Jam, Syzygium grande (Wt). Wald, railway sleepers were found to air-dry from green condition to a 30 percent moisture content level in 5 to 9 months. The fastest drying was observed in sleepers stacked in September when the climatic conditions are conducive to air drying. The moisture distribution pattern in the sleepers was found to be independent of air drying period and time of stacking. Drying degrades were found in the air dried sleepers which made 10-15 percent of the total sleepers liable to rejection. Anti-check iron clamps helped in retarding the drying degrade in Steaming followed by vacuum conditioning could remove moisture rapidly from Jam sleepers. Three cycles of alternate steaming and vacuum treatment with a total of 9 hours’ steaming and 3 hours’ vacuum was found to be adequate to bring down moisture to a 30 percent level upto the depth of 1.27 cm (0.5 in) from the surface. If air drying becomes difficult, conditioning by steam-vacuum process may be adopted prior to preservative treatment by pressure methods.

Attempts were made to raise Cashew (Anacarditim occidentals Linn.) in 1.62 ha (4 acres) of sungrass infested area in Sal (Shorea robusta Gcartn.) forests of Bangladesh. The object was to find out if the species could
profitably be cultivated in such areas. With successful establishment of Cashew, the sungrass was gradually eliminated from the area. About 86 percent trees were found to have survived. The plants attained an average height of 6.28 m (20.6 ft) and an average dbh of 18.5 cm (7.3 in) with a large canopy of average diameter of 6.06 m (19.9 ft) at the age of nine years. The average yield of green nuts at this stage was 4.8 kg (10.6 lbs) per tree and 861 kg (1,896.8 lbs) per acre.

Hardboards were made from Baruna by steaming and cold soda processes. Modulus of rupture, water absorption and thickness swelling of the boards were determined by standard procedures. It is found that the boards made by both the processes are only moderately strong and poorly water-resistant, Cold soda pulps were found to be very slow draining.

Vegetative and floral morphologies of the monotypic genus Melocalamus compactifloras (Kurz) Benth. have been described. Detailed morphology of the fruit and seed has also been investigated. Its relationship with Melocatma Trin. and Dinochloa Buse has been established as proposed by Dransfield ( 1981 ).

Sporadic mortality of Sundri (Heritiera fames Roxb.) due to unknown causes was mentioned in the working plan of Sunderbans in 1931 by S. I. Curtis. But the mortality was not pronounced due to removal of Sundri along with firewood by permit holders. After 1971 working was closed for a few years and as such accumulation of dying Sundri in large number attracted the attention of the foresters (Sattar 1977). The total timber loss due to
mortality of Sundri was found to be 1.44 million cubic metres and the total financial loss on the basis of valuation of 1976 was Tk. 2000 million (Shafi 1982).

The status and approach for expansion of rubber cultivation in Thailand is outlined. Major diseases of rubber in Thailand, their incidence and effect in general and the role of Phytophthora botryosa Chee in particular, have been described. Abnormal leaf fall ofrubber due to P. botryosa was prevalent only in some high rainfall areas in the west coast of the country. This disease was, however, found to be absent both in the plantations of seed source and in the nursery wherefrom budded stumps were imported to Bangladesh in 1984.

Details of the phytosanitary treatments and packaging of the budded stumps for shipment to Bangladesh are outlined. Survivality of the budded stumps both in the nurseries and in plantations around Khagrachhari has been found to be quite low. This is most probably due to the failure of the budded stumps to produce adequate new roots because of very late planting. Phytosanitary treatments had little or no phytotoxicity effects on the budded stumps. It is suggested that in any future programme, budded rubber stumps have to be planted in the early planting season.

A study was conducted to evaluate the Suitability of Pigeon pea stem for making paper pulp. Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) stem is characterized by shorter fibres compared to hardwood species. Medium quality pulp was obtained from this plant. The pulp may be suitable for making good quality writing and printing papers. The demand of the raw materials for pulping can be met if Pigeon pea is planted along the 1,45,000 km roads in Bangladesh.

In a preliminary study od pollen fertility percentages and open pollination in emasculated flowers, leading to fruit formation in Santalum album ( sandal) were investigated. Open-pollination percentage measured through fruit formation was low. Inter-plant differences both in pollen-fertility and in fruit formation were highly significant. It was observed that though the pollen-fertility percentage is high, fruit formation is low.