ON. THE DISTRIBUTION OF FORESTS IN INDIA. 91 



dace rich vegetation. At the same time, in India, the supply of 

 moisture is unequally distributed over the seasons of the year. 1 n 

 most districts the year divides itself into two unequal parts, — a long- 

 dry season, and a short rainy reason. In most provinces of India 

 the principal rains are summer rains, due to the prevalence during 

 that season of the south-west monsoon, and the most humid regions 

 are those tracts which are fully exposed to the influence of these 

 moist south-westerly winds. In addition to these, there are Christ- 

 mas or winter rains in Northern India, but they only last a few 

 days, or at the outside a week a two, and are, moreover, extremely 

 uncertain and irregular. On the eastern coast of the Peninsula the 

 summer rains are slight, the principal fall coming with north-easterly 

 winds in October and November. But in the greater part of India 

 the dry season lasts from November to May, the rains commencing 

 between May and July, and ending between August and October. 

 In the moister districts the rains commence early and last longer, 

 while in the dry belts there is rain only during two or three months of 

 the year; and in the arid region the rainfall is altogether uncertain. 



The temperature during this long dry season is cooler at first and 

 warmer afterwards. The mean temperature of the three months, 

 December, January, and February, generally termed the cool season, 

 ranges between 60° in the Punjab, and 79° in the south of the Penin- 

 sula. During these months dew is formed more or less regularly, 

 and contributes much to the maintenance of vegetation, particularly 

 in the dry and arid zones. Radiation is so powerful during this 

 season that frost is not of uncommon occurrence in the plains and 

 lower hills of northern and a part of Central India. These night 

 frosts have interfered much with the satisfactory progress of the 

 plantations in the Punjab, and as far south as Sukkur on the Indus, 

 in latitude 27° 30', and the Satpoora range in the Central Provinces, 

 in latitude 23°, frost is a serious difficulty in arboriculture. As far 

 south as Calcutta, ice can be made on carefully prepared beds covered 

 with straw, shortly before sunrise on a still, clear morning. The mean 

 temperature of the three months which follow, which are generally 

 called the hot season, is 75° in the Punjab, 85° along the coast line, 

 and 90° in the interior of the Peninsula, and this dry heat, with the 

 hot scorching winds which blow over a great part of India during 

 these months, makes this season extremely trying to forest vegetation. 



With the exception of the extensive evergreen forests of the 

 Himalaya, and the limited tracts of evergreen forests in the plains 

 and lower hills of the humid regions, the great mass of forests in 



