28 



THE FOREST RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 



of an acre per inhabitant. The state forests are divided into three 

 classes: Permanent state forests (or reserved forests), protected 

 forests, and unclassed forests. 



The reserved forest forms only 9.5 per cent of the total land area. 

 In the following table are given the areas of the different classes of 

 government forests in the various provinces : 



TABLE 7. Government forests of India, in square miles, under the control of the forest 



department June 30, 1908. 



COMPOSITION. 



The composition of the Indian forests is entirely different from that 

 of the United States or of Europe. The forests are almost exclusively 

 hardwood, although some are evergreen and some deciduous. The 

 evergreen forests are found mainly along the west coast of the penin- 

 sula, in coast districts of Burma and Chittagpng, and along the foot 

 and lower slopes of the eastern Himalayas. The deciduous forests are 

 found in the central part of the peninsula and of Burma and contain 

 the most valuable timber trees, such as teak, sal, sandalwood, red 

 sanders, ironwood, padouk, and others. Conifers (pine, firs, and 

 deodar) are found at the higher elevations in the Himalayas. 



ANNUAL CUT AND GROWTH. 



The total cut for 1905-6 amounted to 239,250,000 cubic feet, of 

 which 171,500,000 cubic feet was in the form of fuel. Besides this 

 there were also cut 210,000,000 bamboos. If this cut be divided by 

 the total forest area, the cut per acre would be extremely small, 1.6 

 cubic feet; this figure does not really represent the true cut, however, 

 because it is referred to an enormous forest area, of which only a 

 comparatively small portion is actually utilized. When the cut is 

 referred to a definite area, the cut per acre is much larger for exam- 

 ple, in Bengal, in the year 1899-1900, from an area of 5,707,800 acres 

 there were obtained 7,340,000 cubic feet of saw timber, 34,566,000 

 cubic feet of firewood, and 21,000,000 cubic feet of bamboo, or, in all, 



