12 



INDIAN FOREST MEMOIRS. 



Sclerofhyllous formations (bush and forest), 



and so on. 



These classes are frequently very difficult to distinguish and we may obviously have 

 precisely the same formation in a desert (caused by insufficient rainfall) and in a moist 

 climate (on very dry sand or gravel). The Tamarix thickets on sandy river banks in the 

 moist Indian region of deciduous forests and in the desert tracts of the Pan jab may be 

 taken as an example. Similarly saline soil formations may be found on non-saline sand, 



heavy clay and so on. 



Butea frondosa woodlands, for instance, occur both on saline and heavy soils, Tamarix 

 on saline and sandy soils, and so on. Again much of the woody growth on sand, in almost 

 desert tracts and on saline soil, might be classed as sclerophyllous bush. A detailed classi- 

 fication on these lines therefore in the present state of our knowledge tends to become con- 

 fused and difficult to apply in practice, 

 points which 12. In endeavouring to draw up an accept- 



ation in able scheme of cecological classification the following points demand attention :— 

 SasSa- 1 Professor Warming himself clearly states that " the cecology of plants is a subject 



tton - still in its infancy; numerous investigations must be made before the found- 



ations can be truly and rightly laid, and before a consistent, clear, and natural 

 classification of plant-communities is achieved." 1 



For the present, the main desideratum is undoubtedly a lack of accurate descriptions 



of the communities which can be readily distinguished in different countries, a lack of 



complete and accurate information regarding the factors which compose the environment 



of such communities and want of information regarding the factors of dominant importance 



which regulate the existence and distribution of the communities. 



primary sub- As a basis for such work it seems undoubtedly preferable to adopt the two great classes 



Grassland of vegetation which Schimper terms woodland and grassland; in the former woody plants 



advisable, give the character to the type of vegetation and in the latter herbaceous plants and grasses. 



Schimper also distinguishes desert but here also woody and herbaceous plants exist and the 



desert can be regarded as the lowest form of grassland or woodland, according to the 



character of the majority of the plants, and does not need recognition as a separate type of 



primary importance. 



Schimper well says that " woodland and grassland stand opposed to one another like 

 two equally powerful but hostile nations, which in the course of time have repeatedly fought 

 against one another for the dominion over the soil," 2 but the real significance of the 

 relations between these great types, at all events from the practical point of view, appears 

 to lie in this, that, for almost all forms of grassland, there is a corresponding form of wood- 

 land and the Forester therefore can often find in the nature of his grasslands the answer 

 to the question of what type of woodland can be introduced with the greatest prospect of 

 success. 



1 I.e.. p. vi. 



2 I.e., p. 162. 



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