152 FORESTRY IN BRITISH EAST INDIA. 



It will be observed that the area of forests under the control of the 

 Forest Department is about one-fourth of the total area of 

 British India. The percentage of the Reserved, or Permanent, 

 State Forests, is only 10 per cent, of the total area of the British 

 part of India ; it should, by degrees, be raised so as to come 

 nearer the area required to supply India permanently with the 

 necessary forest produce, that area having been estimated at 

 18 per cent, of the total area of the country. There are extensive 

 private and village forests which yield a considerable amount of 

 grazing, fuel and small timber, but they have been much reduced 

 in yield capacity, a process which is still going on, so that the 

 people are coming more and more for produce to the State forests. 

 Still, the private and village forests will continue giving a certain 

 yield, so that not the full 18 per cent., or 190,000 square miles, 

 need be converted into permanent State forests. It will probably 

 suffice if their area is gradually brought up to, say, 150,000 square 

 miles, leaving about 100,000 square miles available for further 

 extension of cultivation, village grazing grounds and other 

 purposes. Unfortunately, the percentage differs very much, and 

 it is especially small in those provinces where an extension is most 

 wanted. While Burma and Assam have as yet more forests than 

 they permanently require, Behar, the United Provinces, the 

 Punjab and some other provinces have too little. In most of the 

 latter provinces areas are urgently required for fuel reserves, so 

 that the cow dung, which is now burnt, may be made available 

 for manure. 



A most important work is the settlement of rights in the 

 permanent State forests. This is done in connection with the 

 reservation proceedings by specially appointed Settlement Officers. 

 Up to the year 1914 the settlement extended over 101,585 square 

 miles of reserves, or proposed reserves, and 6,414 square miles of 

 protected forests. The demarcation of boundaries extended over 

 a length of 165,051 miles, keeping pace with reservation. 



2. Forest Survey. 



As sufficiently detailed maps are essential for systematic 

 management, a special Forest Survey Department was organised 

 in 1871 and subsequently amalgamated with the general Indian 

 Survey Department. Up to 1920 a forest area of 87,001 square 



