FORESTRY IN BRITISH INDIA 



By T. S. Woolsky, Jr. 



C. G. Rogers, formerly Chief Conservator of Forests in Burma, 

 British India, lectured at Yale University, February 24. on "Forestry 

 in British India," on the following topics : 



1 . Introductory. 



2. General description of the country, topography, geology, soil and 

 climate. 



3. Area of forests in India. Their ownership, Government forest 

 policy. 



4. Principal types of forest, their composition and distribution. The 

 most valuable species. 



5. Brief history of the origin and development of the Forest Service 

 in India. 



6. Present organization of the Forest Service. 



7. Educational and research work. 



8. Revenue and expenditure. Nature and scope of the work of the 

 Indian Forest Service. Estimate of timber available for export. 



Few Americans realize that the combined area of India and Burma 

 is only a little more than one-third that of the United States and on this 

 smaller area there is a population about two and one-half times that 

 of the United States. It is illustrative of the varying density of 

 population when one realizes that in Burma there are only fifty-three 

 people to the square mile, while in Bengal there are five hundred 

 seventy-seven. The complications which the native village population 

 means to the forester may be well understood v^^hen one realizes that 

 India "is essentially an agricultural country, the vast majority of its 

 inhabitants cultivate the ground, or raise cattle." There is little skilled 

 labor, but ordinary day labor perhaps one-third to one-half as efficient 

 as the ordinary Italian in America, is plentiful and costs under 25 cents 

 a day. The unskilled character of the labor, however, makes efficient 

 forest control doubly difficult and great credit is due the British for- 

 esters for their splendid success in administrating and improving an 

 area of some 3G7,909 square miles that produce an annual net revenue 

 of some $6,000,000. According to Rogers, a definite statement of 

 Indian forest policy was not made until 1894. 

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