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.