4 H. F. BlanforJ — Influence of Indian Forests on the Bainfall. [No. 1, 



about nine-tenths are either in or to the south of the Satpura range. 

 The area of the Central Provinces south is about 61,000 square miles. 

 Hence about five-sixths of the whole are under forest. Now, prior 

 to the year 1875, these forests were systematically wasted by the 

 destructive method of cultivation practised by the hill tribes of Gond- 

 wana, as of other wild tracts in India and Burma. It is known under 

 various local names, such as Kumri, or in the Central Provinces ddhya 

 cultivation, and is thus described by Dr. Brandis : " A few acres of 

 forest are felled one year, the wood is burnt and a crop of grain raised 

 on the clearing ; the next year this is abandoned, a fresh piece of forest 

 is felled elsewhere, a crop is raised, and it too is abandoned in its turn ; 

 and so on, a fresh clearing being made every year." 



It will be readily understood how under such a system, in the 

 course of some years, extensive forests may be devastated, even by a 

 sparse hill population of nomad habits. And accordingly, in the intro- 

 duction of the Central Provinces Gazetteer, published in 1870, Mr. C. 

 Grant speaks of the state of the forests in the following terms : " The 

 tree forests of the Central Provinces have, however, been so much ex- 

 hausted, mainly owing to the destructive ddhya system of cultivation 

 practised by the hill tribes, that, except in one or two localities, the 

 labours of the Forest Officers will, for many years, be limited to guard- 

 ing against further damage, and thus allowing the forests to recover 

 themselves by rest. By far the greater part of the uncultivated lands 

 belonging to Government are stony wastes, incapable of producing a 

 strong straight growth of timber." 



In 1875,* the suppression of ddhya cultivation was taken systemati- 

 cally in hand, and in the course of a few years, with such success, that 

 Mr. Ribbentrop writes in 1886, " My attention was directed during a 

 recent visit to the Central Provinces, to the extensive growth of young 

 forests in areas formerly under Eumri cultivation. Ten or fifteen years 

 ago, such temporary cultivation was practised throughout the country, 

 and thousands of square miles were thereby laid barren year after year. 

 Since then, this method of cultivation was stopped, and though a great 

 part of the area affected was subject to annual fires, a more or less dense 

 forest growth has sprung up. I concluded that this must have had an 

 influence on the rainfall, sufficiently appreciable to be gauged by meteo- 



* I nnderstand from Mr. C. E. Elliott who worked as Settlement Officer in the 

 Central Provinces prior to 1875, that endeavours were then in progress to check 

 ddhya cultivation, so that the statement in the text which I make on the authority 

 of Mr. Ribbentrop must not be taken as rigorously exclusive. The interpretation 

 of the evidence here adduced will not, however be appreciably affected by this 

 correction. 



