light demander of the four, seedlings of this species beiug found only in fairly 

 open places in the forest, along cut lines and on the edge of old cultivations, 

 while it is often found suppressed under shade. Kindal comes next ou the list 

 as a light demander and its natural regeneration is everywhere good. Nana 

 stands lateral shade, especially in youth. Jamba is a heavy shade bearer and 

 so profuse is the seedling crop that it requires no encouragement. 



It will be readily understood that as three of the most valuable species are 

 light demanding the future growth of the natural regeneration of the better 

 species will depend on the treatment adopted. 



19. Owing to the configuration of the ground and to the limited population 



in these forests, the damage done bv man and cattle 



is HaTe r P is confined to sfcri P s of forest nf Hmite"d extent round 



the cultivated areas. In certain of the flat areas 



round the villages of Shavkar, Konal, Hegarni and Kuntgani to the south of the 

 river, and to a less extent round Sunksal and up the Kolga and Marugadda 

 valleys north of the river, overgrazing has retarded natural regeneration, other- 

 wise the damage caused by cattle is not great. The forests round Dongri and 

 Hegarni have been badly treated in the past but now appear to be gradually 

 recovering, while " Kurnri '' cultivation which did much damage in the past 

 has long been stopped. Fire plays a relatively small part in these moist forests, 

 and it is very questionable if the encroachment of the evergreen on the more 

 valuable deciduous forests is not in a large measure due to fire protection in tho 

 past. By far the greatest damage to which the principal species, namely, Matti, 

 is exposed is the " water blister." This abnormal growth is found on quite 

 30 per cent, of the growing stock and ruins some 10 to 12 feet in the centre of 

 many otherwise fine logs. 



Creepers and climbers are plentiful, especially in the moist deciduous 

 forests, and do much local harm. Lastly, the excessive growth of Bamboo is 

 no doubt the cause of the lack of natural regeneration in certain localities, such 

 as in the Eotha forest and also south of Ramanguli on the south side of the 

 river, otherwise the Bamboo growth, where moderate, is beneficial to the 

 growing stock, 



C. System of Management. 



20. These forests have never been worked under any system, fellings 



having been carried on where the best trees could be 

 present systems exploited with a m i n i mum amou nt of labour. The 

 of management. i, ,1 < .1 -, i ,1 



result is that most of the low-lying areas near the 



road or river have been heavily exploited for sound Matti, Jamba, Nana and Heddi, 

 leaving in such areas a number of large somewhat faulty trees, while on the 

 slopes and in the more inaccessible places large sound trees of these species are 

 still found. As stated above certain areas have been over exploited, but it 

 cannot be said that these fellings have ruined the forest, as the exploitable girth 

 of Matti and Heddi was kept high and only mature trees taken out while the 

 number of trees taken out annually as compared with the total yield of these 

 forests was not excessive. Kindal has only found a market in recent years, and 

 the number of mature trees of this species now standing in the forest is very 

 large. 



21. No planting or sowing has been undertaken in the past. The protec- 



tion from cattle has been somewhat lax, while spas- 

 toeufuuderTa'ken. mPr Ve " modic creeper-cutting has been carried on by the 



establishment from year to year. Fire-protection has 



been rigidly enforced, but whether this was conducive to improving the natural 

 regeneration is open to doubt. 



22. From the following statement of revenue and expenditure for the last 



ten years, compiled from the records of the Range 



Jet r6VenUe 63pendl ' Office > Ankola and Hattikeri Dep6t daftar, it will be 



seen that Matti, Nana and Jamba are the chief species 



which have been sold and that it is only recently that Kindal has been exploited 

 to any extent. In prepariiH' this statement only the trees extracted from the 

 area under organization are given and not from other portions of the 



B 990-r2 



