned and glued into
with a ureaformaldehyde adhesive fortified with
melamine, for producing boil-resistant glue-bond. Plywood shear test
samples were prepared and tested in both dry and wet (boiled in water
for six hoyrs and tested while wet) states.
Dry shear tests show that green veneers treated with both boric
acid and borax, and dry veneers treated with borax had the higher
bond strength, while the longest treating time (40 minutes) had the
lowest bond strength, all the differences being significant at the 5%
level. The wet test shows significant differences at the 5% level
between the preservatives, borax treatment producing better bond
strength However, all the treatment combinations resulted in adequate
bond strength for the type of plywood produced.

Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts
of Bangladesh arc well known for natural
Garjan (Dipterocarpns tnrbinatiis Gacrtn. F.).
These are lofty trees having clean cylindrical boles and elevated crowns. The
wood is the major raw material for railway
sleepers, poles and boat-building. Due to
its high demand and consequent over exploi-

Machining properties of wood are highly
important in determining their suitability
for prospective uses. Different woods vary
in machining properties as influenced by
their density, fibre structure, chemical and
mineral contents and many other
characteristics. As machining is involved in all
common woodworking operations, a knowledge
of the machinability of different woods
is helpful in selection of a particular species
for a particular use. The importance
of this information lies in marketing of conversion for The minor species occur gregariously
along with the commercial species in the
natural forests of the country. Due to
ignorance of the characteristics and machining
properties of these species, they are either
abandoned at the remote site in the forests
or used as fuel wood. Since the supply of
major commercial species of wood has
dwindled to a great extent, it is imperative to
introduce and bring these minor and new

Fibre dimension indicates the suitability
of a vegetable fibrous raw material for
making pulp. About 600 species of hardwoods,
about 20 species of bamboos and
a few species of grass are available in the
forests of Bangladesh. Of these, 40 woods, 13
bamboos, 6 grasses and 10 miscellaneous
fibrous materials are reported in this
review. None of these species can alone
feed any paper mill except Gewa wood
which is exclusively used for newsprint
pulp at Khulna Newsprint Mills. Karnaphuli
Paper and Rayon Mills are utilising
a few bamboo species along with other hardwoods. Grasses like Nal, Khagra &
Ekrah are partly used in Sylhet Pulp Mills.
Most of the wood, bamboo and grass
species are found scattared all over the
forests of Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts
and Sylhet. Due to inaccessibility into
forest and heavy cost of felling and transportation,
few of these species can be used
economically as pulping raw material.
However, this report will be useful to pulp,
paper and board industries in finding out
alternative species to the present source of
raw materials.

Rakta Kambal (Adenanthera pavonia
Linn. ; Family : Leguminosae, Sub-Family ;
Mimosoideae) is a moderate sized deciduous
tree of the eastern Sub-Himalayan tract,
Burma, the Andamans and the Western
Ghat (Troup 1921, Anon. 1948). The
red wood of Rakta, Kambal is reported to
be used as a substitute for true sandal
wood (Anon. 1948). This tree grows well
in moist areas and is propagated by
cuttings (Troup 1921, Anon. 1948). It is
often planted in road side plantations
especially in southern India. Troup (1921)
reported that the seed of Rakta Kambal
is difficult to germinate.

Seedlings of Pinus caribaea var.
hondurensis planted at Keochia Silvicultural
Research Station, Chittagong in 1972
reached an average height of 14.0 m and
started bearing fruits in 1982. The trees
flowered during the months of January-
February and cones ripened in August-
September of the same year. Some seeds
were hand-picked from two selected trees
in 1982 and the seeds were extracted from
the cones by exposing them in the sun.
Germination experiment was carried out
with them. The seeds were first tested by
floatation process with 85% ethyl alcohol
for finding out the empty seeds. After the
test, 220 mature seeds were sown in
polybags filled up with forest top soil. An
appropriate quantity of chemical fertilizer
was also applied. The tops of the bags

In Bangladesh, natural resources add a
considerable amount of revenue and thus
have a direct effect on socio-economic condition
of the country. Calamus spp. (Cane)
are among those natural resources, the
demand of which are increasing gradually
both in home and abroad. The species
are used as raw-materials for furniture
industry, binding materials and other novelty
items. So far very little attention was
given for proper management of the
Seeds of Calamus species take one to species. Due to over exploitation, this valuable
resource is now almost threatened. It
grows sporadically in the forest areas of
Sylhet, Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts,
Cox’s Bazar and in the village groves in
general. The present deteriorating condition
of the genus demands immediate
attention to save it from extinction.

Top shoot borer damage causing high mortality to cane in the
cane arboretum of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute is reported.
The causal pest was identified as Ommatolapus hacmorrhoidalis
(Wiedemann ) (Curculionidae : Coleoptera). The nature and extent of
damage by the pest and susceptibility of different species of cane,
viz., jai or jali bet (Calamus guruba), karak or kirink or- baro bet
( C. viminalis var. fasciculatus), bhudum bet (C. latifolius) and golak or
golla bet (Daemonorops jenkinsianus) to the pest were studied. Jali
bat was found to be highly susceptible to the attack of the pest
showing 62.7±4.62% shoot infestation whereas the other species were
resistant to the attack of this pest.