Mangrove forests, locally known as Sundarbans,
‘Para ban’ in Chittagong play an
important role as a direct source of timber,
fuel, tannin, pulpwood and raw material
for match industries. Besides, it also provides
protection against tidal bores and cyclones.
Due to its inherent property to build soil

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Kiln drying is a common practice in seasoning
timbers all over the world. In Bangladesh,
kiln drying of timber is employed by the timber
complexes of the Bangladesh Forest Industries
Development Corporation (BFIDC) and some
government and private organisations. In
order to facilitate the proper seasoning of
timbers, kiln drying schedules have been
developed at the Forest Research Institute,
Chittagong (Ali, Sattar and Talukdar 1975;
Sattar 1980). In conventional kiln drying,
low temperature and high humidity are
generally employed in the initial stages of
drying, which ultimately make the process
slow. The need for accelerated drying of
timbers, without deteriorating the quality of the
product itself, is thus felt. High temperature
drying was first envisaged to alleviate the

Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts
of Bangladesh arc well known for natural
Garjan (Dipterocarpns tnrbinatiis Gacrtn. F.).
These are lofty trees having clean cylindrical boles and elevated crowns. The
wood is the major raw material for railway
sleepers, poles and boat-building. Due to
its high demand and consequent over exploi-

Until the partition of the British-India
in 1947, the use of hardwood in the territories
now under Bangladesh was restricted
only to railway sleepers, furniture and construction
materials for a few wealthy people. The demand of Wood was, therefore, very
little and this small amount of timber was
usually imported. As a result timber resources
of the country did not receive due importance
in the past.

Sungrass {Imp era la cylindrica L. Beauv)
though brings substantial amount of revenue
in Bangladesh, its control is a problem in
the forest plantations. Sungrass, by its
tangled root-system, retards the growth of
seedlings and in addition increases fire hazards
(Chowdhury i960). Area clear-felled for
plantation is soon invaded by sungrass unless
the soil is covered quickly by a forest
species. Moreover, the growth of sungrass. adversely affects the soil quality. During
off-seasons, the shoot of sungrass dies
exposing the land. The land thus exposed
severe sun tremendously loses soil fertility
in various ways—a characteristic of the tropical
zones (Rehm 1975). It was, therefore,
necessary to find a suitable species for
covering the sungrass infested lands by a
forest tree crop.

Bamboo is of great importance in
Bangladesh and stands next to wood in utility.
It is extensively used for the construction
of houses, bridges, rafters and for many
other purposes. Split bamboo is used by the villagers as a
reinforcement of mud walls,
bamboo has multiple uses.
bamboo starts shrinking during the initial
stages of drying and has shown considerable wall material and also as a
As a whole,
Unlike wood,

Bangladesh is situated within the tropical
belt. Its total area is q.nMha (34. 87 M
acres) of which 1.3 M ha ( 3.21 M acres), 9.3
percent of the total land area, are under
the management of Government Forest
Department. Besides, there is another 0.96 M
ha (2.37 M acres) of state owned denuded forest
land, the Unclassed State Forests (USF), which
is under the control of the district authorities
and is subjected to shifting cultivation
practised by the local tribes. As a result,
the entire area of the USF has become almost
completely denuded and sungrass (Imperata
cylindrical has invaded most of the areas.

Aquilaria agallocha Roxb. is an evergreen
tree attaining a height of 20 to 25m. (65.6
to 82.0 ft) and occurs sporadically in the forests
of the Sylhet, Chittagong and Chittagong
Hill Tracts regions of Bangladesh. It is also
found in Bhutan, Assam, Burma, Malayasia,
Cambodia and other parts of the Far East
(Burkhill 1966).
The main value of A. agallocha lies in its naturally occuring brown to black oleoresinous
deposits (agar) found in patches and
streaks in the wood of a small proportion of
the trees. This material is much prized
as a source of agar, agar-attar and agarbati
from which incense, perfumes and medicines
are prepared. The export of agar and its
products now provides a valuable source
of foreign exchange earning for Bangladesh

The extent of natural bamboo forests in the mixed bamboo areas in
the Kassalong and Rainkhiong Reserve Forests in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
(CHT), Bangladesh are 76192 ha (188275 acre) and 27256 ha (67352 acre)
respectively (Anon. 1963).

Bamboos in these forests occur as an understorey with the tree species.
Eight bamboo species are indigenous to the area. Four of these species—
Muli (Melocanna bambusoides), Mitinga {Rambnsa tuldd), Daloo (Teinostaebyum
dtdlooa) and Orah (Dendrocalamtis longispathns) are of commercial importance.
A fifth species Kaliserri (Oxytenentbera auriculatd} reaches commercial size but
is of limited occurance. The remaining three species, Kali (Oxytenantbera
nigrociliata) Bariala (Bambtisa vtdgaris ) and Bazali (T’einostachyuni griffithii} are
of small size and assume a shrub-like growth and are of little commercial
importance (Zahiruddin 1959).