598 



NATURE 



[April i8. 1901 



reached under 25 feet. The denser vegetation, which is the 

 result of efficient protection, has everywhere counteracted 

 erosion, has prevented landslips and sudden floods. 



These indirect advantages of forest conservancy are obvious 

 and of very great importance, but in most cases the 

 chief object aimed at has been the production of timber, 

 bamboos, firewood and other forest produce. The produce 

 yielded Ijy the forests furnishes the revenue, which enables 

 Government to maintain a proper management of these estates. 

 In old times the requirements in wood and timber of the people 

 and of Government were met without difficulty. But with the 

 increase of population, the growing wealth of the people, the 

 construction of railways and other public works, the demands 

 upon the forests increased. Within reach of the railways and 

 elsewhere, forests disappeared with incredible rapidity. The 

 threatening scarcity of timber and wood compelled the Govern- 

 ment to take action. The author gives an interesting account 

 of the efforts made in the beginning of last century on the 

 western coast to provide a permanent supply of teak timber for 

 ship-building, efforts which failed completely, because most in- 

 judicious and unjust attempts were made to interfere with 

 private property. In the same way the history of the Tenas- 

 serim forests is told, the conservancy of which was urged by 

 Dr. Wallich in 1827, and which were gradually, but effectively, 

 destroyed through a series of mistaken measures. In the 

 adjoining province of Pegu, at the command of Lord Dalhousie, 

 and under the guidance of Sir Arthur, then Major, Phayre, in 

 1856, a systematic management of the teak forests was intro- 

 duced, ensuring the certainty of a permanently sustained yield 

 of teak timber, while the friendly co-operation in the business 

 of the Karen and Burmese inhabitants of the forests was secured, 

 by giving them profitable and permanent employment in forest 

 work. When, after five years of hard work, a steadily increasing 

 surplus revenue from the forests had been realised, proving 

 beyond question the great value of those domains, the timber 

 merchants of Rangoon, naturally anxious to get this valuable 

 property into their hands, had prevailed upon the Government 

 of India to grant their request, and accordingly in February 

 1861, orders were issued to the Commissioner of Pegu to throw 

 open the forests to private enterprise. These orders, which 

 were praised as most enlightened and liberal by Anglo-Indian 

 public opinion, seemed at the time to put a stop to all progress 

 in this direction. Fortunately, at a later date, the greed of the 

 permit-holders under the new arrangements, resulted in breaches 

 on a large scale of the terms of their permits, the consequence 

 of which was, that the permits were cancelled. 



Not more steady was the progress made in other provinces in 

 attempting to place the management of the forests in such a 

 position as to enable them to furnish the needful sustained yield 

 of wood and timber. When Sir John (afterwards Lord) 

 Lawrence landed at Calcutta in January, 1864, as Governor- 

 General, he had determined to stamp out this new-fangled 

 scheme of forest administration, which would weaken the 

 position of the chief civil district officer by taking away from 

 him the charge of the forests. It was only through the fortunate 

 accident that Sir Richard Strachey, at the time secretary to the 

 Government of India in the Public Works Department, who 

 had some time previous taken charge of the forest business, 

 gradually gained influence over the Governor-General to such 

 an extent, that actually in Sir John Lawrence's reign the forest 

 establishments under the Government of India were placed on a 

 regular organisation. 



Apart from reckless cutting, the improvement of the forests 

 was impeded by two old-established practices, grazing and the 

 jungle fires of the hot season. Two important and interesting 

 chapters are devoted to these subjects, to the efforts made to 

 regulate grazing and to protect the forests against fire. Here it 

 must suffice to state that systematic fire protection was com- 

 menced in the Central Provinces in the hot season of 1865. 

