( 2?A ) 



no. 39, dated the 30th April, 1913, enclosing the draft of your 

 report to the Conservator of Forests on the strbject of the possible 

 afforestation of the ravines in this district. 



The question is mainly one of general agricultural and finan- 

 cial policy on which I am not competent to offer any opinion. 

 Were the Government to decide on the acquisition of all waste 

 land in the ravine tract and the subsequent exploitation of that 

 tract as a grazing ground, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion 

 that the venture would be not only beneficial to the people, but 

 also profitable to the State. The scheme involves a wholesale 

 application of the Land Acquisition Act and a consequently large 

 initial outlay. While I believe that the measure would be not 

 unpopular even at the outset and that the interest on the capital 

 expended would be highly satisfactory with the scheme in full 

 working order, it would be idle and presumptuous for me to make 

 any specific recommendation as to the direction of the forest 

 policy to be followed by the Local Government. 



As to the various points dealt with in the report, I would offer 

 tbe following remarks : 



1. The actual area of ravine land along the course of the 

 Jumna, Chambal, and Kuari rivers in this district cannot be stated 

 with any approximation to accuracy without a detailed investiga- 

 tion of the records in each village. In the event of acquisition it 

 would be imperative to demarcate not only the unoulturable ravine 

 area, but also the unreserved area immediately adjoining the sites 

 of such villages as are situated in the ravines. In such cases it 

 would be obviously impossible to preserve the grazing up to the 

 walls of the houses, and it would be necessary to leave untouched a 

 definite curtilage of considerable area, demarcated, if possible, by 

 natural features. Even with deductions on the most generous 

 scale, the area left could not be less than 100,000 acres, and would 

 in all probability be more extensive. 



2. I have not the slightest doubt that the whole of this area 

 would, under a system of protection, yield a good growth of grass. 

 The quality of the grazing would doubtless vary greatly. In the 

 beginning the lower levels would improve far more rapidly than 

 the dry and overdrained summits of the ravines where trees and 

 scrub are generally non-existent and the grass has no shade at any 

 hour of the day. That trees of useful species will grow everywhere 

 needs no demonstration, and in my opinion it may be taken as an 

 axiom that once tree-growth has been established a heavy crop of 

 grass will be obtained. In the more remote portions of the tract 

 the vegetation in the shape of both grass and trees is most remark, 

 able, and I see no reason why the whole of the area should not 



