IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. 5 



from check and control, or where there are peculiarities of tenure 

 and few facilities of communication, as in Wainad. 



10. Proposed system of operations. — The trees are classified 

 according to size.* 



1st class, 6 feet in girth. I 3d class, 3 feet and upwards. 



2d do. 4} do. I 4th do. under 3 feet. 



It is proposed that in every forest to he worked, all first-class 

 trees should he marked, and such a proportion should be cut 

 down as will be naturally replaced by those of the second 

 class. This is clearly a sound principle, and, if carried ifito 

 practice, will prevent the exhaustion of the forests. It would 

 be obviously impossible to fell and remove one twenty-fourth 

 of the trees of the first class in every district. Therefore, to 

 facilitate the execution of this principle, it is necessary to 

 divide each assistant's range into six divisions, one of which 

 only shall be worked at one time. . These divisions should 

 be formed as much as possible in accordance with the geo- 

 graphical features of the district, and the forest operations 

 should be confined to the district having the largest quantity of 

 ripe wood. 



11. Saving of Fragments. — In my visit to the Anamalai and 

 "Wainad forests, I found the larger branches, tops and butts, left 

 on the side of the road, or in the place where the tree was cut 

 exposed to the heat of the sun and to the annual fires. I desired 

 that all such pieces as would hear the expense of removal should 

 be brought out of the Anamalai and Heggadevincotta forests, 

 and that no wastage be allowed in future. The importance of 

 saving every foot of teak (at a time when Government has been 

 put to great shifts for its own requirements) has been strongly 

 impressed upon every member of the department. I am also 

 anxious that the use of this timber should be disallowed for 

 common purposes, as camp furniture, hospital almirahs, accoutre- 

 ment boxes, and the like. 



12. Auction Sale of Timber. — It having been considered desir- 

 able that an auction sale of timber unsuited for naval purposes 



* The system here suggested was originally proposed by Dr Brandis, 

 Conservator of Forests in Burma. 



