229] Government Forestry Abroad. 45 



produce on Crown lands not included in the reserved 

 State forests. 



INDIA. 



Perhaps the closest analogy to our own conditions 

 in the magnitude of the area to be treated, the diffi- 

 culties presented by the character of the country and 

 the prevalence of fire, and the nature of the opposition 

 which it encountered, is to be found in the forest 

 administration of India, and that in spite of the trop- 

 ical climate with which it has to deal. The history 

 of the movement is comparatively fresh, and the fact 

 that many problems remain as yet unsolved will 

 scarcely detract from the interest and sympathy with 

 which we may be led to regard it. 



Systematic forest management was begun in India 

 about thirty-five years ago, under difficulties not 

 unlike those which confront us now. An insufficient 

 or a wrong conception of the interests involved, the 

 personal bias of lumbermen, the alternating support 

 and opposition of the men in power, were the chief 

 obstacles with which it had to contend; and against 

 them were pitted the splendid perseverance and mag- 

 nificent administrative powers of one man. The vic- 

 tory was brilliant, conclusive and lasting, and India 

 has to thank Sir Dietrich Brandis for benefits whose 

 value w T ill go on increasing from age to age. 



It is extremely interesting, in view of the begin- 

 ning of State forest management, which must eventu- 

 ally and ought at once be made in the United States, 

 to note that its success in India, in its early stages, 

 was very largely due to the fact that it furnished a 

 net revenue from the very start. 



