133 



available for the purpose, because, althoagh they are of considerable extent 

 (about 450 square miles) they are either required as grazing grounds for the 

 cattle of right-holders, or they are being planted up, and hence the revenue from 

 this source is insignificent. It was only 360 during the last year for which 

 the record is available, but it is otherwise in the case of the communal forests, where 

 local custom often necessitates the maintenance as pasture land of blanks, which 

 could otherwise be most advantageously filled up ; and some communes derive 

 almost their entire revenue from this source. The receipts by them amounted in 

 the .same year to nearly 15,000. 



Grazing by tolerance It has been said that no right can exist to graze 

 either goats or sheep in the State or communal forests ; and the inhabitants of 

 the communes are specially prohibited by law from admitting their own goats 

 and sheep into their forests ; but the government has the power to sanction the 

 grazing of sheep (not goats) in certain localities under exceptional circumstances. 

 Permission to drive sheep into the State forests is, however, very rarely accorded, 

 except in seasons of extraordinary drought, when the flocks of the neighborhood- 

 ing communes are sometimes admitted for a single season. But in the case of 

 the communal forests, such temporary sanction is, of necessity, more freely 

 accorded, for the forests belong to the inhabitants, and even through their true 

 interests might be better served by keeping out their sheep entirely, it is not 

 found possible to change their pastoral habits all at once ; and on this account, 

 permission has frequently to be granted them to graze their sheep in their 

 forests, eitheir for a single year or for periods up to five years. They can, how- 

 ever, graze their own horned cattle, horses, ponies, donkeys and pigs there with- 

 out special permission ; and they usually do so on payment of a fee into the 

 communal treasury. According to the latest available record, the number of 

 animals of all kinds, thus admitted in a single year, was as follows, viz.: 



Horned cattle, horses, ponies and donkeys 359,164 



Pigs 48,388 



Sheep (by special sanction) 936,960 



The animals can, however, only be grazed in places which have been declared 

 out of danger by the forest officers, and their numbers can be limited with refer- 

 ence to the quantity of grass available ; but it is not always possible to enforce 

 these restrictions rigidly ; and the forests in certain regions, have much to con- 

 tend with from the extent to which grazing is practised. The receipts by the 

 communal treasury on this account have been estimated at 4s. 6d. per head of 

 large cattle, 3s. lid. per pig, and Is. for sheep ; but this only represents an average 

 revenue of lOd. per acre of the area grazed over, whereas wood yields, on an 

 average, about 8s. 4d. per acre ; and it seems probable that this consideration 

 may gradually lead, in the agricultural districts, at any rate, to the abandon- 

 ment of the practice of pasturing cattle, on forest lands. There is no doubt that 

 when the grazing even of large cattle, is permitted, it is carried on at the 

 expense of the crop of wood ; and that where it is practised to any considerable 

 extent the forest, properly so called, tends to disappear ; and this is notably the 

 case where, for the time being, local circumstances, such as the absence of export 

 roads, renders wood a less profitable crop than grass. Here the forests, gradu- 

 ally become almost unproductive, and finally succumb from excessive grazing. 



About four-fifths of the total area of the communal forests are still used as 

 grazing grounds, nearly one-half of the latter being open each year ; and the 

 average area provided for each class of animals is about three acres per head of 

 large cattle, two acres per pig, and three-fifths of an acre for sheep. Separate 



