GRASS PRESERVES. 145 



Section III. — Gea.ss peeseeves. 

 It ■will be appropriate to say a few words here regarding the 

 formation and management of grass preserves, a matter that has 

 real importance for the Indian Forester in the neighbourhood of 

 large towns and cantonments and in dry places on the North- 

 Western frontier, where a ready supply of fodder for any military 

 emergency is a necessity. We may have (1) unirrigated natural 

 grass preserves, or (2) irrigated preserves. In both classes of 

 preserves a sprinkliag of deep-rooted trees with shady crowns 

 helps the growth of the grass. 



1. Unirrigated natural grass preserves. 



The special maintenance of such preserves is to be recommended 

 only when the rainfall exceeds 10 inches and the soil is at least of 

 medium quality. The coarser grasses and weeds should be grub- 

 bed out ; and if money is available, the land should once for all be 

 ploughed up, top-dressed with well-rotted cattle droppings or pou- 

 drette, and sown with seeds of the better kinds. The quantity of 

 seeds to be sown will vary from 3 to 10 lbs. per acre, according to 

 the species. Once established, the preserve requires only to be 

 kept free of undesirable growth and top-dressed from time to time 

 with manure. Grazing or the periodical cutting of the grass 

 should never be entirely stopped, for there is no more effective and 

 economical mode of improving the quality of the fodder and of 

 keeping out coarse species than allowing moderate grazing at the 

 proper seasons and maintaining the ground clear of dead tussocks. 

 If cut fodder is required, as many as three and sometimes even 

 four cuttings may be taken off during the first three months of the 

 rains, the next crop being left, if necessary, to mature for hay. If 

 the same area has also to serve as a grazing ground, grazing may 

 be permitted during the first two months of the rainy season, and 

 again after the crop of hay has been removed. Combined grazing 

 and cutting is better than cutting alone,ias the grazing makes the 

 grass grow closer and the droppings of the animals constitute so 

 much effective manure. Heavy or frequent manuring or any kind 

 of intensive treatment is of course quite out of the question in na- 

 tural preserves, except in the immediate vicinity of large centres 

 of population. At Allahabad, off extensive unirrigated areas that 

 have now been systematically treated since 1882, the yield of green 

 grass is as high as 800 maunds per acre per annum. 



2. Irrigated grass preserves. 



Irrigation places in our bands an instrument Avhich enables 



