Top shoot borer damage causing high mortality to cane in the
cane arboretum of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute is reported.
The causal pest was identified as Ommatolapus hacmorrhoidalis
(Wiedemann ) (Curculionidae : Coleoptera). The nature and extent of
damage by the pest and susceptibility of different species of cane,
viz., jai or jali bet {Calamus guruba), karak or kirink or- baro bet
( C. viminalis var. fasciculatus), bhudum bet ( C. latifolius) and golak or
golla bet {Daemonorops jenkinsianus) to the pest were studied. Jali
bat was found to be highly susceptible to the attack of the pest
showing 62.7±4.62% shoot infestation whereas the other species were
resistant to the attack of this pest.

Ground-layering and air-layering trials were carried out on
bariala (Bambusa vulgaris) and muli bansh (Melocanna baccifera)
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
in both of the layering experiments,
to any of the layering methods.

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.

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.

Conventional soda pulping results in lower pulp yield and
strength properties. It also needs a much longer cooking time. To
overcome these difficulties a study on the effect of anthraquinone
( AQ ) in the alkaline pulping of Acacia auriculiformis was conducted.
The result showed that 3.1 percent point yield gain was achieved in
the soda pulping with 0.05% AQ addition. The yield was comparable
to that of the kraft control. Further increase of AQ did not substantially
increase the yield. In kraft-AQ pulping the gain in yield
was less remarkable, although 1.4 percent point gain was obtained.
Addition of AQ can substantially reduce the alkali requirement ?.nd/
or duration of cooking. The quality of the AQ catalysed pulp was
in no way inferior to the kraft control.
The feasibility of using AQ in a soda pulp mill in Bangladesh
has been shown. It indicates a remarkable economical gain.

A community Forestry Project was initiated in 1980 in the
Protected Forest land at Pomra in the district of Chittagong. So
far, 126 landless families have been rehabilitated in 24 groups in the
project area by allotting 1.62 ha of denuded hills to each family.
Most of the families took loans from the Bangladesh Krishi Bank
for procuring inputs with the help of the Forest Department to
amounts ranging from Tk 1,000 to Tk 4,000. The paper discusses
the state of development of horticultural and forest plantations in
these plots, and the improvement of the standard of living and
socio-economic status of these families. The cropping pattern, inputoutput
ratio, Land Expectation Value and employment intensity have
been reported on the basis of a survey conducted on 24 families out
of 126.

The flowering nature of Bambusa balcooa Roxb. has been described.
It was observed that it flowered giegariously in the clump
but sporadically over the area. The clump died after flowering without
setting any seed. The flowering cycle has been speculated to be
40 ±5 years.

A series of charges of twenty timber species were dried employing
solar drying as well as the conventional air drying and steam heated
kiln drying methods. Solar and air drying were continued for
three years during the entire drying seasons. The results suggest
that the climatic conditions of Bangladesh are suitable for operating
greenhouse type solar kilns throughout the year. Even refractory
timbers of higher dimensions can be dried during the rainy season
to a desired lower moisture content. The quality of the solar dried
timber is found to be superior to both air and kiln dried timber.
Solar drying is significantly more efficient than air drying. It is a
simpler and less expensive drying technique than kiln drying. It is
recommended that the solar drying technique be employed in wood
based industries for effectve utilization of Bangladeshi timber.

Fibre dimension studies of five Bangladeshi woods, namely,
Moluccana koroi (Albizia falcataria), kainjal ( Bischof ia javanica},
jialbhadi (Lannea coromandelica’), narikeli (Pterygota alata) and chundul
(Tetrameles nudiflora) wets carried out to find out their suitability
in paper making. From the data, Runkel ratio, flexibility co-efficient
and relative fibre length, which influence certain pulping properties,
were deduced. Attempts were made to correlate fibre dimensions to
pulping properties of certain species namely, Moluccana koroi and
Kainjal. Considering the fibre length and certain anatomical
characteristics, the potentiality of narikeli for pulping has been
suggested. It is concluded that fibre dimensions along with pulping
properties and the manufacturing processes should be the guiding
principles in evaluating the suitability of the species in paper making.
1. Presented

Pestalotia sp., a fungal pathogen causing leaf blight disease of
pony al ( Calophylum enophylum Linn.), was isolated. The finding
was confirmed by the artificial inoculation of healthy leaves ofpanyai
plants with the isolated pathogen. Besides, the average quantitative
incidence and infection index of the disease on naturally infected
plants during 1976-1978 were estimated.