182 THE INDIAN FOEESTEE. [Jan., 



THE ' INDIAN FOEESTEE.' * 



,HIS number of the Indian Magazine of Forestry contains a 

 number of very interesting articles. The first one is translated 

 from j\r. I'icton's 'Forest Organization,' and describes the 

 actual administration and control of a private estate belonging to a 

 French noble family, and consisting of several detached forests. 

 These forests are described as situated in different parts of Luxemburg, 

 Switzerland, and France, and amounting altogether to 75,000 acres — 

 about equal to the average extent of a State Conservator's charge. 



' Notes .from Rewah ' are concluded with remarks on the subject of 

 lac, which is collected from two kinds of tree for the manufacture 

 of shell-lac. Lac is deposited on the trees by an insect of the Coccus 

 family, which feeds on them. The two trees on which the deposit is 

 mostly found are the Butea frondosa and Sclilelchera trijuga, and 

 these two species are reserved as royal woods throughout Eewah. 



There are 'Notes on French Forests,' by Mr. A. Smythies,and an 

 article on the ' Deodar in the Dhara Gad Valley,' by j\Ir. Fernandez. 

 The latter is to be continued, and it is the first instalment of the 

 results of recent measurements and observations. These would 

 probably be useful and instructive to the many practitioners who 

 have charge of specimens of Ccdrus deodar a p)lanted in this 

 country. The Deodar avoids southerly slopes. It avoids also the 

 bottoms of ravines and valleys, and all similar damp, cold places. It 

 requires a weU-drained soil, and a certain appreciable amount of 

 insolation or direct sunshine. As regards the composition of 

 the soil, Deodar is extremely accom.modating as long as the 

 drainage is sufficiently free, and as a forest crop it takes away 

 little or nothing from the soil. Deodar in general affects a climate 

 that is more or less Alpine in character. In these forests, or else- 

 where, Deodar is pre-eminently a sliade-enduring tree, especially 

 during the first half century of its life. Seedlings will remain under 

 the densest cover for years, the mean age of saplings averaging seven 

 feet in height and six inches in girth at the base, and growing under a 

 complete leaf canopy was thirty-nine years. By figures given, it is 

 proved clearly that young Deodar can not only survive for many years 

 under a dense leaf canopy, but that a dense leaf canopy is less hurtful 

 to it than complete exposure to weather influences, the most destruc- 

 tive of which are evidently drought and strong heat, and the 

 superincumbent snow which breaks the leading shoot and bends 



* The Indian Forester for October. Edited by W. R. Fisher, B.A., Deputy 

 Director of the Forest School, Dehra Dun. Printed at the Ci'vil Engineering 

 College Press, Roorkee. 1883. 



