Borneo
· The appointment of a forest botanist to Brunei State raised the problem of recruiting tree-climbers from among the Ibans, a Sarawak people, of whom a few are settled in Brunei State though many come up from Sarawak in search of work.
Tropical evergreen rain forest is hot and wet and oppressively closed in, slippery underfoot, full of thorns cunningly concealed in the undergrowth, and of a variety of troublesome creatures - among which leeches and sandflies share top place.
In this environment the Iban is perfectly at home. He can make dug-out canoes and pole or paddle them up the rivers (the only means of communication) with great skill. He can slip out at night with a gun and torch and hunt the wild pig and deer. There are two main methods which he uses in climbing trees. The first, for big isolated trees such as the tapang on which the jungle bees often build their honeycombs, consists in constructing a ladder up the bole of the tree by driving in sharpened bamboo stakes at intervals. This takes the best part of a day.
Otherwise, the monkey-on-the-stick technique is followed. Bare feet are pressed flat against the bole, knees bent and stuck out sideways, arms embracing the bole; straighten the knees, clasp the bole two feet higher up, draw up the knees, and so on, working up by a series of jerks.
Undisturbed forest consists of a few giants rather widely spaced, and large numbers of intermediate and smaller trees growing up in between. So, to collect a specimen from a giant, the climber looks for a small tree growing up beside it, and goes up it to get on to the upper part of the giant. Sometimes, several trees are used, the climber starting up a pole, transferring to a larger tree, thence to another, and so on to the giant.
If one tree is too far from the next, various devices are used to bridge the gap. If the first tree is small, the climber can bend it over towards the bigger one by his own weight, or pull it over by means of a length of cane he carries up for the purpose, one end of the cane being attached to the bole of the larger tree by a running loop; or the climber can make a giant hook out of a sapling with a cross-piece lashed to one end, carry it up with him to the top of his small tree, and, thence, hook the contraption over a branch of the giant, after which he lashes the butt end firmly with cane and, then climbs up the connecting link so formed.
These climbers have a wonderful sense of balance, but the climbing is sometimes so exposed and sensational that the botanist below can scarcely bear to watch.
In the years to come the professional botanists working out the Flora Malesiana, in the great herbaria of the world to which specimens are distributed, will see on the herbarium sheet only the name of the botanist who supervised the collecting and wrote the label. They will never know how much of the credit is due to those climbers who risk their necks day after day to bring down to earth the leaves and flowers and fruits of the jungle giants.
Burma
· The following remarks are taken from a radio talk by the Prime Minister U Nu:
"With the advent of the monsoon our farmers are busy preparing the plows and starting paddy cultivation which is the major occupation of our people. It seems to me that the rest of our people should also discharge a responsibility by taking advantage of the monsoon in the same way as the farmers discharge theirs.This responsibility is no other than growing trees and plants in every village, every town and every available area. I am reminded of the fate of glorious Pagan which at one time was the jewel of Burma with magnificent pagodas, golden monasteries and stately homes and which was the center of our culture and civilization. Pagan flourished uninterrupted for over two hundred years after the reign of Anawrata the Great. At the end of that period the people of Pagan had to migrate, for various reasons, to other more fertile parts of the country. Among the causes of such mass migration, according to wise men, was deforestation. I subscribe to this point of view.
Scientists who are well aware of the inevitable consequences of deforestation, have been devising ways and means to prevent their occurrence. The United Nations Organization has been taking the lead in arousing public interest in tree-growing. Efforts are being made even to convert deserts into green lands.
It has been my personal experience that almost every country I have visited, irrespective of political and economic differences, is agreed on one thing: to grow more trees.
In Burma, too, the Government has taken a number of steps in the direction of reforestation. It can of course be said that at present there are no deserts in the country. But it is the considered view of experts that if only we neglect to reforest the dry zone in central Burma, it will one day turn into a vast desert land. It is a terrible contingency to think of. Besides, the vast stretches of hillsides are denuded of trees and forests, with the result that the rich soils are washed away with the rain water causing barren land. I understand that such lands, far from teeing suitable for cultivation, do not grow even grass for the cattle to graze on. Besides, due to indiscriminate cutting down of trees in the plains, both during the second world war and at present, the people's forests are getting more and more bare.
