.Q THE WORK OF THE FOREST DEPARTMENT IN INDIA. 



growth is of vital importance on account of its 

 influence on the storage of the rainfall and on the 

 prevention of erosion and sudden floods. 



(b) Forests which afford a supply of valuable timbers for 



commercial purposes, such, for example, as the teak 

 forests of Burma, the sal forests of Northern, 

 Central, and North-Eastern India, and the deodar 

 and pine forests of the North-Western Himalaya. 



(c) Minor forests, containing somewhat inferior kinds of 



timber, and managed for the production of wood, 

 fodder, grazing and other produce for local con- 

 sumption; these forests are of great importance in 

 agricultural districts. 



(d) Pasture lands. These are not " forests " in the 



generally understood sense of the term, but grazing 

 grounds managed by the Forest Department merely 

 as a matter of convenience. 



These four classes of forest are not always sharply divided 

 from each other, and one and the same tract may to a certain 

 extent be managed with more than one object. 



The first of these classes comprises the areas which must be 

 preserved on account of their indirect effects and without any 

 reference to their commercial value. These indirect effects, 

 which in many cases far outweigh the direct benefits as 

 estimated from a commercial standpoint, may be summarised 

 briefly as the influence of forests on climate, rainfall, water 

 storage and the prevention of denudation. An exhaustive 

 enquiry into this important subject was held throughout India 

 in the years 1907 to 1914, the results of which were reviewed by 

 the Government of India in their. Circular letter to Local Gov- 

 ernments, No. 4-F.-70 1, dated the 27th February 1915. Not- 

 withstanding the great importance of this subject it is not 

 possible in this memorandum to do more than indicate the main 

 ^conclusions arrived at, which were 



(i) that the effect of forests on rainfall is probably small, 

 (ii) that denudation of the soil owing to the destruction 



of forests may, so far as India is concerned, be 



looked upon as an established fact, 



