522 LXXVI. CONIFERS. [Cedrus. 



Some of the mixed forests of spruce and silver fir in the Schwarzwald, 150- 

 170 ft. high, contain more, probably about 12,000 or 13,000 cub. ft. per acre. 

 In mature forests of average quality the crop is between one-half and three- 

 fourths of these figures. These quantities do not include tops and branches, but 

 they include all wood above 7 centimetre diam., or 8| in. in girth, and they 

 are calculated by exact measurement ; whereas in calculating the data relating to 

 Deodar, that part of the tree only was taken into account which was supposed 

 to be marketable at the time the surveys were made, and consequently nothing 

 under 3 ft. girth was included, and the calculation was made by the square of 

 the quarter girth. In the Nachar forest, moreover, the length of available timber 

 was arbitrarily assumed at 80 ft.; because, though the average height of the trees 

 was 150-200 ft., yet, on account of breakages, a greater length was not as a rule 

 supposed to be utilised (Bussahir Forest Report, p. 24). If in the Nachar 

 forest the entire length of stem down to 9 in. girth had been taken, and the 

 calculation made by exact measurement, the result would probably have been 

 18,000 cub. ft. per acre. These, however, were exceptional cases of compact and 

 pure Deodar forests of limited extent. Excluding such exceptional cases, there 

 seems no ground to expect that regular Deodar forests will yield timber crops 

 heavier than those of the Spruce and Silver Fir in Central Europe. The great 

 mass of Deodar-producing tracts in the N.W. Himalaya is very poorly stocked 

 with mature timber. The result of 20 surveys made by me in June 1863 in 

 the different parts of the Jaunsar forests on an aggregate area of 485 acres, gave 

 1195 first- and 1662 second-class, or a total of 2857 Deodar trees above 4 ft. 6 

 in. girth, amounting to nearly 6 trees per acre of both classes ; and 82 surveys 

 made in the Bussahir forests in October 1864, in conjunction with Capt. E. Wood 

 and the late Dr Stewart, gave 3743 Deodar trees of the first and 4099 of the 

 second class total, 7842 trees of both classes, amounting to 12 trees above 4 ft. 

 6 in. girth per acre. The survey of the Bhagirati forests, which was made in 

 1869 under the direction of Colonel Pearson, gave a total of 116,700 first- and 

 53,660 second-class trees on 11,500 acres, or about 15 trees above 4 ft. 6 in. girth 

 per acre on an average. The second-class trees in this case were fewer than 

 those of the first ; as a rule, most surveys in forests already worked have hitherto 

 shown an excess of second over first class trees. A great portion of the Bhagi- 

 rati forests, however, had never been worked when the survey was made ; 

 but many of those I surveyed in Bussahir had been much impoverished by fell- 

 ing, and in the majority Deodar was not the only tree, but was associated in 

 varying proportions with Pinus excelsa, Abies Smithiana, and a few other trees. 



The great demand for Deodar wood has naturally called forth estimates of the 

 total quantity of mature timber available for the requirements of the present 

 generation. The foregoing remarks regarding the irregular character of these 

 forests will explain that these estimates could not be made from areas stocked 

 with Deodar, but the only way in which a result could be obtained was to make 

 approximate estimates of the number of trees available. In December 1868, 

 the late Dr Stewart estimated the number of first-class Deodar trees in the 

 Kashmir forests, which could be made available for the market without great 

 trouble and expense, at 117,000 trees, and he thought that the Panjab forests in 

 British territory, and those leased from the Rajahs of Chumba and Bussahir, 

 might probably yield the same quantity. The Jaunsar forests on the Deoban 

 ridge, between the Tonse and Jumna river, were estimated by Colonel Pearson in 

 May 1869 to contain 34,000 available first-class trees, and the Bhagirati forests 

 (not including the Nilang valley), as mentioned above, 116,700 first-class trees. 

 If to these are added the probable contents of the available forests on the head- 

 waters of the Tonse and Jumna rivers, the total number of first-class Deodar 

 trees which were considered readily available for the market in 1868 and 1869 

 did not at that time exceed 500,000. Regarding this estimate, it should be borne 