To arrest this process of deforestation, the Government drew up plans for reforestation in 1953-64, and steps are being taken to implement them. As a first step, measures are being taken to grow trees in the dry zone areas in central Burma. Measures are being taken to do away with cutting down trees on hillsides for the purpose of farming, and preserve fertile soils undisturbed. This project is in operation in the Naga Hills. The Shan States Government is also undertaking such measures in several areas. Under this plan, the old and obsolete custom of indiscriminate farming on hillsides is replaced by terraced farming. From the hill tops to the plains, trees and bamboos are being planted systematically.
There is still another plan to grow fruit trees and vegetables in all parts of the Union. Saplings were widely distributed to encourage cultivation. Coconut plantations have come into being, and steps are being taken to set up model farms in every district and State.
Two years have elapsed since these plans first operated, but it will not do to rely on the Government alone to prevent drought, erosion, flood and scarcity of fruits and vegetables. Total success can be achieved only with the wholehearted co-operation of the people themselves."
Canada
· One of the finest forestry research laboratories of its kind in the world has been built at the Petawawa Forest Experiment Station, near Chalk River, Ontario. Together with the adjoining administration building and staff house, it provides ample space and facilities for the research, administration, and accommodation needs of the forest experiment station, oldest and largest of the five forest research stations operated by the federal Forestry Branch.
The new laboratory contains complete and up-to-date equipment for research projects in tree physiology, experimental ecology, and forest fire prevention.
In addition, the federal forest research officers at Petawawa carry out tree-breeding and silvicultural programs. The tree-breeding program involves genetics, the study of forest trees, experimental planting to establish the adaptability to Canadian conditions of seeds of different provenances, the development of new pollination and grafting techniques, and efforts to bring about quicker flowering. The silvicultural program includes observation of the experimental cuttings established at the station during the past 30 years and introduction of an intensive management plan for 1,000 acres (406 hectares) of forest near the station headquarters. The silvicultural program is directed toward demonstrating what can be accomplished on the basis of present knowledge without too much concern for economic factors. Eventually, the Branch hopes to prove that these techniques are economically possible.
· Mr. Ormiston Roy of Montreal has brought to the attention of FAO a promising method which he has developed for growing and for packing single seedlings or transplants for shipment while retarding their growth, if necessary, for considerable periods prior to planting. At the request of FAO, a member of the Forestry Branch of the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources visited Mr. Roy and technicians of the Montreal Botanic Gardens to study at first hand the methods used and results obtained. He reports as follows:
"Essentially the method is to pack plant roots in sphagnum moss or, if sphagnum moss is scarce, to pack in brown peat moss, similar to the way European roses and small shrubs are sold on the Canadian market.
The plant roots are placed on a piece of oilskin paper (vapor barrier paper) together with a handful of brown peat moss and rolled into a cylinder of one inch diameter. This cylinder is put into a 2-inch (6 centimeter) polyethylene tube and the bottom of the polyethylene tube is folded up along the cylinder to prevent spillage of the moss.
The oversize part of the polyethylene tube is folded with a sharp edge and fastened with a rubber band. The fact that the polyethylene tube is oversize compared with the plant peat-moss-paper-tube facilitates easy "shaking-out". The plants so packed are watered and kept for at least one year in a transplant-heel-in condition. When planting, the polyethylene tube is removed and the tree is planted with the moss.
Several species have been held this way in polyethylene tubes for up to five years. The plants were healthy but had a retarded growth - a characteristic which is valuable for nursery men as they can keep plants within the desired size for a longer period. The paper will eventually rot but the polyethylene tubes keep well for at least five years. The plants during the transplant-heel-in stage can be watered with a nutrient solution. Success has been had with a "pancake" made by soaking sphagnum moss (and eventually squeezing it dry) in the following solution:
1 gallon (4.5 liters) water
1 tablespoon Rapid-Gro. - Commercial products
1 tablespoon Hyponex - Commercial products
2 teaspoon(s) gypsum lime
1 teaspoon(s) hydrated lime
1/2 teaspoon(s) magnesium sulphate (Epsom salt)
2 teaspoon(s) easily soluble tree elements made up as follows:H3 BO3 2.86 gram
Mn Cl2 1.81 gram
Zn SO4 0.22 gram
CU SO4 0.08 gram
H2 MO 0.02 gram
H2 O 1000.00 gram1/8 teaspoon iron.
For each bushel of squeezed sphagnum peat soaked in this solution, add a tablespoon prepared (fritted) trace elements, and one 3-inch (7.5 centimeter) pot of bone meal.
