1 / TIST India - Chezhumai | March 2008
Chezhumai
The International Small Group & Tree Planting Program
TIST India: Mew No.52, Guru Ram Flats, Flat D, Venkat Ratnam Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, Tamil Nadu, India
Phone : +91 44 42188438 / Mobile: +91 9840299822 / Email: josephrexoni@tist.org
Quality of soil will improve slowly but definitely
Vaigai Small Group
We joined in TIST program on March 12, 2007. We are following the best practices at Placepalayam Village in Placepalayam Center. We have 500 eucalyptus, 100 casuarina and 100 mango trees with us. Starting seedlings is expensive, that's the reason we are doit in intervals, step by step. We will be starting few more mango seedling
shortly, which would be transplanted during September 2008.
We are planning to start groundnut as intercropping in between the trees. TIST showed us a way to do something useful in our waste land. The soil quality of our land will improve slowly but surely. So far, our group has received Rs.666/- as voucher payment from TIST. This is surely an additional good payment for poor farmers.
Vaigai Small Group
TIST India: New No.52, Guru Ram Flats, Flat D, Venkat Ratnam Magar, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, Tamil Nadu, India
Phone ; +91 44 42188438 / Mobile: +91 9840299822 / Email: josephrexoni@@tist.org
TIST income qiving program is welcome in our village
Pasumai Puratchi
Small Group
We joined in TIST program on April 16 2007. We are following the best practices in Placepalayam Village in
Placepalayam Center. Our group consists of two families and we have more than 4 different species like, teak,
mango, neem, Guava and few other Indian species totaling to 1,022 trees. As we reside near the hill, our groves
have lot of rocks & pebbles and so it is difficultto turn over the soil. Tree planting work is apt for our land.
We had groundnut as intercropping, which was harvested recently. As we are joined with several other groups in our center. we get chance to visit the groves of other groups to find out how best they have planted their trees, which we try to follow in our groves. Any system which is income giving is welcome in our village, Our group has received Rs.1,134/- so far. We are happy to
The International Small Group & Trew Planting Program
TIST India: New No.52, Guru Ram Flats, Flat D, Venkat Ratnam Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, Tamil Nadu, India
Phone : +91 44 42188438 / Mobile: +91 9840299822 / Email: josephrexon{@tist.org
4 | TIST India - Chezhumai / March 2008
TIST helps us 10 make use of our land usefully
Kanniyamma Small Group
We joined in TIST program on 27th April 2007. We are following the best practices at Timmabhupalapuram village in Placepalayam Center. We have about 1,151 teak trees with us.Teak trees yield only after 20 years, but we are
happy that we are in TIST program, we will get TIST voucher for our trees for all these years and after that, our income multiplies. Though we reside in village but still we do not mingle with all villagers very often, but TIST Program is making us to go with all. Since a year TIST Program is active in our village. We are all called for TIST
meeting and it is interesting to be in a gathering with our fellow villagers in TIST meeting. TIST organized a program during 2007, in which a club from Chennai distributed free seedlings to us.
Now a day, there is very less rain fall and so the paddy cultivation has come down drastically. People go to cities for work leaving back their land barren. TIST Program is a welcome one at this situation, making us do some thing useful in our own land. Ourgroup has received Rs.425/-sofar.
5 / TIST India - Chezhumai / March 2008 tegperi’ @ikeer — Glam
We wish good hk to TIST 10 expand more in
Caminadu
lpeneTerdle LOD HTL lp6d @lETERID allerigflSa meveu
SFlegL Ld Cum eter euTLS GIS CmTLd
Mariyamman Small Group
We joined in TIST Program on 21st December 2007. We are following the best practices at Marudhadu village at Mel Kodungallur Center. We have planted teak trees in two different groves totalling to 1,203. These trees are just few months old. We planted these trees in between groundnut. We like the idea of TIST, healing the ecology. This will surely getgood airforustolivea healthy life. We are new group and yet to receive the voucher payment from TIST. We have seen our own villagers (TIST members) receiving voucher payment from TIST. We will also be
receiving it very soon. We feel that TIST voucher payment is like pension system, which will be an additional & useful payment. We are propagating TIST Program to our known areas, so that, all our known people would get benefitted out of this program. Our next immediate plan is to plant sandalwood trees, which would be of great help to our children in future. We wish good luck to TIST India to expand more in Tamilnadu.
we are one of the oldest small groups in TIST Program, we joined on 20.11.2003. We are following he best practices at Ulundhai Village in Mel Kodungallur Center. Our land is very close to a river, but so unfortunate that the river is dry for more than two decades. TIST Program was a godsend ne in 2003 for my family. We planted casuarina and had intercropping too, like chilly, ladiesfinger and tomato, which got us good earning. For our casuarina trees, we received more than Rs.50,000/- from TIST. Initially, we planted more than 20,000 casuarina trees, but radually we had lot of thinning because of our wrong idea of planting the trees too close. Ek In fact, the naturally fallen trees got us several thousand rupees and they were useful for «4 re wood too. We stopped buying firewood. We have 150 teak seedlings with us now and planning to start few thousand more teak seedlings to plant in the place where we lost the casuarina trees. The land where our casuarina trees stood have become very fertile because of the casuarina leaves. TIST Program transformed our life from dificult situation to a normal life. We still have more than 3000 five year old casuarina trees with us, which is earning TIST voucher for us.
