PRIMITIVE TREATMENT OF FORESTS. 63 
By this practice vast quantities of most valuable timber 
have been destroyed. 
A good crop of hill rice, or nullet, is obtained in the first 
year after the consumption of the wood, a small crop is 
taken off the ground in the second year, and sometimes in 
the third, after which, as has been stated, the spot is 
deserted. In the south, where land is more scarce com- 
pared with the population, the same land is cultivated 
with Koomaree anew in 12, 10, and 7 years; but in North 
Canara, the virgin forest, or old Keomaree, which has not | 
been cultivated within the memory of man, is generally 
.selected for the operation. 
‘ This rude system of culture,’ says Dr Cleghorn, formerly 
‘ Conservator of Forests in the Presidency of Madras, ‘prevails 
under various names in different eastern countries. It is 
called Koomaree in Mysore and Canara, Pounam in Malabar, 
Punaka in Salem, Chena in Ceylon.’ 
The name Koomaree ig peculiar to the Canara and the 
Mysore districts. It is thus described in an extract from 
the Proceedings of the Board of Revenue :—‘ The name is 
given to cultivation which takes place in first clearings. 
A hill-side is always selected, on the slopes of which a 
space is cleared at the end of the year. The wood is left 
to dry till the following March or April, and then burned. 
In most localities the seed is sown in the ashes on the fall 
of the first rains, without the soil being touched by imple- 
ment of any kind ; but in the taluk of Bekal the land is 
ploughed. The only further operations are weeding and 
fencing. The crop is gathered towards the end of the 
year, and the produce is stated to be at least double that 
which could be obtained under the ordinary modes of 
cultivation.’ ; 
Dr Francis Buchanan, in his report of a journey from 
Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and 
Malabar, published, under the authority of the Directors. 
of the East India Company, in 1807, makes mention 
repeatedly of the practice in these countries under the 
‘designations of Cotu-cadu, Cumri, and Ponna Of the 
