INTRODUCTION. 5 



created, and sowing and planting may be going on in them at 

 the present time. 



Cotta, about the same time, defined a forest as an area 

 which has been set aside principal!}' for the production of 

 wood, and which, for the greater part at any rate, is covered 

 with trees. It may be objected that many areas are classed 

 as forest which do not contain trees, while others, like avenues 

 and hedgerows, bear trees and produce wood, although they 

 cannot be called forests. 



These illustrations will suffice to show how difficult it is to 

 draw up a general definition which suits all cases. The 

 Indian Legislature, when preparing a forest law for India, 

 decided, therefore, not to attempt a definition, but merely to 

 provide that the Government may declare certain lands to be 

 forests and thus bring them mider the operation of the Indian 

 Forest Law. 



In a general way, forest may be described as an area 

 which for the most part is set aside for the production of 

 timber and other forest produce, or which is expected to 

 exercise certain climatic efiects, or to protect the locality 

 against injurious influences ; such areas are frequently 

 subject to special forest laws and regulations. 



Matters become easier when turning to the term Wood : — 

 B}' a wood, or woodland, (plantation), is understood an area 

 of defined dimensions, which is stocked with trees or shrubs 

 or both, and managed for the production of timber, firewood, 

 and such other produce as ordinarily accompanies the rearing 

 of trees. Every wood is, therefore, a forest, but not every 

 forest is a wood. 



The difference between a tree and a shrub is not always 

 easy to define. For sylvicultural requirements, the following 

 definitions will suffice : — 



Tree means a woody plant which, from natural tendency, 

 divides into two or more main branches, either at some 

 distance from the ground, or not at all. 



Shnih means a woody plant which, from natural tendency, 



