APPENDIX. XXXI 



preparation and direct sowings. The success of deodar sowings 

 in heaps of burnt slash has already been commented on and 

 similar results have also been obtained with teak. The success of 

 the taungya system in Burma and Bengal is entirely due to the 

 efficient cultivation of the soil obtained by the growing of field 

 crops combined with the provision of the full overhead light so 

 necessary in the case of teak. A mulch of dry earth has enabled 

 cliir pine seedlings to survive on a particularly dry area where 

 otherwise they invariably died of drought and this method had 

 been extensively employed in the dry teak forests of Bombay. 

 Many species require very special conditions of soil for their 

 germination ; Alnus nepalensis in Kulu, Dalbergia sissoo and 

 Acacia Catechu in the sub-montane tract and Populus cuphratica 

 along the Indus all require fresh river alluvial deposits for their 

 reproduction, and a similar soil with an absence of weeds must be 

 provided in raising these trees under artificial conditions. In the 

 United Provinces it has only lately been discovered that absolutely 

 clean soil is essential for the germination of Adina cordifolia. 

 This tree has been raised on mounds in the Bhabar but only with 

 considerable difficulty as the minute seed is easily washed away. 

 Profuse natural regeneration has been obtained accidentally in an 

 area under experimental regeneration of sal after making a heavy 

 felling and burning the slash, the resulting ashes giving exactly 

 the conditions required for the germination of this tiny seed. 



In the case of the afforestation of the Etawah ravines every- 

 thing depends on proper soil preparation. On the flat uplands 

 the whole ground is deeply ploughed and ridged 10 feet apart to 

 prevent run-off and the sowings of babul and other species are 

 made along the ridges. The cultivation of 3 lines of cotton plants 

 between the ridges has now been commenced both with the view 

 of improving sal conditions, diminishing weed growth and 

 reducing the costs of afforestation by the profits, on the cotton. 

 Intensive weedings and soil loosening form part of the standard 

 practice ; everything possible being done to conserve moisture and 



