58 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Forests of India. By Prof. Stebbing, in three volumes. 

 (John Lane. Price 42s. each volume.) Volume I., published 

 in 192 1, deals with the period from post-tertiary times to the 

 year 1864 ; Volume II., published in 1922, is devoted to the 

 period 1864-1900; Volume III., not yet published, will 

 deal with the period from 1900 to 1920. 

 Mr Stebbing's object is to trace the various stages through 

 which the Indian forests have passed during the development 

 of the country, especially while under British rule. Before the 

 commencement of the latter the available information is very 

 scanty. The first account is derived from Alexander the Great 

 and his staff. Then, for many centuries little or no information 

 is in existence, but it is presumed that the greater part of the 

 country was originally stocked with forest, and that the area and 

 character of the latter were greatly changed by nomadic tribes 

 and forest fires, so that, when the British arrived, many parts 

 of the country had been practically de-forested by shifting 

 cultivation and fire. During the earlier period of British rule 

 devastation went on even at an increased rate, and by the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century difficulties arose in supplying 

 the Bombay dockyards with the necessary timber. A timber 

 agency was established, but abolished in 1823 owing to its 

 arbitrary proceedings. For the next thirty years the Govern- 

 ment of India paid litde attention to the forest conservancy 

 question, although the Court of Directors several times drew 

 attention to the matter. Individual members of the Civil, 

 Military, and especially the Medical services urged the preserva- 

 tion of the forests. Prominent amongst these were Mr Conelly 

 in Madras, Dr Gibson in Bombay, Dr Cleghorn in Mysore and 

 Madras, Mr Colwin in Burma, and others. Their eff'orts were 

 disjointed, until Lord Dalhousie took the matter up in 1855 and 

 appointed Dr Brandis superintendent of the Pegu teak forests. 

 This led to great activity after the Mutiny, and in 1864 to the 

 establishment of the Indian Forest Department with Dr Brandis 

 as the first Inspector-General of Forests. During the next twenty 

 years forest conservancy was organised in practically all parts of 

 India on systematic and scientific lines. In 1865 the first Indian 

 Forest Act was passed, but superseded by an improved Act in 

 1878. Under its provisions the selection and establishment of 



