BANGLADESH JOURNAL OF FOREST SCIENCE
A Half-yearly Peer Reviewed Journal of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute
A Half-yearly Peer Reviewed Journal of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute
Only a fair price of jute for the
growers can ensure its sustained supply for
the industries or for export. Multifarious
uses and vigorous export promotion drives,
in their turn, can keep the demand of
jute to the desired level. Thus, a project
was undertaken for making paper-pulp
from jute using a process to give a higher
yield compared to the conventional kraft
process, yet retaining the kraft like properties.
The success of such a project is
likely to open the possibility of a perpetual
high demand of jute in the industrial sector.
Safety matches are a consumer item
of everyday use. There are about twenty
safety match factories located mostly in
the southern part of Bangladesh. In 1984-85
the country produced 940 million gross
boxes of safety matches (Anon. 1985).
This quantity is enough to meet the entire
demand of the country. At present there
is no export of this commodity presumably
because of scarcity of suitable timber species
and strong competition in the international
market. The traditional species
used in Bangladesh have different unattractive
tints.
Air drying is an important mode of seasoning timber in
Bangladesh where sawnjill owners and lumber dealers can hardly
afford to possess modern dry kilns. Due to lack of adequate
knowledge and absence of proper drying schedule, the method is
not being practised effectively to get the best result. It is,
therefore, considered ‘partinent to study the air drying characteristics
of some of the important wood species of Bangladesh.
The establishment of efficient drying schedules for various
species is dependent upon the rate at which a given species loses
moisture. This is, also, affected by the drying condition existing
in a particular region at any given time of the year. The present
paper deals with the rate of moisture loss and air drying time of
10 indigenous wood species of Bangladesh under two conditions of
exposure.
The paper examines the profitability of teak ( tectona grandis, Lin. f)
plantations under the existing system of management in Bangladesh. The Forest
Department has fixed 69 years as the rotation length for teak on all sites.
Land expectation values have been calculated on the basis of the Faustmann
formula and preliminary yield tables for three site qualities. They have been calculated
on the assumption that the sites would be used for teak plantations for
an infinite number of 60 year rotations. The sensitivity of results to changes in
the planting and overhead costs and in yields was also calculated.
The result indicates positive net returns for sites of qualities I to III under
all cost conditions at an eight percent rate of interest. At thirteen percent, sites
of qualities I and II show a positive result but those of quality III indicate a net loss
Land expectation values are not found to be a convenient index of profita
Th© lack of knowledge of treatability of timber species with
pressure method may result in poor treatment in reipect of penetration
and retention of the preservative chemical Inwood. This knowledge
for our indigenous timber species was not ascertained before. The
relative penetrability of nineteen timber species was, therefore,
determined with Lowry empty cell process using 40 r 60 creosote
and light diesel oil mixture.
Specific gravity of species did not seem to have any bearing
on the penetration cf preservative. Grain structure and presence of
tyloses appeared to be correlated with penetrability of the wood.
The species were classified into four treatability groups according
to the degree of heartwood penetrability.
Garjans, Dipterocarptis spp., came into use
as sleepers in the railway tracks soon after
the partition of the British India in 1947 when
the sources of Sal, Sborea robusta Gaertn.,
the conventional species for the purpose, fell
outside the territories of the then East Pakistan.
At present about 5,00,000 sleepers are
required annually by the Bangladesh Railway,
mills and factories and marine and
river ports of the country and Garjan is the
only species for makings sleepers.
Bangladesh is situated within the tropical
belt. Its total area is q.nMha (34. 87 M
acres) of which 1.3 M ha ( 3.21 M acres), 9.3
percent of the total land area, are under
the management of Government Forest
Department. Besides, there is another 0.96 M
ha (2.37 M acres) of state owned denuded forest
land, the Unclassed State Forests (USF), which
is under the control of the district authorities
and is subjected to shifting cultivation
practised by the local tribes. As a result,
the entire area of the USF has become almost
completely denuded and sungrass (Imperata
cylindrical has invaded most of the areas.
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Micrococca mercurialis ( Linn. ) Benth.
(Euphorbiaceae) cited as Cal oxy Ion mercurialis
Thwaites by Hooker ( 1887) was reported
by the same author as occurring at Mongir
of Behar, the Deccan Peninsula, Burma
and Ceylon. It is distributed in Arabia
and tropical Africa. Prain ( 1903) reported
it from Behar. This species has recently
been collected from Chittagong district.
In the various floristic works by Heining
( 1925 ), Raizada ( 1941 ), Datta and Mitra
( 1953), Sinclair ( 1955) and Khan and
Banu ( 1972) the species has not been
recorded from the region now under
Bangladesh.
Garjan (JDipterocarpus spp.), by virtue
of its availability and strength properties,
happens to be the principal species for
railway sleepers in Bangladesh. This
species is used also for construction and
many other purposes. The wide and
extensive use of this species has created
scarcity and its present supply position is
not adequate to meet the requirement of
sleepers. As a result, sleepers are being
imported from foreign countries to overcome
the supply shortage. It is, therefore,
necessary that other suitable indigenous
species be used as railway sleepers.
Although there are more than 500
hardwood species in the forests of
Bangladesh only a few of them are available
in quantities commensurate with the
requirements of the timber industries. In order
to find out a group of alternative timber
species for sleepers a joint study was undertakenby
Forest Research Institute, Bangladesh
Railway and Forest utilization Division
Welcome to the Bangladesh Journal of Forest Science (BJFS) – a leading platform for advancing the knowledge and understanding of forest science in Bangladesh and beyond. Established with a commitment to excellence, BJFS serves as a cornerstone for researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts dedicated to the sustainable management and conservation of forest ecosystems.
