160 FORESTRY IN BRITISH EAST INDIA. 



mentioned. It is now proposed to add 50,000 acres in connection 

 with the irrigation projects of the Doab. Measures like these, 

 which affect so closely the well-being of the agricultural popula- 

 tion, should have far-reaching results, and it is hoped that similar 

 works will soon be undertaken in other provinces. 



7. Protection against Fire. 

 Before the author started for India in 1866, Sir Dietrich 

 Brandis told him that the Indian forests could be divided into the 

 following two classes : — 



(1) Forests which were burnt every year, and 



(2) Forests which were not burnt every year. 



As a matter of fact, by far the greater part of the forests were 

 annually overrun by surface fires, which burnt the undergrowth, 

 including the seedlings of trees, and injured, more or less, the 

 older trees. Thus, they interfered, in the majority of cases, with 

 regeneration and caused disease in trees, though the latter may 

 not become apparent until many years afterwards. 



As early as 1846 Lieutenant (afterwards General) Michael tried 

 to stop forest fires in the Anamalay hills in Madras, but the first 

 really successful attempt was made by Colonel Pearson in the 

 Bori reserve in the Central Provinces about the year 1860. Since 

 then the area artificially protected has risen to 49,970 square 

 miles. Of this area 5-4 per cent, on an average were burnt 

 annually. Fire protecting measures consist chiefly in maintaining 

 cleared external and internal fines, organising an efficient system 

 of patrols, enlisting the co-operation of the local population, 

 burning inflammable grass lands early in the season and extin- 

 guishing any fires which may break out. 



In by far the majority of cases the forests have greatly 

 benefited, and there can be no doubt that in most types of forest 

 the improvement which has taken place in the growing stock is 

 due mainly to the effect of fire protection. At the same time it 

 must be admitted that in certain cases fire protection has inter- 

 fered with the natural regeneration of the forests, as the encourage- 

 ment given to the growth of evergreen shrubs and strong weeds 

 has wholly or partially prevented the springing up or the survival 

 of seedhngs of the valuable species. This result has been observed 

 in the moister types of teak forest in Burma, and also in the sal 



