( 37 ) 



established before the grass again takes possession of the soil and will then be able to spread 

 their roots in the lower layers- of the soil not occupied by the roots of the grasses. No doubt 

 many forest seedlings resulting from the combined sowing will be killed by subsequent plough- 

 ing operations, but a certain considerable number, comprising a large number of those 

 which will come up just before the abandonment of the field, are bound to survive and form 

 a more or less promising forest, which under any other conditions, it would be hopeless to 

 expect. The survival will be all the more certain, if species which produce root-suckers, 

 like tinsa and tendu, others which are not easily killed by rough ploughing operations, 

 such as khair, babul and ber, are used. In the case of teak, its seeds sown in the 

 last year of cultivation will go on germinating for two years afterwards. The words " rough 

 ploughing operations " have been used advisedly, as it is not men who go in for high culti- 

 vation whose co-operation we require, for they would point blank refuse our terms, but those 

 who as inferior cultivators or field-labourers eke out a precarious existence and would hence 

 be only too glad to accept conditions which gave them rent-free fields and free nistar ^nd 

 partially free grazing without compelling them to depart from their usual methods of tillage, 

 such men, in short, as would readily colonise our forest villages. Indeed, in many cases it 

 will he found advantageous to establish a forest village in the middle of each felling series ; 

 from their village site, which would be fixed, they would carry on their squatter cultivation 

 and furnish us with labour for our forest operations. 



To any professional objection that may be raised against the agri-sylvicultural treat- 

 ment for regeneration here sketched out, it has only to be replied that all our best forests in 

 these Provinces are the result of squatter cultivation in the past, when the principal factor 

 requisite for success, viz., the simultaneous sowing of forest seeds with the field crop, 

 was absent,- and that since such cultivation was discontinued in forests like Blocks 17, 18 

 and 20 and others, regeneration has been practically at a standstill. Also it must not be 

 forgotten that whereas in the days preceding forest conservancy, squatter cultivation was free 

 to move when and where it listed and thus undo the good results of previous years by 

 cutting down young forest before it could come to maturity, now it will be so controlled 

 that it will be restricted to those places where natural regeneration has failed and 

 the co-operation of the squatter cultivator has become necessary. 



ARTICLE 4. Improvements common to the whole Area. 



112. These fall under (A) Protection from Fire, (B) Koads, (C) Buildings and Wells 

 and (D) Systematic Organisation of Forest Villages. 



A , Protection from Fire. 



113. Experience has shown that a considerable measure of protection is secured merely 

 by the operation of the five Rules promulgated by the Chief Commissioner under Section 25 of 

 the Indian Forest Act, 187 (see Appendix V). Special protection, i.e., fire-tracing, with a 

 special establishment of fire-guards, will hence be confined to areas felled within the preceding 

 10 years and therefore closed to grazing and will also be continued over the whole 

 of the blocks which have hitherto been subject to it. Elsewhere, wherever the growth 

 of grass is high and abundant or there is danger of fire entering from outside, fire-traces 

 will be cleared, patrolling being left to be done by the regular Poorest Establishment. 

 In order to diminish the chances of fire occurring and to minimise its destructiveness in case 

 it occurred, every endeavour should be made to dispose of the grass, especially from recently- 

 cut coupes ;"if there is no sale for the grass, people should be invited to come and take it away 

 free. Another important precaution to adopt will be to deliberately fire in the cold weather 

 open areas containing no reproduction ; it is in such places that our worst conflagrations 

 generally originate and it is they which render the extinction of conflagrations difficult, if not 

 impossible, when once they have started. An indirect beneficial result of great value result- 

 ing from such systematic firing will be the springing up of an early crop of new wholesome 

 grass on what are after all, until they have been reforested (if they will ever bear real forest), 

 essentially grazing areas. By thus actively meeting the wants of the agricultural classes' 

 we shall, it is to be hoped/ to some extent gain more of their confidence and good-will than 

 we at present possess. We have the Commissioner's assurance that villagers will meet us 

 half-way by giving us gratuitous labour for firing the areas in question. 



B. Roads. 



114. As shown in paragraphs 72 and 73 above, a fairly effective system of main roads 

 already exists, but, owing to the scattered and isolated position of most of the blocks, a sup- 

 plementary system placing all the blocks in complete communication with the main one is 

 urgently requh^d. This supplementary system is indicated by Working Circles in the state- 

 ments below. Its construction will be taken in hand pari passu with actual requirements, 

 but most, if not all of them, should be completed in the first ten years of the currency of this 

 working plan. Once constructed, it should always be kept in repair, the cost probably 

 averaging Rs.o per mile. Temporary feeder roads abutting on this system will have to be made 

 year by year as the various coupes come to be worked, and it is expected that the 



length of such feeders will be about 34 miles, costing on an average Iis.20 a mile. 



