(r2-Z FOREST LITTER. 



duty, hffoi'c iqiplyinj^- tor assistaiu-e. Were the fiirmcr always to 

 calculate the cost of a wa^f^'oii-load of forest litter, includinj^^ 

 royalty and cost of cuttiii},', collecting and carriage, he would gene- 

 rally discover that straw or peat-litter is as cheaply obtainahle. 



[One of the chief kinds of forest litter in the Bombay Presidency 

 of India, is termed rab, which means gathering inferior bamboos, 

 branches and vegetation of all kinds and burning it in heaps, on the 

 rice-fields. In some districts, nib is applied onh* to the nurseries of 

 young rice-plants, which are covered with successive layers of dung, 

 grass, bushes and pulverised earth and finally with urass. This is 

 then burned and dug into the ground.* — Tr.] 



Section YII. — Lnnxs to the Permissible Use of Forest 

 Litter. 



1. General Aeeoiiiit. 



Although there is no reason to despair of overcoming the 

 practice of using forest litter in districts where it is everywhere 

 prevalent or prevails to an intolerable degree, or at least of 

 freeing State forests from this burden, it is out of the ques- 

 tion to think of any immediate abolition of the usage. The 

 more therefore it threatens the existence of forests, the more 

 carefully should the latter be treated from all points of view. 

 Although a vigorous forest can withstand sylvicultural mis- 

 takes and other dangers better than another forest in a less 

 promising locality, nowhere are the bad results of erroneous 

 management more severely felt than in a forest exposed to 

 intensive removal of litter. Wherever symptoms of impoverish- 

 ment of soil are noticed, a forest should be most carefully 

 managed. Protection of the soil should then l)e aimed at 

 rather than ])roducti(iii of wood in quantity or quality, for 

 the soil is the liest inipleni'-nt the forester can employ, 

 and this he should never forget. Not that any sylvicultural 

 measures can annul the bad results of the removal of litter, 

 l)iit these results become worse wlu'ii toix'si numagement neglects 

 to take into account the reduced productivity and care- 

 demanding nature of the soil. 



* Vide Piaden Fowcll, l-'orest Lnv, pp. XHi ami 3()1. Uradlniry, Ai,'nc\v k Co. 

 London, 1893. 



