Introduction. 



It may safely be said that there is hardly any Government 

 Department in India whose work and aims are so little realized 

 by the general public as are those of the Forest Department. 

 For one thing the work of the forest officer lies for the most 

 part in remote places, so that few have any knowledge of it. 

 For another the practical results of forest work are apparent 

 only after long periods of time, so that the forest officer has to 

 cultivate the habit of thinking in half centuries and to be 

 content that the full effect of his labours shall be visible only to 

 future generations. 



This publication is issued with the object of bringing 

 together in popular form the main facts connected with the work 

 of the Forest Department in India and of sketching the outlook 

 for future expansion, particular attention being paid to the 

 possibility of the local development of industries which depend 

 to a greater or less extent on a plentiful supply of forest pro- 

 ducts. Information on these subjects is to be found scattered 

 throughout the annual reports on forest administration which 

 are issued by Provincial Governments and in the various public- 

 ations of the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, but these 

 are not readily available to the general public, and so it is hoped 

 that this memorandum, which has been prepared by Mr. R. S. 

 Troup, Assistant Inspector General of Forests, with the assist- 

 ance of selected officers of the Forest Department, may prove 

 useful to those interested in the subject. 



