216 TIMBERS AND THEIR USES 



grazing, and it has come to be recognized that 

 no rigid general rules can fairly be applied in 

 view of the necessities of the large population, 

 but that in regulating the privilege of depastur- 

 ing stock, each district or forest must be dealt 

 with separately as circumstances require. There 

 have been cases in India, such as the Hushiarpur 

 Chos, in the Punjab, where excessive grazing, 

 especially of goats, has completely denuded 

 tracts of hill slope, causing erosion of the soil 

 and friable rock, and resulting in thousands of 

 acres in the fertile valleys below being covered 

 with detritus. A large extent of hiU country 

 in the Deccan, denuded and scarred by the 

 rains, has been rendered barren from the same 

 cause." 



Australasia. In Australia, Tasmania and 

 New Zealand there are 205,135,000 acres of 

 forest land. " The true forest region of Australia 

 is almost entirely coastal ; that is to say, the 

 most luxurious tree growth is confined to the 

 mountain and hill ranges, which to a large extent 

 follow, at a moderate distance, the bend of the 

 coast, and to the tablelands and foothills which 

 stretch from these towards the shore line. Where, 

 however, the ranges approach closely to the 

 ocean, as is the case with the Darling Hills in 

 Western Austraha, the forest belt may extend 