Rafts of logo are brought down river in voyages taking as much as 11 days. Sometimes logs too heavy to float by themselves are combined in rafts of balsa, and often the balsa rafts carry a deck load of farm products. Nearly all bamboo poles are transported by raft, as shown in the photograph. Two or three men can handle a large raft. The logs are relatively free, while in the water, from insect attack, and keep moist so they do not crack or split. Nearly all the sawmills in Guayaquil are located at the water's edge, and the logs can be stored in the rafts until is in time to cut them.
In dry seasons, the reaches of the tributaries of the Rio Guayas do not have enough water to be navigable and, on the other hand, in times of heavy rains there is too much current and the rafts are hard to manage. Deliveries are not, therefore, regular. When river conditions are good, more rafts of logs reach Guayaquil than the mills can accommodate, when conditions are bad, especially toward the end of the dry season, the mills have a scarcity of logs.
Courtesy, S. von der Recke.
A mixture of about 1 part pancake to 10 parts moss would be adequate for use in packing of plants in polyethylene".
Suggested applications of Mr. Roy's method could be as follows:
1. Ordinary spring planting as the plants are definitely healthy and not root-pruned and have a low top-root ratio. The peat moss can be soaked with water and will give the plants a starting supply to enable them to become established more easily under arid conditions.2. Summer planting - perhaps the most important potential use. The planting season can be extended.
3. The tubed plants could be very useful in public relation programs, with visitors to reforestation areas receiving tubed-plants all during the summer for immediate field planting.
4. Tubed plants could be used for bench grafting and perhaps for other types of research
Interested readers may also wish to compare this with methods used by M. Clauzure as described in his article, "Utilisation des godets en polyéthylène pour les reboisements dans la région méditerranéenne" published in the Revue forestière française.
Courtesy, R. Baltaxe.
Finland
· For half a century Finland has been almost the only country producing birch plywood for the international timber market. According to the Finnish Foreign Trade Association, it is expected that the several decades to come will be characterized by the increasing appearance of spruce in Finland's forests, while the birch woods will grow smaller. This development is proceeding at so slow a pace that it can hardly be considered alarming from the viewpoint of the Finnish plywood industry - especially since with the intensification of silvicultural measures, the growth of good-quality birch has commanded ever greater attention.
Prior to the second world war there were 19 plywood factories in Finland; now their number is 23. Of 1953 output no less than 88 percent was shipped abroad, but during the past few years, marketing difficulties have resulted in lower production figures.
Great Britain has been the principal market for Finnish plywood, taking normally 50 percent of total exports.
France
· The development of the program of forest rehabilitation financed by the Fonds forestier national (National Forestry Fund) created in 1946, continues satisfactorily. By the end of 1955, 602,244 hectares of plantations had been established.
A new decree in 1957 has introduced a number of modifications in the methods of financing operations. Before, forest owners could obtain assistance for capital improvements in two ways, apart from outright grants:
1. long-term loans in cash at low interest rates, or2. contracting with the Administration des eaux et forêts for the necessary work, the cost to be a first charge on receipts from future timber cuts, to a maximum of 50 percent thereof
The contract method meant slow reimbursements to the National Forestry Fund but was preferred to loans by most forest owners because they in this way obtained the efficient technical help of the Administration des eaux et forêts without providing any particular security.
A new standard contract provides for repayment of the debt to the Fonds forestier national partly by annual instalments in cash, partly, as in the past, through a lien on future fellings. The proportions are assessed for each particular ease, which permits more flexibility in operation of the fund. Should a forest owner fail to pay the annual instalments in cash as required, the debt in full falls due. It will bear interest at the legal rate and the lien on the returns from fellings can be raised to 100 percent.
· After 30 years devoted to research and 16 years as Director of the Ecole nationale des eaux et forêts and of the Station de recherches et d'expérience forestières, M. Auguste Oudin has retired.
In addition to his responsibilities as Director, M. Oudin assumed also those of Inspector-General in charge of all research and forestry education matters in France, as well as being a member of the Permanent Committee of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations and a President of the International Society of Soil Science. Although he spent the greater part of his time on liaison duties with government departments and research agencies. M. Oudin closely supervised the activities of the school.
