CONSERVATORS’ WORK 113 
the case in forest administration when in its infancy. 
Tt is well to recall that the methods of the past were 
at one time new, and doubtless involved difficulties 
in their introduction, and that they were probably 
the best available under former conditions; but there 
can be no progress without change, and the successful 
introduction of changes does but indicate that oppor- 
tunity has been seized for making that progress. 
In the case in point, the Kheri forests were being 
worked on the “selection” method, a system for 
which they were not ready, and which resulted in 
an inadequate outturn. The felling, the carting, the 
floating of the “sal” logs to Bahramghat, their sale 
or sawing to indent—all these operations were carried 
out by a multitude of petty contractors, and the 
accounts of these men remained open for many 
months, being complicated with frequent cash 
advances; while at the same time the control of large 
quantities of timber spread over many miles of a 
slow and risky waterway, and its disposal at a 
distant sawmill, was not under efficient supervision. 
In the forest, again, the system led to serious silvi- 
cultural disadvantages; the best trees were, naturally, 
selected for felling, and the inferior stock was left on 
the ground, so that in theory as well as in practice 
we were depleting the forest capital instead of 
building it up. It was not without some misgivings 
that the sawmill at Bahrémghdt was closed after 
investigations that, to put it mildly, exposed many 
serious irregularities; and the question then arose, 
how to induce the extremely conservative members 
of the Indian timber trade to risk a new departure 
in a forest with which they were unacquainted. 
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