1 (ce). PLANTATIONS.
2 87. Operations for extending the area under Teak cultivation have been
3 confined as heretofore to the Rangoon division for the reasons specified in para
4 114 of Administration Report for 1870-71.
5 88. The Deputy Conservator at Toungoo reported having secured the
6 services of 12 Shan families for extension of the Pyoonchoung plantation ; but
7 on his removal from divisional charge, in March, these parties were not forth-
8 coming, and subsequently the season was too far advanced to admit of the ne-
9 saat arrangements being made by Mr. Adamson, the present divisional
10 officer.
11 89. The most important feature in the work of extension in the Rangoon
12 division is its transfer from Kyekpyoogan to the banks of the Magayee river,
13 about 32 miles further North, and 57 miles by the Prome road from Rangoon.
14 90. This mcasure was deemed necessary for the following reasons.
15 1. Limited area of a suitable description, available for Teak cultiva-
16 tion at Kyekpyoogan.
17 2. Superior soil and rich vegetation over a large arca on and near
18 the Magayee Choung.
19 3. The question of obtaining and retaining large bodies of cooly
20 labourers, at a greater distance from Rangoon, no longer doubt-
21 ful, owing to the continued employment of Madras labourers
22 on the Prome road works and the increase of cultivation and
23 population more North.
24 91. It has also to be mentioned that the necessity for this step was anti-
25 cipated by the Inspector General of Forests in his memorandum on Teak plan-
26 tations dated 17th February 1868, and that the vicinity of the Magayee
27 Choung was suggested, as suitable for Teak plantations, in the journal append-
28 ed to the working plan of 1868.
29 92. Towards determining the actual area of land suitable for Teak culti-
30 vation in the vicinity of the Magayce and also of the Oakkan, a large stream a
31 few miles North of it, the entire Tract between them, extending six miles
32 to the East of the Prome road, has been topographically surveyed and a care-
33 tul examination of almost every part made by the Conservator.
34 93. It is certain that a more promising site than the ground on the banks
35 of the Magayee and its feeders the Kayoo, Aikthaloo, and Yeatho Choungs,
36 could not well be found elsewhere. In the intervening space large areas occur
37 here and there covered with magnificent tree forest of Pynkadoe (Xylia do-
38 labriformis) Myoukshaw (Homalium tomentosum), and other varicties such as
39 Bambooay (Careya arborca), Yemenay (Gmelina arborea), and Boomayzah
40 (Albizzia stipulata), standing upon a dark yellow and pale brown loam varying
41 from 1 foot to 2 fect in depth, and resting upon yellow loam slightly intermixed
42 with decayed and disintegrated laterite.
43 94. Owing to the absegce of Toak in such parts, except in one or two
44 small spots where the stems, although very tall are not uniformly developed,
45 the Conservator has considered it necessary before applying for the land to re-
46 examine the locality during the height of the rains with a view to ascertain at