The last work at Nancy with which M. Oudin was associated was the creation of new laboratories, and it was for this reason that the Administration des eaux et forêts combined the official leave-taking with the opening of these buildings. The Director General of the Administration des eaux et forêts, M. Merveilleux du Vignaux, made a farewell speech to M. Oudin, in which he praised his administration of the school, and his efforts to improve forestry research which now culminated in the building of the new laboratories.
M. René Rol has been nominated as Director at Nancy in succession to M. Oudin.
Hawaii
· A correspondent writes on the behavior of the different species of the genus Eucalyptus under Hawaii's numerous climatic conditions. Many of the species planted out 25 to 50 years ago have now reached a size sufficiently large to be harvested and manufactured into useful material. Some interesting information is being secured as the different species pass through the saw mill. Up to date, 15 different species have been given "mill run" tests, and the data being secured will be of value in future timber operations.
Among the outstanding species already tested are Eucalyptus robusta, E. saligna, E. microcorys, E. deanei, E. citriodora, E. pilularis, E. gigantea, E. resenifera, E. rostrata, E. viminalis, E. sideroxylon and E. paniculata. All of these species are considered good trees in their native habitat in Australia.
The rate of growth of some of the Eucalypts is phenomenal, perhaps due to the feet that Hawaiian plant quarantine law has kept out all of the pests which attack these trees in their native country. E. saligna is perhaps the most rapid-growing and seems to hold the record in Hawaii. E. robusta is a close second, and is a wonderful tree for the wet Hilo coast. Here, with rainfall in excess of 250 inches (6,350 millimeters) per year, it attains its best development. Trees of this species, 35 years old, are producing in the neighborhood of 60,000 board feet of wood per acre (850 cubic meters per hectare).
It has been suggested that a long range program to utilize what is now nonproductive land be given careful consideration by the Territory and other land owners. The area to raise these trees is available and it has been demonstrated that they do well here. The wood from several species of Eucalypts has already proved of value and is being used locally for several purposes including house construction It appears possible that members of this genus may furnish the basis for a new minor industry in Hawaii.
ITALY: Summer hats and handbag of "truciolo", made from poplar wood at Carpi, in northern Italy.
Courtesy, Revue du Bois.
India
· The Government is exploring the possibility of importing wooden sleepers from several foreign countries to bridge the existing serious gap between supply and demand. These countries include Burma, Australia, Thailand, Malaya and Indonesia. Despite the best efforts to obtain sleepers from Indian resources the total availability of wooden sleepers would cover only one third of the total requirements of the Indian railways. It is also proposed to use concrete sleepers and a beginning will be made in certain big railway yards to start with on an experimental basis.
In this connection it is estimated that India's total production of sawn timber is about 100 million cubic feet per annum (2,830,000 cubic meters). The total demand of the Indian railways is about 20 million cubic feet (566,000 cubic meters) but the difficulty arises from the fact that only a portion of the 100 million cubic feet can be used and made available to the railways due to limitation of sizes, quality and increasing demand of other industries.
Laos
· Arrangements have been made for the setting up of a Forestry Credit Fund for the purpose of providing the existing sawmills and wood-using industries with the capital required to improve and increase output.
It is financed from American economic aid and subsequently from the transfer of loans granted plus interest due.
Applications for loans are addressed to the Forest Service which examines them from the technical aspect. They are next submitted to an Administrative Commission and, if approved, returned to the Forest Service for implementation. All equipment supplied or monies granted are recognized as short-term loans repayable within a period of three years at an annual interest of 4 percent.
Morocco
· A group of small handicraftsmen, known as madrieurs, living in the Middle Atlas region, specialize in the working of the so-called native small timber (madriers). Although they usually work independently, a successful attempt was made some years ago to group them into cooperatives both for wood-working and for the c sale of their products.
It is estimated that at present 400 of these craftsmen are grouped in cooperatives and it is expected that the movement will extend to 1,400 woodcutters and charcoal makers or a total of about 2,000 forest workers in all. The present trend is to induce these craftsmen, besides their speciality, to enter the woodworking industry in general.
New Caledonia
· Since 1947, a forestry officer has been assigned to New Caledonia. He has been able to make an initial inventory of forest species, undertake studies and start silvicultural experiments. This was followed in 1956 by the establishment of a corps of forest rangers. The organization of a forest service is to be completed in the next few years.
Courtesy, J. Turbang.
The provisions of the forest law and regulations are applicable not only to forests owned by the State or communities but some, notably as regards protection against soil erosion and prohibition of deforestation in certain areas, to private forests also.
