( 27 ) 



91. In order to diminish the risk of trespass by cattle, the boundaries of the closed areas 

 should be clearly marked by a rough dead fence formed by heaping up along them unexported 

 brushwood from the coupes. 



ARTICLE 3. Works of Artificial Reproduction. 



92. Owing to the low value of timber and the small demand consequent on the large extent 

 of private forests and to the inherent difficulties presented by the soil and climate, no depart- 

 mental work will be undertaker., but every effort will be made to afforest blanks and 

 thinly-stocked places by allowing and encouraging temporary cultivation therein. As practi- 

 cally all areas with soils suitable for permanent cultivation have already been taken up by the 

 Land Kevenue Department, the cultivation in our forests will necessarily be of the temporary 

 character beloved of our forest population, but sufficiently prolonged in each place to secure 

 our main object, viz., afforestation with valuable and useful species. 



93. To this end Forest villages will be established, numerous and well-distributed 

 enough for every coupe to lie within accessible distance of some one village at least. As the 

 villagers will always, under the system of temporary cultivation here described, have large 

 areas for cultivation outside in the coupes, the extent of cultivable land within the limits of a 

 village need not be large and such land should by preference include as much as possible 

 the few patches of black soil still remaining to us, so as to guarantee the permanence of the 

 village. The adjunct of a permanent supply of good water is of course a sine qua non, 

 Every villager will have a free allotment of 10 acres or so in a neighbouring coupe, in which 

 he will every year sow with his own crops seeds of teak and in the last year of his occupation 

 also tinas, khair, saj and other valuable species adapted to the locality. As the teak seed 

 of these provinces does not, as a rule, germinate in the first year, and as a certain proportion of 

 it does not germinate until the third and even fourth years, the effect of the annual scattering 

 of the teak seed and the addition of the other seeds in the last year will be to sow up the land 

 completely, so that an abundant crop of seedlings will be the result in the last year of its occu- 

 pation, These seedlings will have in their first year a loosened and grass-free soil in which 

 to send their tap-roots down to a sufficient-, depth to be able to resist the drought of the 

 ensuing hot weather and the temporary cultivation of the soil will continue to re-act favour- 

 ably on their subsequent development for another year or two. In this way it will be possible 

 to cover up without expense nearly all the waste places within our boundaries with vigorous 

 forest growth composed of valuable species suited to the soil and the locality. 



94. In order to encourage such cultivation, each man who loyally carries out the con- 

 ditions on which he receives his allotment will have his nistar free and also free grazing for 4 

 head of cattle. He will not be moved from his allotment until he wishes of his own accord 

 to leave it, when he will be given elsewhere a fresh area to cultivate on the same terms. Con- 

 sidering the inferior soils in our forests, it is expected that no allotment will be kept by anyone 

 more than four years. As far as possible, all fresh allotments will be given in the current coupe 

 and there will be no objection to the assignee cutting back all inferior woody growth. He may 

 also cut down the coppice shoots that may come up among his crops and sever the roots which 

 catch his plough. He may also be allowed to grub up old stumps unsuitable for coppice, 

 which have been previously indicated to him by the Forest Officer. Further interference 

 than this with the forest growth will not be permitted. 



ARTICLE 4. Improvements common to the whole Area. 



95. These fall under (A) Protection from Fire, (B; Roads, (0) Buildings and Wells, and 

 (D) Systematic Organisation of Forest Villages. 



{A) Protection from Fire. 



96. An attempt will be at once made to work up to the principles laid down in para. 52 

 of the Annual Progress Report of this circle for 1896-97. Briefly put, they are that all areas 

 containing young growth (practically all areas closed to grazing), all areas rich in lac and 

 all otherwise specially valuable portions of forest shall be placed under A degree of protection; 

 that the former, when the stock has become old enough to be above danger from cattle and 

 are opened out to grazing, shall cease to require the services of a special fire-preventive estab- 

 lishment additional to the regular establishment maintained throughout the year for general 

 protective purposes; and that the third or C degree of protection shall be confined to areas main- 

 tained and treated principally or exclusively as pasture lands. When ten years hence this 

 working plan will be in full operation, the percentages of areas under the three degrees will be 

 Approximately 30, 45 and 20 respectively. 



Whenever possible, the grass and other combustible refuse should be cleared from under 

 lac-bearing trees. 



(B) Roads. 



97. The most urgent improvement is the construction of roads and the following state- 

 ment includes those lines of export which are at present necessary to tap the more valuable 

 forests. The revenue being small, the question of funds is the greatest obstacle in this matter, 

 and as it is possible that many of the following roads may be constructed and repaired by the 

 District authorities, it has been considered best not to prescribe the completion of the road 

 construction scheme within a short period of years, but to distribute the work and also the 



