260 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS R .xr 



unless fire protection has to be carried out. Such places 

 occur in the wet zone ; in the wet low country of Ceylon, 

 for example, such a system of demarcation has been 

 found most effective. These boundary trenches should 

 be made sufficiently deep and wide to be easily recognis- 

 able, and in loose, friable soil, where they are apt to be 

 easily silted up, they should be deeper and wider. In 

 the hard laterite soil of Ceylon they were made 18 inches 

 (45 cm.) deep and of the same width, but on softer soils 

 something deeper is required, with the sides sloping 

 more according to its looseness. If these trenches are 

 not intended to act as drains they should not be made 

 continuous, but should be interrupted from distance to 

 distance, the lengths of the trenches depending on the 

 gradient and on the nature of the soil. The spoil earth 

 from the trenches should be heaped up on the forest side 

 of the trench and a little away from it in order that the 

 earth may not be washed back into it by the first 

 rains. This spoil earth will make an embankment 

 which will make the boundary more noticeable. A 

 narrow boundary line of this nature requires more 

 frequent boundary marks than one which is better 

 defined on the ground. 



It is always desirable to have an inspection path 

 made on the line or, if there is a trench, on the forest 

 side of the trench. If wheeled traffic has to pass along 

 this line, the inspection path may be replaced by a cart- 

 road, which should not be less than 4 to 5 metres (12 

 to 16 ft.) wide, or more if the traffic is likely to be 

 heavy. An inspection path which is to serve only for 

 foot or mounted traffic may be made 2 metres (6 ft.) 

 wide. 1 In making it, especially if it is to be used as a 

 bridle-path, all protruding roots or stones should be dug 

 out, and if there are any hollow places, such as would be 

 made by termites' nests, under the surface of the soil, 

 they should be filled up and stamped down. In very 

 steep places and in meeting large obstacles it may be 



1 If the inspection is to be made on camels or elephants the path should be 

 made wider, especially if the forest be thorny. 



