APPENDIX VII. 



No. 97] OP 1914. 

 RESOLUTION. 



FOREST DEPARTMENT. 

 Dated Allahabad, theSIst December, 1914. 



READ 



(1) Note, dated the 17th October, 1918, by H. C. Ferard, Esq., O.I.B., I.C.B., Commissioner, 



Jhansi division. 



(2) Report on the utilization of silt in Italy by Mr. C. H. Hutton. 

 (8j Report on the colmate di monte of Italy by Mr. F. Clayton. 



OBSERVATIONS. The Lieutenant-Governor has recently had 

 under consideration proposals to minimize the evils resulting from 

 excessive erosion in the Bundelkhand division, in the districts of 

 Muttra, Agra and Etawah, and in other parts of the province 

 where ravine land exist. There can be no doubb that in these 

 areas excessive erosion is taking place on a large scale and with 

 very deleterious effects. With regard to the Jhansi district, for 

 example, Mr. A. W. Pirn", i.c.s-, in his settlement report 

 remarked : " Most parts of the district are overdrained. In the 

 high-lying tracts the natural soil is stony and excessively poor. 

 In the more level plains is found the rich deposit which forms the 

 characteristic black soil of Bundelkhand, but in the villages 

 bordering on the ravines this is being scored and broken up by 

 the surface drainage and the area of good soil is gradually 

 diminishing . . . The destructive influence of these nullahs 

 is by no means confined to the land rendered unculturable by 

 them. There more serious though less obvious effect consists in 

 the gradual thinning of the upper stratum of good, black soil which 

 is not being replaced in any way and which must lead to the 

 gradual deterioration of the district though the process must be a 

 slow one." And similar references abound throughout the report. 

 The streams of Hamirpur, says the gazetteer of that district, 

 " though they provide a ready means of escape for the rainfall 

 which is often heavy in the tract, are destructive and tend to 

 spread. By denuding the surface soil in hilly tracts and by 

 carrying off the organic matter and other soil constituents in the 

 level plains they are constantly and steadily impoverishing the soil 

 except where the land i:i protected by embankments." With 

 regard to Jalaun Mr. Hailey, i.O.s., makes the following remarks 

 in his settlement report : "As is invariably the case with high 



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