14 THE WORK OF THE FOREST DEPARTMENT IN INDIA. 



out encroaching on the capital and determines at what age the- 

 trees can be most profitably removed. It also indicates how 

 this annual depletion is to be made good by means of regenera- 

 tion, for it is on this basis that true forest management rests : 

 with this object a constant supply of young plants in the correct 

 relative proportion has to be brought on to the ground, either by 

 natural or by artificial means, and has to be tended carefully 

 during the critical period of youth. 



The framing of a suitable working plan thus involves an 

 intimate knowledge of the requirements of the various species 

 dealt with and of their rate of growth, knowledge which 

 depends largely on the results of scientific research, and with- 

 out which working plans must necessarily be of a tentative and 

 provisional nature, as indeed many Indian plans are at present. 

 Revisions of working plans to allow for modifications due to 

 altered conditions or to advancing knowledge, are carried out 

 periodically at intervals usually varying from 10 to 30 years. 



In order to ensure preparation and revision on correct lines, 

 each plan, before it is sanctioned by the Local Government con- 

 cerned, is subjected to detailed scrutiny by Conservators in 

 Madras and Bombay, by Chief Conservators in Burma, tha 

 Central Provinces and the United Provinces and by the Ins- 

 pector General of Forests in other provinces. 



Of the 107,985 square miles of reserved and protected forest 

 on the 1st July 1915 only 55,629 square miles or 51-51 per cent, 

 were actually under sanctioned working plans. Thus there is 

 room for considerable progress in this most important work, 

 even allowing for the fact that a certain proportion of the forest 

 area is not yet ready for regular management. 



Plantations. Under forest organisation in its wide sense 

 may be included the formation and upkeep of plantations, which 

 in some localities is a very important part of the forest officer's 

 work. Among extensive plantations under the management of 

 the Forest Department may be mentioned the teak plantations 

 of Nilambur in S. Malabar, dating originally from 1842 and 

 now aggregating about 6,400 acres, the teak plantations of 

 Burma, aggregating nearly 80,000 acres, the irrigated sissoo 



