2l8 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY; 



square miles now under the control of the Forest Department 

 represents about the fifth part of British India, and that if the 

 forest areas of Native States, which are managed chiefly on 

 plans compiled by British officers, and are not infrequently 

 administered by them, be added thereto, the total amounts to 

 about a fourth of the whole of India. 



The comparative importance of the large forest area of India 

 is of course not so great as the same proportion would imply 

 in Western countries ; for instance, the value of the outturn is 

 not at present, area for area, to be compared with that of 

 Western forests. In the first place, the Indian forests stand to 

 a great extent, and especially in the more settled areas, on soil 

 unsuitable for growing good field crops. And, moreover, they 

 were taken over in a ruined condition, having been devastated 

 by men, by cattle, and by fire. Such damage may be observed 

 in every province of the Empire, though it is perhaps more 

 apparent in the deciduous forests of Central India than elsewhere. 

 The long continued ill-treatment of the forests cannot be made 

 good in one or even two generations of man ; but it is satis- 

 factory to know that the eff"orts of the last forty-five years are 

 having an eff'ect in improving the soil and also the growth, as 

 regards both quantity and quality. We may feel convinced 

 also that this improvement will keep pace with the increasing 

 demand of the future ; and this leads to a definition of one of 

 the chief duties of the Indian forester, which is so to improve 

 the area in his charge as to bring it into a condition to meet 

 the legitimate demands of a population ever increasing both 

 in numbers and power of consumption. 



In a country which extends roughly from the 8th to the 36th 

 degree of north latitude and across 32 degrees of longitude; 

 whose forests stand at altitudes varying from sea-level to 14,000 

 feet above it; whose rainfall, always a vital factor in the 

 distribution of forest-growth, varies from five hundred or more 

 inches in the year to an amount almost imperceptible to record- 

 ing instruments, it would take more than an ordinary lifetime 

 to become acquainted in practice with all the varying types of 

 forest, and the conditions under which they and their inhabitants 

 exist. 



The influence of the forest begins immediately below the 

 line of perpetual snow, at about 16,000 feet elevation. First 

 come the upland meadows, carpeted in the spring with wild 



