92 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS 



PT. I 



Kew Botanic Gardens, forbade the sale of all Govern- 

 ment land for clearing at an altitude of 5000 ft. (alt. 

 1500 metres) and upwards. 



But, although commercial enterprise of recent days 

 has led to the destruction of forests on a large scale, 

 the reduction of the area under forest has been o;oino; 

 on steadily, through centuries, wherever man has had 

 the uncontrolled enjoyment of forest products. It 



FlO. 15. Showing a clearing for tea and consequent silt in a river, Ceylon. 



requires a very high degree of education before com- 

 munities can be led to perceive that they owe a duty 

 to the unborn generations by preserving and, if possible, 

 improving the capital which they hold in trust for 

 them in the shape of standing forests. And it is for 

 this reason that, in the management of State forests, 

 forc-t administrators so often run against a dead wall of 

 opposition on the part of the financial advisers of the 

 Government, who, during their own administration of 



