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.

Sundri wood chips were subjected to a mild chemical pre-treatment
by soaking them in 1,2 and 3% solutions of NaOH and NaiSCh,
individually as well as in mixture, for 24 hours at atmospheric conditions.
Hardboards made from pre-treated chips were tested for determining
their strength and water resistance properties. It was observed
that the boards made from the chips pre-treated with NaOH alone
and in mixture with Na2SO3 were stronger than those made by simple
steam softening of the chips prior to refining. Also the strength of
the hoards increased with an increase of the concentration of the pretreatment
solutions. Pre-treatment with NaOH alone produced stronger
boards than with the mixtures. Any such effect on the strength
property of the boards, however, was not obvious in the pre-treatment
with Na2 SO3 solutions. AU the pre-treatment methods adversely
affected the water resisting properties of the boards.

Calamus longisetus Griff. (Palmae) has
been recorded to be distributed in Andaman
Islands, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia and
Malay Peninsula (Beccari and Hooker
1892-93 ; Blatter 1926 ; Dransfield 1979 ;
Basu and Basu 1987). The various floristic
works by. Becaari and Hooker ( 1892—93),
Prain (1903a; 1903b), Brandis (1906),
Heinig ( 1925), Raizada (1941 ), Sinclair
(1955) and Khan et al. (1984), have not
recorded its occurrence in the region now
under Bangladesh.

Kraft pulping of whole jute plant without retting was conducted
in the laboratory scale. Compared with kraft pulping of bamboo,
the unbleached pulp yield with unretted jute plant was lower by about
3.0 percent points at the same point of delignification. The yield
was lower by 17.0 percent points compared to kraft pulping of jute
bast fibre. Jute plant pulp degraded severely on bleaching. However,
the quality of unbleached pulp was almost similar to kraft bamboo
pulp. Whole jute plant can thus replace bamboo in making papers
which do not require bleaching.

Data on the availability of different sizes of fruits, seed production
according to size classes, germination success and viability of
seeds of Sonneratia apetala Buah—Ham. were collected during 1984—
85 from the Chittagong coastal area. The fruit dropping period
extended from late July to early October. Fruit size varied and proportion
of medium sized fruits was h:gh. No significant difference in
germination success was detected when seeds from different fruit size
classes were collected and sown. Viability of seeds declined with
passage of time in the laboratory as well as under field conditions.
No seed germinated in the field when sown after 60 days of fruit
collection.

Pati-pata (Schumannianthus dichotomd) grows well in the land
whiah is unsuitable for any other agricultural crop (jute, rice, etc.).
Cultivation of pati-pata ia less expensive than that of jute or rice,
giving a good economic return. An experiment was conducted
to determine the growch and survival of a pati-pata plantation
during the first year after planting. Both rhizome and branch cutting
were used as propagating material for plantation. The results indicate
that rhizomes are significantly more suitable than branch cutting for
survival, average number of new culms produced and average height
growth. No significant difference was found among the localities other
than in Sylhet for average number of new culm produced and average
height growth in rhizome planting.

An economic analysis of neutral sulphite anthraquinone (NS—
AQ) pulping of jute showed a saving of about Tk 2,500/ADt of
bleached pulp compared with comparable kraft pulping off jute. This
means a saving of about Tk 112.5 million for a mill producing
45,000 tons of pulp annually. It was further assessed that SMR white
and tossa grades of jute, and jute cutting are cheaper raw materials
for NS—AQ pulping as against kraft pulping of bamboo.

Eucalyptus camaldulensis is one of the promising fastgrowing
exotics which is suitable for plantation in alimatia and edaphic conditions
of Bangladesh. The paper describes the relationship between age
and dominant height and also between volume, age, basal area and
dominant height of the species by regression analysis

Four nonlinear models were tried to determine the age-dominant
height relationship. The results of the fitted models were examined.
Dominant height=3.3860 (age) ^0.7168 seemed to be a suitable
model.
Three different models were tried for volume yield prediction.
The equation
Log (MAI)=—0.0158469 — 0.741198 log A+0.797215 log B
+ 0.0039315 log  H _dom+0.243216 log (A H _dom)
was selected for yield prediction.

No definite cutting age is maintained for extraction of bamboo
for pulp and paper industries in Bangladesh. In this study an attempt
has been made to find out the optimum cutting cycle for muli bamboo
(Melocanna baccifera) from the point of view of pulp yield and quality.
The results show that bleachable grade of pulp is obtained at a lower
cooking time with younger bamboos (9 months old) than those of higher
age groups. The pulp yield at a given point of delignification is the
highest w’th 21 months old bamboos- Physical strengh properties of
the pulp are independent of age. Thus, it seems that 21 months old
muli bamboo is better for pulping.

It is an attempt to prepare biomass tables for young trees of
the three Eucalyptus species grown in Bangladesh. The paper gives
height-diameter at breast height (dbh)-biomass, and dbh-biomass
production relationships along with required tables and conversion
factors.