FOREST CLEARINGS. 73 



senting the highest art of woodmanship by the 

 natives, who enjoy their work. 



Necessary as this clearing is, it can be carried 

 too far, even from the planter's point of view. 

 Magnificent evergreen forests protecting ghat 

 slopes have thus been ruthlessly destroyed, tre- 

 mendous floods and corresponding droughts being 

 the outcome. 



The forests on the Nilgiri, Wynad, and Coorg 

 have been rapidly disappearing during the last ten 

 or twenty years. If this destruction is allowed to 

 go on the Cauvery river, for instance, must in time 

 be seriously affected. There are still vast tracts 

 of forest, and many splendid forest-clad ravines 

 protecting numerous streams, but what if they all 

 go ? And if there is no legislation on the subject, 

 and no official reservation to be guarded by a 

 responsible department, what is to prevent it ? At 

 the present rate of destruction there would be 

 probably nothing left in another century or less. 



If the felling is begun in October, then about 

 the middle of March the forest will be ready to 

 burn. It should not be delayed later, for about 

 that time showers begin to fall. For months of 

 the hottest 'season, the forest lies prone and 

 withered under the fierce rays of an Indian sun. 

 At the end of the time it is, or should be, as 

 dry as timber can get, and not a green blade or 

 leaf anywhere visible. The planter then selects 

 a day with a gentle and steady breeze blowing, 



