February 3, 192 1] 



NATURE 



11^ 



to prevent injurious erosion and to regulate the 

 storage of rainfall. 



The future development of the forest resources 

 of India depends chiefly on three factors : 



(i) Creating or increasing the market for in- 

 flividual products. X'aluable work in this direc- 

 tion was done at the recent Empire Timber 

 Fxhibition by emphasising the uses and handsome 



jinbao rafu %x Ma'ne Muk, Ka*«long river, ChilUfonj hill tract. 

 l><|Mutineflt io India. 



appi iiriiiKc ot .several common Indian timbers, 

 which hitherto were practically unknown in home 

 trade circles. This kind of work necessitates, on 

 one hand close co-operation between forcNt 

 oHicers and the commercial world, and on the 

 other co-operation between forest ollicers and those 

 men of science whf) ar«- engaged in studying the 

 properties of for«'st prtKlucts. With reference to 

 the latter point, recent progress has been made by 

 NO. 2fS75. vol.. lOfi] 



attaching a cellulose expert (to investigate paper- 

 making materials), a tannin expert, an expert in 

 wood-technology, and others, to the Forest Re- 

 search Institute at Dehra Dun. 



(2) Providing improved transport facilities in 

 the shape of roads and mechanical appliances 

 with the object of lessening the cost of extraction 

 and making it possible to work areas which are 

 at present inaccessible. 

 An important step re- 

 cently taken in this con- 

 nection is the addition of 

 a special engineering 

 branch to the Indian 

 l'"orest Department. 



(3) Improved methods 

 of sylvicultural manage- 

 ment, the success of 

 \vhich primarily depends 

 on research work carried 

 out by sylviculturists, 

 botanists, zoologists, 

 chemists, and other men 

 of science with the object 

 i)f increasing available 

 knowledge regarding the 

 requirements of individual 

 species, and the factors 

 which favour or impede 

 their healthy growth and 

 development. Such work 

 is the bed-rock of all 

 truly progressive 

 forestry. It is of little 

 use to build up a market 

 for a product unless a 

 sustained supply of it 

 can be assured and 

 concentrated on those 

 areas where its ex- 

 ploitation can be pro- 

 vided for most efli- 

 lieiitly and at a mini- 

 mum cost. Moreover, 

 until a detailed know- 

 litlge of the requirements 

 of individual species has 

 been acquired, the maxi- 

 mum yield of any particu- 

 lar product cannot be 

 i>l)taiiud. That there is 

 much to be done under 

 I his bead is evident from 

 the fact that, although 

 the conditions of soil 

 and climate over a 

 large part of the forest area in the Indian 

 Kmpire are exceptionally favourable to \egeta- 

 tive growth, the present yield from the l)est 

 of the Indian forests is considerably below that 

 of intensively worked Kuropcan forests. That 

 the impi>rtance of this kind of work is not l)eing 

 overl<K>k«'d by the Indian forest authorities is indi- 

 cated by the fact that at the l''orest Research 

 Institute, which was established at Dehra Dun in 



From " The Work of th« KorrM 