TIST India: New No.52, Guru Ram Flats, Flat D, Venkat Ratnam Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, Tamil Nadu, India
Phone : +81 44 42188438 { Mobile: +91 8840290822 | Email: josephrexon@tist.org
Roja Small Group
We joined in TIST Program on 21.04.2005. We are following the best practices at at Mel Kodungallur
Village in Mel Kodungallur Center. We planted hybrid good quality mango trees in the beginning and all
those mango trees are 3 years old, which has started to yield now. Next two years, the yield will increase
and we are expecting at least Rs.600 per tree in a year. We five different species of trees like, mango,
Ineem, teak, casuarina, and few other Indian species totaling to1,120 trees. From the beginning of our
activity with TIST, we follow the best practice of having intercropping between our mango trees. Since
there is lot of spacing between each mango trees, even now we are able to do intercropping. We need fo
work hard during summer to save our trees. Our continuous work in the land for the trees and intercropping has increased the quality of our soil.
The International Small Group & Tres Planting Program
TIST India: New No.52, Guru Ram Flats, Flat D, Venkat Ratnam Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, Tamil Nadu, India
Phone ; +91 44 42188438 / Mobile; +91 9840299822 / Email; josephrexon@tist.org
Useful trees to plant
Do you have very less land just around your home? Do not worry, you can plant trees in TIST Program all
around your home too, but select those trees which grows vertically and tall, so that they do not affect your
home, one such tree which grows vertically tall and which gives good breeze is the Ashoka tree.
Mast Tree - Ashoka Tree
Mast tree is known as "Polyalthia Longifolia” to the world of scientists, the "Mast Tree’ is distinctly elegant with its downward-sweeping branchlets and shining, green foliage. This tree is a member of the "Anonaceae’ family. In Hindi language, the tree is known as 'Devdar’, 'Ashoka’, 'Debdaru’ and "Asok’. The Bengali people call it as ‘Debdaru’. In Tamil, it is named as "Assothi’ and "Mara lllupai’ and it is "Choruna’ in Malayalam. The tree is the weeping variety of P. Longifolia and has wide-spreading slender branches that are issued from the trunk and form a compact and proportioned crown.
The bark of the "Mast Tree’ is soft and dark grayish-brown in colour.During the months of March and April, the flowers appear in the tree, but all the neighboring trees do not have flower at the same time. The tree remains covered with a large number of delicate, star like flowers for a short period of about two or three weeks only. The flowers are palest-green in colour and give the tree a strange hazy appearance. They normally grow in clusters from small bumps all along the dark branchlets. Each of the flowers bears a slim, green coloured stem. It has a little calyx and six long, narrow, wavy petals arranged in two sets of three. The stamens remain packed firmly together in a small, pale-green dome.
From each of the flowers, there appear several egg-shaped fruits. Each fruit is placed on a short stalk and contains one seed. The Bats and flying foxes admire these fruits and during the evening the tree will be covered by the noisy, screaming throngs. They will leave some evidence of their orgy in the nut-strewn ground in the morning.
The leaves of the "Mast Tree" are a bit uncommon in form. They can grow up to 22.5 cm in length and their shapes are like lances. They are usually bright, shining-green in colour and wavy-edged. The tree attains its most attractive view when the new leaves appear. The contrast between the deep-green colours of the aged leaves, the yellow-green of the half-grown leaves and the oxidized touch of the bendy new tiny leaves are extraordinarily striking.
Vaigai Small Group
The Hindus held it in great esteem and plant it near their temples. The tall straight trunks have light and flexible wood and were ideally suitable for making masts in the days of sailing ships. The wood is straw- coloured and people also use it for making small articles such as pencils, boxes etc. A medicine that can lower the body temperature is prepared from the bark of the "Mast Tree’ and a useful fibre can be yield from the inner bark. People often use the festoons of leaves to make arches and they also strung them across doorways during their religious ceremonies. Not only this, people also frequently use the combination of the leaves and various flowers as a decoration.. In India, the spreading form of this tree is cultivated in all the hot areas. The main usage of the tree is to shade the roadsides. The pendulous variety of the tree is more often seen in large gardens, sometimes close together as a high screen.
TIST India; New No.52, Guru Ram Flats, Flat D, Venkat Ratnam Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, Tamil Nadu, India
Phone ; +91 44 42188438 / Mobile; +91 9840299822 / Email: josephrexoni@tist.org