256 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
to me that I was wasting my time in such investiga- 
tion, for he had seen the trees for forty years, 
and there had been no change during that period! 
The average age in that forest was fifty years, 
and the gradual change from, say, 12 to 70 feet in 
height had made no impression on.a brain that 
could recall faces and incidents with startling 
accuracy, but took no useful notice of the vegetable 
life around. The thought could not be repressed 
that administrators responsible for the forest wealth 
of a Province, but incapable of recognizing the 
growth of its woodlands, were unlikely to be able to 
check their disappearance; and again was vividly 
presented the difference between individual trees 
and the community of which they form part. Even 
a Viceroy, burdened with the responsibility of both 
foreign and home politics, will notice the removal 
of some favourite tree under which his camp of 
idleness has been pitched, and will pause to mete 
out condign punishment to the offender; but it 
seemingly requires a trained eye to remark the 
sequence of forest maltreatment that has terminated, 
perhaps, in a landslip wiping out fertile fields, and 
setting a landmark for the next score years on the 
country-side. 
But the forests of Oudh were flourishing ; they 
had almost passed through their period of weeding. 
and cleaning, and were ready for the selection treat- 
ment that was to follow. The “sal” tree is all-power- 
ful in its natural habitat, perhaps chiefly by its 
forceful growth in favourable conditions; it covers 
the soil with vigorous celerity, its seeds are blown, 
ripe for germination, whirling in the monsoon winds, 
