CHAPTEE VII. 



THE CLEARFELLING SYSTEM. 



system of clearfelling has not as yet been extensively 

 introduced in the United Provinces, but as its introduction in 

 certain favourable localities in the near future appears not impro- 

 bable, it has been considered advisable to give a brief description 

 and to > mention the essential points in its application. The 

 general theory of the system is described in detail in all text-books 

 and need not be discussed here at any length. 



When applied to the irregular and usually uneven-aged forests 

 of the United Provinces, clearfelling necessarily implied the felling 

 of a considerable amount of immature material and an important 

 point to be considered, before prescribing clearf e lling in any forest, 

 is to what extent this small material will be utilised. Generally 

 speaking, the system should only be applied in areas of intensive 

 demand where preferably even small wood and branches are 

 extracted for fuel ; if applied to forests with a limited demand, or 

 with difficult or costly transport, a heavy and usually unjustifiable 

 sacrifice is involved. 



A striking illustration of this point is afforded in the G-orakhpur 



division. A working plan drawn up in 1875-76 prescribed a 



clearfelling systam for the Ramgarh forests but the very limited 



demand was largely responsible for having the plan cancelled 



after 2 years. In 1914, nearly 50 years later, a working plan with 



almost identical prescriptions of work was introduced, the intense 



demand absorbed every twig and leaf and the plan has been one 



of the most successful in India. 



A second important point is that the successful regeneration 



- whether natural or artificial) of the area felled over annually can 



191 



Applica~ 

 bility 

 of the 

 clearfell- 

 ing 

 system. 



