98 HUMUS AND THE DEFERTILIZATION 



With Eucalyptus the planter will find it necessary to 

 trim the tree to a mere tuft of leaves at the top, just before 

 the monsoon gales commence. If this is not done, the seed- 

 ling will get wind-wrung at the base, or even be completely 

 uprooted, or bent on one side. In Cuddapah, Casuarinas 

 have been established at a cost of less than 2| annas per 

 tree, but this may be taken as under the mark. 



I have given a list of a few of the best fuel producing 

 trees, and likewise of a few that should not be planted ; but, 

 as the number of these last is legion, it is better that the 

 fuel-planter should only plant those that have been already 

 proved a success, and not try any rash experiments on a 

 large scale, with new species. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



HUMUS AND THE DEFERTILIZATION OP FOREST SOILS, &C., 

 IN INDIA. 



Nature of Forests. I WILL begin by dividing the forests of India into three 

 broad classes : 



(1) The deciduous forests ; 



(2) The tropical evergreen forests ; 



(3) The alpine shola forests. 



The first class may again be subdivided into two divi- 

 sions : 



(a) Heavy deciduous forests where no grass grows ; 



(b) Open deciduous forest in which there is a rank 



growth of coarse grass. 



In (a) we find a little humus in hollows; but on all slopes, 

 there is an utter absence of it. The soil is usually a deep 

 chocolate brown on the surface; but lower down the sub- 

 soil is yellow. Forest fires annually burn the thick layer 

 of leaves that carpet the ground in January or February ; 

 but such fires burn slowly and with little flame. In the (b) 

 class of forests, fires annually rage, sweeping everything 

 clean before them and doing enormous damage. 



