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.

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.

Bamboo produces new culms from buds on subterranean rhizomes during the monsoon, generally from early June until late August.
Expansion of culms continues until October. Blight significantly affects culms in August, the disease being at its worst by mid-November.
Subsequently, there is little or no increase in the number of blighted culms.

Diagnostic symptoms of the blight are described. Coniothyrium fuckelii Sace. and Acrenwnium strictum W. Gams were the two most commonly isolated fungi from blighted bamboos.

Artificial inoculation tests have established that A. strictum (Herb. I. M. I. 278366) is pathogenic on new branches which developed from ground layered culm cuttings of Bambusa balcooa Roxb. at the Forest Research Institute campus, and on naturally grown culm of B. vulgaris Scrad at Nowapara, Chittagong. The pathogenic ability of the fungus is discussed.

Copper salts, borax and boric acid individually provide good to excellent protection to wood against fungal and insect attack. A new formulation has been developed at the Forest Research Institute, Chittagong, Bangladesh with borax, boric acid and copper sulphate (BBC) in mixture. Immediate precipitation of copper borate occurs when borax is added to a clear solution of copper sulphate and boric acid in mixture. The precipitate dissolves in ammonium hydroxide and an intense blue solution is obtained. On vaporization of ammonia from the solution copper borate is reprecipitated.

This refers to “Phytophysiological studies forests of Chakaria Biggyan Patrika The relationship distribution of ground water seem to the article on mangrove Sundarbans” (Bano 1 & 2 : 17-28). shown between mangrove species table ( Fig. 1 ) does be tenable. Mangrove species grow under tidal swamp conditions. During the high tides water table in tidal swamps occurs over the soil surface. The fall of groundwater table during the low tides under such conditions depends mainly on soil permeability than on elevation of the landform. Soil permeability in Chakaria Sundarbans being very slow, the groundwater table remains almost on the soil surface even during the low tides. No scope, therefore, remains to be confused on the issue at which depth the groundwater table should occur in very poorly drained soils of tidal swamps.

Some species of bamboos produce flowers once in their life and die after flowering. The seeding cycle is said to be 6 to 120 years. Some other species produce flowers annually throughout the year and do not die after flowering. In order to keep record on the nature of flowering of bamboos, Government of India issued a circular in 1893 which has Gupta, M. L. S. 1952. Gregarious flowering of Dendrocalamus strictus. Ind. For. 78 : 547-550 Gupta, K. K. 1972, Flowering of different species of bamboos in Cachhar district of Assam in recent times. Ind. For. 98 : 83-85 Scngupta, M. L. 1939. Early flowering in Dendrocalamus strictus. Ind. For. 65 : 583-585 been incorporated in Bangladesh and other Forest Manuals ( Hasan 1973 ). For Bangladesh, there is no regular report of the flowering of bamboos. Hasan (1973) reported and analysed the flowering of 5 species of Bangladesh bamboos which flowered till 1973. Banik (1979) reported the flowering of “Baijjya Bansh” (Bambusa vulgaris Schradex Wendl).

Dendrocalamus Strictus Nees-was introduced to Hazarikhil during the year 1939 (Hasan 1978). Eight offsets of this species were collected from that area and planted in the Forest Research Institute campus (FRI), Chittagong in 1974. Later on, during 1981-1982, five clumps were also
raised in Keochia Research Station through offsets collected from the same mother clump of Hazarikhil.

A study of anatomical structures of leaf surface, culm surface and internodal structure of Melocalamus compactiflorus (Kurz) Benth was made. The taxonomic value ofthe anatomical characters of the species has been discussed. Leaf surface anatomy agrees well with that studied by
Metcalf (1960). On the basis of vascular bundle type, Melocalamus can be placed in the group BD of the proposed system of Grosser and Liese (1973). Comparative studies with allied genera suggest that Melocalamus is related to Melocanna and Dinochloa as proposed by S. Dransfield (1981 ).

Twenty timber species were investigated for the determination of steam bending properties. Presteamed solid wood could satisfactorily be bent by using a suitable hand bending device. A 30 minutes’ steaming period was found adequate to bend 1.27 cm thick wood to a reasonable degree. Sharp bends could conveniently be made in wood of very hard nature at 60 minutes’ steaming. The timber species under investigation were classified into three categories based on their bending properties

Preliminary investigations were carried out for the determination of clay mineralogy of the Sundarban soils. A total of 50 pedons were examined over a north-west to south-east transect running through the Sundarbans. Finally, four pedons were selected for laboratory investigation.
Based on the observations made from the field investigations, as well as from the results of the physicochemical analyses, it appeared that pedologically the soils were very young and possessed no diagnostic horizon.
The dominant minerals in the clay fraction are weathered mica and smectite with traces of kaolinite, chlorite and interstratified minerals. The clay minerals were identified mainly by the X-ray diffraction technique supported by other techniques. It was observed that, so far as the clay mineralogical composition was concerned,the Sundarban soils had a homogeneity both in vertical and in horizontal directions. Slight variation in the clay mineralogical composition and content occurring among the pedons are the inherited properties of the soil materials.