132 FORESTRY IN BRITISH EAST INDIA, 



State control, the rest being situated in Indian States. Deodar 

 3delds excellent timber, which is largely used for railway sleepers, 

 building, carpentry and construction of all kinds. The utihzation 

 of the other conifers has, until lately, been very restricted, but it 

 has rapidly increased of late. Their creosoting was attempted 

 45 years ago, but without success at that time, while improved 

 methods have now made it possible. The Pinus longifolia is 

 extensively tapped for resin. 



Of the many species of Indian trees a large proportion have at 

 present Uttle or no value. Still the timber of several hundred 

 species is used for some purpose or other, and their number is 

 steadily increasing. Some of these timbers are of good quahty, 

 a fact which must be made known, but it would be beyond the 

 scope of this book to enter into the details of the question. 



Apart from timber and firewood, the Indian forests yield a 

 great variety of other produce. Some of these have been utilized 

 since time immemorial ; others have been introduced with 

 varying success since the estabhshment of forest conservation, 

 others again, have only of late attracted attention. The following 

 items may be mentioned by way of illustration : — 



Bamboos, of which there are well over 100 species, big and 

 small, are found over enormous areas ; many millions are cut for 

 building materials for the people, and they promise to become one 

 of the most important raw materials in the manufacture of paper. 



Grasses of various kinds are utilized for paper making, but their 

 chief use is for fodder and grazing. Many millions of cattle graze 

 in the forests in ordinary years, and in times of scarcity enormous 

 quantities of cut and pressed grass are transported to the 

 threatened districts to keep especially the draft cattle alive. 



Tanning materials exist in large quantities. Terminalia 

 Chebula yields the myrabolan, of which large quantities were 

 exported before the war. Some other sources are the young 

 leaves of Anogeissus latifolia ; the fruit of ZizypJms Xylopyrus, 

 the hill oaks, chestnuts and of Sonneratia apetala ; the leaves of 

 Heritiera minor, of other mangrove trees and of Nipa fruticans. 

 The bark of the following trees gives good tanning material : 

 Shorea robusta, Terminalia Arjuna, Woodfordia floribunda, 

 Cassia auriculata (almost exclusively used in the Peninsula) ; 

 the pods of Ccesalpinia digyna ; the bark of Acacia arabica is 



