196 MINERALS. 



CHAPTEE IX.— MINERALS. 



NuMEKOUS mineral products are obtained from forest areas. 

 The principal of these are building stones, which may be either 

 for cut-stone or for rubble (including boulder) masonry ; flag- 

 ging and paving stones ; slates ; metal for macadamised roads ; 

 gravel and salnd ; lime-stone for mortar and plaster ; gypsum, 

 kaolin and potter's clay ; talc and mica ; coloured clays for plas- 

 tering and dyeing ; peat and lignite ; ores ; and gold ; and so on. 

 These various materials may be obtained either (1) by quarry- 

 ing, or (2) by cutting down or breaking up a hillside, or (3) by 

 collecting off the surface of land producing or capable of pro- 

 ducing forest, or (4) by gathering from stream beds. The second 

 of these methods is an extremely destructive one, unless the por- 

 tion of the hill to be cut away is judiciously chosen and is of 

 limited extent, and the stones removed are not allowed to be 

 rolled down the hillside. The danger is greatest in loose sand- 

 stone and metamorphic formations, especially when only particu- 

 lar strata are exploited, in which case the removal, of these strata 

 necessarily undermines those overlying them. Unless precau- 

 tions are rigidly enforced, any kind of vegetation on the hillside 

 will become impossible and the safety of the hillside itself will be 

 threatened. The third method, which is very commonly resorted 

 to in broken country of trap and sandstone formation, is always 

 harmful. As the stones lie about everywhere, their collection and 

 removal to central export dep6ts result in much damage to forest 

 growth of all ages. Quarrying into the earth is much less dan- 

 gerous than the two methods just referred to ; but unless regular 

 metalled roads or tramways are made to the quarry, the constant 

 going to and fro of heavily laden carts will do damage to a large 

 extent of surrounding forest. The least dangerous of all the four 

 methods is collection from the beds of streams ; the materials being 

 taken in small quantities from a great many points all along the 

 course of the stream, there is never any dangerous concentration of 

 traffic. 



If kankar or any other limestone is used, burning it on the spot 

 secures economy both of fuel and carriage. The kilns should be 

 constructed only on open sites some distance from good forest 

 growth. The most convenient mode of levying payment, when 



