Sundri wood chips were subjected to a mild chemical pre-treatment by soaking them in 1,2 and 3% solutions of NaOH and Na2SO3, 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 ofjute 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.

Usefulness of volume table for teak (Tectona grandis) aan hardly be overemphasized. The paper deals with the preparation of a commercial volume table of teak based on data collected during 1977 from 1874, 1875, 1876, 1878 and 1879 plantations at Kaptai in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (South) Forest Division in Bangladesh. Thirteen mathematical models of tree volume on diameter at breast height ( D B H ) and volume on D B H and total height were compared. The best relationships judged principally by Furnival’s Index were used to compute volume tables.