116 COMPOSITION OF FOEEST CHOPS. 



forests the leaf-canopy is denser, the number of stems larger, the 

 mass of roots in the soil thicker and closer and the individual trees 

 themselves more resisting : hence the fact enunciated at the head 

 of this paragraph. 



XVII. Mixed forest generally adorns the country more and ts 

 also more attractive than pure forest, and thus influences beneficially the 

 physical, (esthetic, moral, and mental development of the people. 

 This advantage is not to he despised, and is by no means of slight 

 importance in its effects on the genius of a people. The finest 

 poetry has had its inspiration from the forest. The manliest and 

 hardiest portion of a nation is generally that which inhabits the 

 interior or the borders of forests. The beneficial influence of forests 

 is seen in the universally admitted necessity of people's parks, &c. 

 in civilised communities. 



Having enumerated the various advantages offered by a mixture 

 of species, we will now briefly enquire in what respects, if any, 

 and to what extent a pure crop is to be preferred. 



In the first place, the treatment and management of a pure- 

 forest are simpler, since in it we have to study and satisfy the 

 habits and requirements of only a single species. This greater 

 simplicity is more particularly apparent in the raising and exploi- 

 tation of the component crops, the successful accomplishment of 

 which operations, on that account, makes less demand on the ex- 

 perience, skill, judgment and resource of the forester than when 

 mixed crops have to be dealt with. This is doubtless a very great ad- 

 vantage in a backward country like India, where for many years yet, 

 until no more than the principal species have been thoroughly studied 

 and a large, qualified establishment has been organised, rule of 

 thumb must be largely followed. But it is not to be construed 

 into a universal reason for invariably and deliberately converting 

 every existing mixed forest into a pure forest, and it can do no more 

 than serve as a plea for not being in too great a hurry to introduce 

 a mixture into an existing pure forest without some strong justi- 

 fication. 



In the second place, when there is only a single species the wood 

 of which is marketable, as unfortunately happens, for the present at 

 least, in the case of only too many of our forests, a pure forest of 

 that species, if it can be raised or is ready to hand, is very desirable ; 

 otherwise, except with the aid of special operations, always diffi- 

 cult and often prohibitory from the point of view of cost, that 

 species must either disappear altogether or be ultimately reduced to 

 a few wretched unexploitable individuals. This consideration is a 



