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.

In Bangladesh the timber resources are inadequate for the increasing demand and enough land is not available to allow the expansion of these
resources. The present paper discusses the ways to make proper utilization of these limited resources in minimizing the gap between the supply and the demand of timber in Bangladesh.

The dearth of timber may be met up through minimizing wastage by using the timber judiciously and completely and on the other hand by increasing plantation of selected species after clear felling the existing forests which are extremely heterogenous and comprised mostly of inferior hardwood species. The problems to be tackled with utmost importance are the numerousness of species with varying mechanical and physical properties, poor accessibility into the forests and early deterioration of wood in many uses.

The practice of preservative treatment of timber in use should receive major consideration as it decreases the need of timber by lengthening the life of the same.

A brief account is given of the diversity and uses of rattans and the status of the trade. The need to conserve the diminishing resource base through cultivation is stressed.
Reference is made to early and more recent cultivation trials and to research on propagation. Factors influencing seed quantities and availability, seed storage and germination are discussed. Possible ages for transplanting seedlings are also mentioned.

The growth habits and yield, and growth rates of the commercial species are described. Factors affecting the growth of these rattans,the method of harvest and age at harvest are also touched upon.

The commercial species of rattans are discussed in terms oftheir silvicultural potential and sites for planting, and a call is made for the introduction of exotics to other areas in the rattan regions for plantation purposes. The problem of seeds for future plantation establishment is expected to be partly overcome by supply from existing plots. In this context, the need to establish seed orchards for this specific purpose is deemed to be urgent.

Gluability of a veneer species is a function of the strength and durability of plywood. Champa has been one ofthe chosen decorative species for veneer. An investigation was made to find the gluability of Champa compared to that of Civit, a species having excellent gluability properties. Champa veneers peeled to 1.0 mm thickness and dried to 8% target moisture content were bonded with liquid UF glue catalysed with 2% hardener and extended with 20% wheat flour to make 3-ply plywood panels. The dry shear load and wet shear load of Champa plywood compared favourably with those of Civit plywood and the values were well above the minimum requirements. Therefore, plywood made from Champa veneer bonded with U F glue may be recommended for use as Warm Water Resistant Grade.

Behaviour of different birds and its effects on agricultural crops were studied in charland of the Padma belt under Rajshahi district. A list of different migratory and resident birds were prepared and effects of those birds on agricultural crops, mainly rice, were observed. The study
revealed that most of the birds are useful for agricultural crops as they live on injurious insects and thus save the crops from destruction.

A trial with five mangrove species namely, Heritiera forties, Excoecaria agallocha, Sonneratia apetala, Avicennia officinalis and Bruguiera gymnorrhiza and six mainland species namely, Albizia lebbeck, Samanea saman, Swietenia niacrophylla, Leucaena leucocephala, Cassia siamea and Acacia nilotica was carried out in a raised noncommercial cover area of the sundarbans to obseive their survival and growth performance. The mangrove species were found to be unsuitable. Animal damage was substantial to mainland species and fencing had significant impact on survivality, except for A. nilotica. C. siamea, S. saman and A. nilotica showed better performance than other species.

Ground-layering and air-layering trials were carried out on bariala (Bambusa vulgaris) and muli bansh (Melocanna baccifera)during April and May, 1982. All the treated branches of B. vulgaris produced successful propagules in the air-layering experiment. The ground-layer in a of twelve culms (2 years old) of the same species also produced 23 rooted and rhizomed propagules. Initiation rooting and rhizome appeared only in the branches of mid-culm zone in both of the layering experiments, M. baccifera did not respond to any of the layering methods.

Growth and development of each of the propagules of B. vulgaris planted in the field are being recorded to determine the time required for attaining the marchantable culm size.