Teak has occupied a dominant
position in the plantation programme of
Bangladesh. As much as 70-80 percent
of the total plantations established in
the hill forests is composed of Teak
(Douglas 1981, White 1979). In the future
plantation programmes also it is likely to
remain to be the principal species.
The rate of return from Teak plantation
is not known in Bangladesh. Because
of lack of this information it is not possible
to compare Teak with other promising
species and without doing so forestry

Bamboos play a very important role
in the rural economy of South and South-
East Asia. Probably the usefulness of
bamboo is nowhere as great as in Bangladesh.
What with the population explosion and
wholesale depletion of forest wealth during
the last decade or so, Bangladesh is suffering
from acute shortage of wood. Bamboos
from the village groves which used to be
the most important material for house
construction, scaffolding, ladders, mats, baskets, fencing, containers, tool-handles,
pipes, toys, musical instruments, furniture,
handicrafts and a host of other utilities
are in very short supply these days (Lessard
and Chounard in 1980). Bangladesh
once used to be very rich in bamboo
species. Karnaphuli Paper Mills was orginally
planned to produce 120 thousand tons of
paper a day with Muli bamboo (Melocana
baccifera) as the fibrous raw material.
However, it was found later that these

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

Rattans are spiny climbing plants
belonging to the Lepidocaryoid Major Group
of the Palm Family (Moore 1973). In the
Malay Peninsula 9 genera occur : Calamus,
Daemonorops,korthalsia Plectocomia,
Plectocomiopsis, myrialepis Calospatha,

Baruna (Crataeva religiosa, Forst) is
a fast growing tropical hardwood species
found to grow sporadically in Bangladesh
near river banks and in swampy lands. The
wood is softer than many other indigenous
species with a yellowish-white to brown
colour. The wood has been reported to be a
good timber for turnery works and, as such,
used for making toys, cups, saucers and many
other small articles (Chowdhury and Ghosh
1958). But uptil now it is not utilised as an
industrial raw material in the country except
for fuel wood. A fast growing species as
it is, raising of Baruna plantations in
swamp forests as well as its possible uses
in wood-based industries of the country
was discussed in more than one meeting of
the ‘Research Consultative Committee’ held
in the Forest Research Institute, Chittagong.
In this context, the present research works
have been conducted in the Institute to study

Bamboo is an important raw material
in our villages for a wide range of uses.
Bamboo is grown in small groves in village
homesteads. For the last few years a disease
of village grown bamboos has caused
substantial damage. Rahman (1978) described
some aspects of the symptoms and isolated
Coniothyrium fuckelii as the dominant
associated fungus. Pathogenicity tests with C.
fuckelii on Bambusa balcooa at Rajshahi
in 1979 did not yield any infection (Rahman,
unpublished data). Review of literature
on C. fuckelii did not reveal any report
that the fungus was a pathogen. Isolation
of other fungi was inconclusive (Rahman,
1978), but the scattered distribution of

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 Schrad

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.

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