752 



NATURE 



[November 24, 1923 



establish village forests to be managed for the benefit 

 of local communities ; to protect the forests "w 



as well OS their produce ; to organise the admii n 



and working of the forests, and allied matters. 



Brandis, on taking charge of the Department, found 

 the existing staff sadly deficient. There were some 

 excellent administrators in it, mostly military officers, 

 including medical men, but there was little knowledge 

 of systematic management with the object of securing 

 a sustained j'ield in the future. His plan, from the 

 outset, was to obtain a sufficient number of scientifically 

 trained officers, to start the treatment of the forests on 

 the right lines, and to utilise them for the training of 

 Indians to fill the posts of rangers and foresters, 

 promotion to the superior grade being open to those 

 who were fit for it. There being, at that time, no 

 opportunity in India or in Britain to acquire a high 

 standard of scientific forestry, Brandis proposed to 

 send young Englishmen for the necessary instruction 

 to the Continent, Germany and France, where system- 

 atic forest management had been practised for more 

 than a century. In the meantime the service in the 

 several provinces of India was organised as well as 

 possible. The formation of Reserved State Forests 

 was commenced, the methods of exploitation im- 

 proved, the general protection of the forests effected, 

 and especially fire protection commenced, the latter 

 being inaugurated successfully by Capt. Pearson in the 

 Central Provinces. Shifting cultivation in the valuable 

 parts of the forests was restricted or at any rate regu- 

 lated, taungya teak cultivation in connexion with 

 shifting cultivation introduced in Burma, whence it 

 has spread to other parts of India and produced highly 

 important results. 



From the very beginning Brandis drew up preliminary 

 working plans for the forests which he visited, a practice 

 which he continued up to the time of his leaving India. 

 Other officers followed his example, but, as the adminis- 

 tration had to a considerable extent been provincialised, 

 there was no security for the plans being executed. 

 When Dr. Schlich took over the Inspector-Generalship 

 from Dr. Brandis in i88i, he recognised that, to secure 

 a continuous yield from the forests in the future, steps 

 must be taken to push on the preparation of working 

 plans based on the principle of a sustained yield, and 

 especially to secure the execution of the plans when 

 once sanctioned by Government. He obtained the 

 sanction of the Government of India and of the Secre- 

 tary of State for India for the establishment of a 

 Working Plans Branch under the supervision of the 

 Inspector-General, assisted by an Assistant Inspector- 

 General. The plans were prepared under the direction 

 of the local governments, but the Inspector-General 

 had to be consulted as to the lines on which they were 

 NO. 2821, VOL. 112] 



to be drawn up, and, when once approved by the local 

 government, he was kept informed of the 1 

 execution, so that he could direct the attci. 

 local government to any deviation from the sanctioned 

 provisions. It was foreseen at the time that, as the 

 operations of the Department developed, the control 

 would have to be handed over to the local authorities, 

 and this has now actually been done. The establish- 

 ment of this branch was, as Prof. Stebbing states in 

 volume ii,, considered " an epoch-making move for- 

 ward." As a result nearly all important forests are 

 now worked under the provisions of welWprcparod 

 plans ; moreover, the yield capacity of the forests 

 became known and can safely be worked up to, whiU- 

 a great store of valuable information bearing on tli( 

 silviculture and general management of the forests was 

 put on record. It is not too much to say that the estal>- 

 lishment of the Working Plan Branch was a forerurmer of 

 the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun, which, how- 

 ever, did not come until twenty- two years afterwards. 



Prof. Stebbing deals in detail with the development 

 of the education of the staff, both superior and sub- 

 ordinate. The recruits for the former continued to be 

 educated on the Continent until 1886, but in 1885 the 

 first School of Forestry in Britain was opened at 

 Cooper's Hill. The organisation of this was entrusted 

 to Sir William Schlich. It remained at Cooper's Hill 

 until 1905, when it was transferred to the University 

 of Oxford. As soon as a sufficient number of duly 

 qualified teachers of forestr>' had been secured, the 

 establishment of an Indian School of Forestr}- at Dehra 

 Dun was effected, in 1878, for the training of the 

 ranger class of officers. It was gradually improved, so 

 that by 1900 it had been brought up to a standard 

 which made it possible to undertake the instruction of 

 the recruits of the provincial part of the controlling 

 staff. Indeed, it is likely that soon the whole of the 

 superior staff will be educated at Dehra Dun. 



Prof. Stebbing says in the preface to volume ii. that 

 the fourteen years, 1857 to 1870, witnessed the true 

 foundation of forest conservancy in the different 

 provinces of the Indian Empire, and that the work 

 which was undertaken during the period 1 871-1900 

 was the natural corollary and outcome of the lines laid 

 down between 1857 and 1870. This is, in our opinion, an 

 exaggerated view, because, as has been indicated above, 

 several of the most important measures which secured 

 the success of the whole undertaking were conceived 

 and introduced during the period 1 870-1 900. Not 

 only was all the spade-work done during the latter 

 period, but also rational forest conservancy became an 

 established fact. Not far short of 100,000 square miles 

 had definitely become permanent State forests; the 

 greater part of these were worked according to the 



