64 PRACTICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



Compart- A compartment is a portion of a forest that is as far as possible 



homogeneous throughout its extent as regards soil, aspect and 

 composition of the growing stock. The compartment is the 

 permanent working plan unit, it must he distinct on the ground 

 and on the map. This latter point is of greater importance than 

 exact homogenity of the crop it contains, hut as far as possible 

 each compartment should be capable of treatment under one and 

 the same silvicultural system and of inclusion in the same working 

 circle. Where this is not so, as in the chir and oak forests of 

 Kumaun, the compartment is a geographical unit and the areas 

 occupied by the two species are allotted to the Chir and Oak 

 Working Circles respectively and really form separate sub-compart- 

 ments. A compartment should be bounded by fixed lines, paths, 

 streams, nalas, ridges. 



The division of a forest into compartments is the very founda- 

 tion stone on which is built up the structure of the detailed 

 management. This division into suitable compartments is the 

 first duty of the working plan officer. The size of compartments 

 will vary with the intensity of the management, all the latest plans 

 have considerably reduced the size of the compartment and it is 

 probable that finality has not even now been reached. A reason- 

 able mean in the size of compartments must be maintained : 

 compartments should be neither too small nor too big. If too 

 small, their numbers become excessive ; if too big, they are 

 impossible to describe. The old compartments of South Kheri 

 extended over several thousand acres, their descriptions were 

 therefore utterly useless. Compartments averaging 200 to 300 

 acres may under the present intensity of our management be 

 considered satisfactory. This is about double the maximum in 

 France. 



Compartments may be numbered separately for each block as 

 is usual in the hills in Eanikhet and Dehra Dun, or they may be 

 numbered serially throughout the division as is tl\e case in several 

 Oudh divisions such as North Kheri and Pilibhit. It is important 



