November 24, 1923] 



NATURE 



751 



men are being trained at the Imperial College of 

 Fropical Agriculture, Trinidad, at Cambridge, and 

 elsewhere, while some of those who have finished their 

 training are being employed in the African and other 

 colonies in supervising work with cotton under the 

 charge of the specialists. A large illustrative exhibit 

 is being prepared for the British Empire Exhibition 

 at Wembley next year, a journal is being started 

 under the editorship of Dr. J. C. Willis, F.R.S., and 

 in many other ways the Corporation is settling to work 

 at the gigantic problem before it. 



It is clear that the activities of the Corporation will 

 be likely to result in a considerable demand for men of 

 the right kind, and at present there is difficulty in 

 finding these. Highly trained agriculturists with know- 

 ledge of cotton-growing are difficult to discover, nor 

 does the supply of young men who have taken a degree 

 in pure science and followed this with some agricul- 

 tural training meet the demand which at present exists 

 in this new branch of scientific tropical agriculture. 



The Forests of Ifidia. 



The Forests of India. By Prof. E. P. Stebbing. In 

 3 vols. Vol. I. Pp. XV + 548 + 27 plates. Vol. 2: 

 The Development of the Indian Forest Service. 

 Pp. xii + 633 + 36 plates. (London : John Lane, The 

 Bodley Head, Ltd., 1922-1923.) 425. net each. 



PROF. STEBBING'S work deals with the history 

 of forest conservancy in India from the time of 

 the recent Post-Tertiary period to the present time. 

 In volume i, he gives the history from the earliest date 

 to the year 1864 ; in volume ii. from 1864 to 1900 ; 

 the period 1900 to the present time is reserved for 

 volume iii., not yet published. The matter assigned 

 to volume i. is further divided into four sub-periods, 

 the last of which comprises the years 1857-1863. 

 Volume ii. is divided into two sub-periods, the first of 

 Which comprises the years 1864-1870. The author 

 then, in a way, throws these two sub-periods together 

 again and says that the fourteen years, 185 7-1 870, 

 witnessed the true foundation of forest conservancy 

 in the different provinces of the Indian Empire. 



In the early part of volume i. the general features 

 of India are indicated ; its geography, geological 

 features, climate, the distribution and the general char- 

 acter of the forests at the time of the arrival of the 

 English in India. Fire, shifting cultivation, and care- 

 less utilisation had considerably reduced the area of the 

 forests and changed their composition, a process which 

 went on, practically unchecked, until the middle of the 

 nineteenth century. The East India Company period- 

 ically directed attention to the mischief and urged the 

 adoption of measures to stop it, but the Government 

 of the country did not take action until the Bombay 



NO. 2821, VOL. I 12] 



Dockyards ran short of timber for naval construction, 

 A timber agency was set up early in the nineteenth 

 century, but abolished again in 1823, in consequence 

 of its arbitrary proceedings. For some time after this, 

 any small progress was due more to the exertions of 

 active individuals in the services than to the Govern- 

 ment as a whole. Among these Mr. ConoUy, the 

 Collector of Malabar, stands out. He started the well- 

 known Nilambur teak plantation in 1843. This was 

 so successful that it proved the possibility of making 

 forest conservancy in India financially profitable. Other 

 examples are the activity of Dr. Gibson in Bombay, Dr. 

 Cleghom in Mysore and Madras, and Dr. Wallich, Capt. 

 Tremenheere, and Mr. Colvin in Burma. These officers 

 and many others did, no doubt, a great deal of good, 

 but their efforts were disjointed ; however, they created 

 a feeling that action on a definite plan was wanted. 



In 1855 Lord Dalhousie took up the matter. His 

 first step was to appoint Dr. Brandis superintendent 

 of the Pegu teak forests. The latter joined in Burma 

 in 1856, and, supported by Major Phayre, the Com- 

 missioner of Pegu, during the following six years he 

 saved the Lower Burma teak forest from the threatening 

 destruction. Soon after the effect of the Mutiny had 

 somewhat subsided, the Government of India began 

 to occupy itself with the question of more effective 

 forest conservancy generally. Dr. Cleghom was 

 called up from Madras in 1861 to advise about 

 forest conservancy in Upper India, and a year later 

 Dr. Brandis (it is said on Dr. Cleghom's suggestion) 

 was brought up from Burma to join in the work. In 

 1864 the Government, with the approval of the Secre- 

 tary of State for India, established a regular Forest 

 Department with Dr. Brandis as first Inspector- 

 General of Forests. 



Dr. Brandis was a man of science, of great know- 

 ledge and endowed with a remarkable working 

 power. He had recognised in Burma that lasting 

 benefit could not be achieved without placing the 

 forest business on a legal basis, and he succeeded in 

 having a special Forest Act passed in 1865. That 

 Act had, however, a great defect : it did not provide 

 a legal inquiry and regulation of rights of third persons 

 in the areas proposed for permanent State forests. 

 Hence, in 1868, Brandis proposed a revised Act, and 

 this proposal led to a protracted discussion which did 

 not end until 1878, when the Indian Forest Act passed 

 the Legislative Council. It is still in force with some 

 minor additions, but special Acts were passed for Burma 

 and Madras based on the same principles as the Indian 

 Act but providing for some provincial differences. All 

 these Acts give power to inquire into, regulate, and, if 

 necessary, commute the rights of third persons in areas 

 declared or proposed as Reserved State Forests ; to 



