Forestry in India 



643 



labor rates, is high, varying as it does from $1.30 per square mile 

 in the Punjab to $15.00 per square mile in Burma. 



An interesting statement of the fire protection situation in 

 India is given in the following table : 



Province 



Madras 



Central Provinces. . . 



Bombay 



Burma 



United Provinces. . . 

 Behar and Orissa. . . 



Assam 



Punjab 



Bengal 



Coorg 



Ajmer 



Northwest Frontier. 



Area 



under 



Protection 



Square Miles 



15,481 



11,409 



10,032 



4,548 



3,210 



1,689 



1,440 



1,060 



719 



157 



141 



85 



Per cent 

 Reserves 



under 

 Protection 



82.1 



58. 



84.6 



16.6 



77.9 



97.8 



32.9 



49. 



14.8 



30. 



99.3 



36. 



Per cent 

 Protected 



Area 

 Burned 



7.1 

 1.5 

 3.9 

 3.3 

 2.6 



.5 

 4. 



.9 

 1.3 

 1.9 



Cost of 



Protection 



per Square 



Mile 



7.10 



3.00 



2.10 



15.00 



1.36 



The controversy which has raged in India concerning the 

 advisability of preventing fires on certain forest types is settling 

 into the generally accepted decision that fire must be used as a 

 silvicultural agent both in the moist teak forest of Biuma and the 

 pure sal forest of Eastern Bengal and Assam. These types if 

 protected form fire are overrim, the teak with bamboos and the 

 sal with evergreen species to such an extent that natural reproduc- 

 tion is impeded or extinguished and the valuable type is superseded 

 by an almost valueless type which has benefited too much by 

 freedom from fire. 



Working Plans 



The Indian forest code provides that for every reserved forest 

 an annual plan of operations must be drawn fixing the quantity 

 of timber to be cut within limits which will secure the maintenance 

 and improvement of the forest. This plan of operation which is a 

 temporary measure to prevent spoliation of the forest before a 

 working plan is completed outlines all works of any nature to be 

 undertaken in the forest. The policy is that a working plan should 

 be in existence before a reserved forest is exploited. This policy, 

 chiefly through the lack of the officers necessary to put it into effect, 

 has not received universal observance. The responsibility for 

 working plans has varied from time to time, and at present no 

 particular office is charged with working plans. In 1872, a separate 