Tanganyika
· A committee appointed by the Tanganyika Government to consider conditions existing in the Serengeti National Park, one of the largest wildlife reserves in the world, published its report in August 1957.
The survey showed that conflict existed between the long-term interests of wildlife whose habitat is endangered, and those of Masai shepherds. This conflict was likely to increase, not only because of environ mental deterioration brought about principally by overgrazing and trampling by cattle near watering points, and by annual burning causing deterioration in natural vegetative cover with direct and serious consequences to water supply, but also because of the incompatibility of dual control in an area entailing two sets of priorities. This confirmed the experience acquired in other parts of the world that, in projects of this kind, there should be certain areas where the interests of nature conservation should be predominant, and others in which conservation is practiced only to an extent compatible with such different forms of land usage as the economy of the country demands.
The committee considers that the present National Park cannot be considered as forming a homogeneous Unit but is, rather, divided into two main areas. These each have their own cycle of animal migration and their own peculiar problems. The western Serengeti, of only marginal value to human use but with its numerous wild herds of grazing animals and their attendant carnivora, together with their spectacular seasonal movement, offers a natural phenomenon no longer equalled in scale elsewhere in the world. The area necessary to maintain these values must be large enough to provide a viable ecological unit embracing the full annual cycle and should remain under the Park authority. The main problem will be the necessary extinction of what human rights exist and the future of the National Park will largely depend upon the methods employed to do this.
The other area is the Ngorongoro Crater Highland on the eastern side where the immediate need is to conserve and develop water supplies, forest and pasture for the use of man, together with the scenic and wild life values as a tourist attraction. This task is best placed on the Administration and its technical advisers, by the creation of an integrated project team resident in the area and controlled by the central Government. The boundaries of this "conservation unit" would include two "nature sanctuaries", the Ngorongoro and Embagai craters, where the interests of the fauna and flora will predominate since they offer unique spectacles of wildlife in a magnificent setting. They should, however, be administered as part of the conservation unit, which, with A well-developed road network, will offer a fruitful area for research in sound and improved land-use management and an ideal demonstration area for the enlightenment of both land-users and administrators in the region.
The two areas would be linked by a wide, game controlled "corridor", where hunting of any species of animal is prohibited.
The twin tests of desirability and feasibility in the face of scientific data and human needs, appear to have been fully applied in these proposals for an enduring solution to the preservation of local values, which are of international importance. The committee fully recognizes the financial implications involved and expresses the hope that those countries outside Africa, who have shown their concern preservation of wild animal life within East Africa, will be the first to come forward with offers of material aid.
Courtesy, F. Loetsch.
United Kingdom
· The Forestry Commission's afforestation program has come up against the difficulty of purchasing suitable land, the greater part of which lies in the Highlands of Scotland which are extensively used for sheep raising.
Afforestation projects in the Highlands are often viewed with some apprehension by nearby owners. To allay this fear, the Forestry Commission will no longer seek systematically to acquire large blocks of land. It will see to the upkeep of the fencing put up to protect the young plantations, although later maintenance must be carried out by neighboring owners to prevent their herds straying into closed forested areas. As far as possible the Forestry Commission will maintain a protective belt-of bare ground around its plantations in order to allow the owners of adjoining grazing land to set fire to their heathland without fear of the fire spreading to the nearby plantations.
Assurance has also been given that efforts will continue to be made to cheek the increase of animals likely to cause damage to the neighboring farms, and that, in laying out the roads-to connect up new plantations, account will be taken of the needs of private owners and inhabited centers close to the new forests.
An endeavor is thus being made to ensure integration of agriculture with forestry and to bring home to the farmers the many advantages to be derived from their proximity to the new forests of Britain.
Viet-Nam
· A secondary school of agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry was opened in 1955 with 50 students selected on the basis of a competitive examination or their qualifications. After taking general courses, the students specialize from the third year, that is from the end of 1957, in their respective branches of study. It is hoped that, after 1958, there will be about 20 young men able to take over district administrative posts under the Forest Service.
In addition to this local training, five Forest Service inspectors have taken advanced training courses abroad. Others are leaving for Europe for periods of advanced instruction under technical assistance programs.
Active publicity consisting of talks and the distribution of popular brochures has been carried out since the beginning of 1966 with a view to checking forest destruction and fires. A National Arbor Day has been held since 1955 with a view to encouraging the afforestation of bare ground and the planting of forest trees.