 Colonel Pearson, then Conservator of Forests in that province, 

 had serious doubts on the subject ; he knew that any attempt 

 to interfere with this ancient institution, which cleared the 

 ground of inconvenient grass and underwood, would be dis- 

 tasteful to all, Europeans as well as natives. With the powerful 

 support of Sir Richard Temple, then Chief Commissioner of 

 the Central Provinces, he made the attempt. He selected the 

 Bori forest in the Satpura range, a district most favourably 

 situated for the experiment. He succeeded, and within a few 

 years he saw the condition of the forest entirely altered. The 

 extensive grasslands and smaller blanks in the forest gradually 



NO. 1642. VOL. 63] 



filled up from the edge with coppice shoots and self-sown 

 seedlings, the soil, which hitherto had been hardened and 

 sterilised by the annual fires became fertile, the trees increased 

 rapidly in height and girth, and the fresh shoots of the bamboo 

 became taller and stouter. Gradually this difficult work was 

 taken in hand in all provinces, and in 1899 no less than 

 29,492 square miles were successfully protected against fire, or 

 one- third of the total area of reserved forests. TJie expense of 

 these operations latterly has been between ten and eleven 

 rupees per square mile. 



The question will now properly be asked : Who pays for all 

 this business ? Forest revenue and expenditure have increased 

 steadily ever since forest business was properly organised. In 

 1898-99 the results were as follows : 



Rs. 1,90,38,520, or 1,270,000/. 

 ,, 1,00,33,920, ,, 670,000/. 

 ,, 90,04,600, ,, 600,000/. 



Revenue 



Expenditure 



Surplus 



This, it is true, is only a small contribution to the annual 

 revenues of the British Indian Empire, which in the same year 

 amounted to 1,01,40,00,000 rupees. But it is something, and 

 the surplus is increasing steadily. Certainly it must increase, 

 for at present it only amounts to I'^d. an acre. In some pro- 

 vinces, fortunately, the surplus is higher. Since the annexation 

 of the kingdom of Burma the reserved forests in this pro- 

 vince are : 



7,679 square miles in Lower Burma. 



7,988 ,, ,, in Upper Burma. 



Total 11^,667 square miles. 



Both in Upper as well as Lower Burma teak timber is the 

 principal and most valuable produce of ;the forests. The 

 teak forests of Upper Burma had been leased by the King to 

 powerful firms at Rangoon under the vaguest conditions. The 

 lessees were only liable to the payment of a lump sum per 

 annum, without reference to the amount cut by them. Under 

 these conditions the utter devastation of the forests within a 

 short time was inevitable. It has been Mr. Ribbentrop's privi- 

 lege, after the conquest of the country in 1886, to induce the 

 Government to claim the right of interference, and it is entirely 

 due to the tact and determination with which he conducted the 

 negotiations that a settlement was arrived at, under which no 

 trees can be cut that have not been selected and girdled by the 

 Forest Department. Thus this valuable property was saved 

 from ruin, and it is satisfactory that the last of the leases will 

 shortly expire. The surplus realised by the Burma Forests in 

 1899 was 59,24,000 rupees, corresponding to \T^d. an acre. This 

 is better than the amount realised from the whole reserved 

 forests of the British Indian Empire. But even this is a poor 

 result as compared with the yield of properly managed forests in 

 Europe. Of all States of the German Empire, Prussia has, 

 owing to unfavourable soil and climate, the least productive 

 forests, and the average net yield of the State forests is only 

 five shillings an acre, while the State forests of Saxony yield 

 twenty and many forest ranges in that country yield thirty to 

 forty shillings an acre. Much progress, therefore, has still to 

 be made in improving the condition and productiveness of the 

 Indian forests before they can hold their own in comparison with 

 the forests of Europe. This result, however, will be attained 

 provided a sound and vigorous forest policy is continued. 



Besides timber, wood and bamboos there are numerous 

 other substances, such as tanning materials, gums and 

 caoutchouc, necessary for the every-day life of the people and 

 required for the commerce of the world, which are produced and 

 will be produced on a much larger scale, provided the forests 

 are efficiently protected and properly managed. From all this 

 a growing surplus revenue may be obtained. There is, however, 

 a class of forest produce more important than all these for the 

 welfare of the country, which cannot be expected to contribute 

 very largely to the surplus forest revenue. This is grass and 

 cattle fodder. 



In a hot climate, except in districts with an exceedingly heavy 

 rainfall, a better crop of grass is produced under the shade of 

 trees than in the open, and this is particularly the casein seasons 

 of drought, to which, unfortunately, large portions of India fre- 

 quently are subject. In the dry climate of Rajputana numerous 

 chiefs and princes had from time immemorial established game- 

 preserves, chiefly as cover for pigs. The forest growth in these 

 preserves was carefully protected, and during the terrible famine 



