NIGERIA 161 



in reality only a permanent forest, which is primarily maintained for 

 the definite production of some forest or other product. It cannot 

 be too much emphasized that it is definitely set aside to be used wisely ; 

 and for all the trees taken, suitable replanting operations are under- 

 taken by the Forest Department. The name " Reserve " is in fact 

 rather a misnomer. In the early stages of a forest administration it 

 is convenient to talk about Forest Reserves as distinct from the 

 rest of the country, which is usually covered with forest and termed 

 " unreserved " forest. It may, later on, become agricultural land ; 

 it may also be reserved, in which case it becomes a Forest Reserve or 

 one of the permanent forests of the country. The main point to be 

 observed with a Reserve is that it is primarilj^ for use, and not that 

 the timber is to be reserved and not to be utilized by the general 

 public. Even in those cases where the local demands of the people 

 are great and have to be satisfied first, before any outside timber 

 exporter is allowed to work the forest, it is utilized to the greatest 

 extent compatible with its maintaining a yearly permanent output 

 of timber or other forest product. Permanency of output is the 

 watchword, and strict utilization of the increment-bearing capacity 

 of the forest each year. The increment is of course the amount which 

 each tree grows each year. This amount, added together over the 

 whole area, makes up the quantity which may be felled, on the propor- 

 tional area during the rotation, in any one year. Thus, to give a concrete 

 example : If an area is 100 square miles in extent, and the rotation 

 is 100 years, then one-hundredth of that area, or one square mile, 

 may be cut over in one year ; also, if the sum of the growth amounts 

 to 40 cubic feet per acre per year, this means to say that an annual 

 cut of 25,600 cubic feet can be made each year over one square mile 

 of the area, in the case of a clear felling of all the trees, or spread over 

 an area of 10 square miles in the form of a slight thinning of the trees. 

 In the Temperate Zone, on moderate soil, 40 cubic feet of timber per 

 annum is a good yield, so that in the Tropics we may expect a yield of 

 quite double this amount ; therefore it will be seen how readily the 

 forest can grow and how much timber can be obtained permanently 

 from the Permanent Forests or Reserves. 



Another great advantage of the Permanent Forest or Forest Reserve, 

 compared with the ordinary leased areas, is the fact that the planting 

 is done by the Forest Department and not by the leaseholder. In 

 an ordinary leased area this planting is a considerable source of expendi- 

 ture and worry to the leaseholder, and even then satisfactory results 

 are hard to be obtained. He is continually being reminded of his 

 planting duties by the Forest Department, and he is continually striv- 

 ing to keep up the proportionate amount of planting, i.e. 24 trees for 

 every tree felled, and this is by no means easy to attain. Although 

 the annual leaseholder working in a Forest Reserve may be under 



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