56 



might be expected, trees of European kinds ; the cedar, the pine, the fir, the mountain 

 cypress, the juniper, the yew, the oak, the ilex, the ehn, the ash, the maple, the plane, 

 the holly, the laurel, the birch, the walnut, the alder. The Asiatic sorts are the acacia, 

 the terminalia, the ebony ; the ficus order including the banyan and the india-rubber tree, 

 the mango, the sandal- wood, the cane, the bamboo, the toon, the neem, the blackwood, 

 the sal ; and greatest of all, the teak. To these should be added the palms, including the 

 feathery date-palm, the palmyra with its fan-like leaves, and the betel-nut palm. The 

 lesser products of the forests, such as myro-balans, and other articles, are also consi- 

 derable. 



" Many believe that the rainfall is copious and seasonable or otherwise, according as 

 the woods and forests, and the vegetation subsidiary to them, are preserved or destroyed, 

 while others disbelieve this view, which at all events must admit of much qualification. 

 But, after all due abatements have been made, the view is generally held to comprise 

 some truth. The total rainfall of the whole country cannot possibly be afiected by the 

 existence of forests. The average quantity of vapour must come from the ocean and must 

 be condensed somewhere ; if it be not changed into rain as it passes across the plains, it 

 will pass on to the mountains and be transformed there. This, indeed, is a matter of 

 common experience ; moisture-laden clouds float over the Deccan, leaving it arid, and 

 move on to the Satpura range, and, being condensed there, fill the torrent-beds with rain- 

 water which rushes into the rivers and returns ultimately to the plain in the shape of 

 inundations. Similarly, clouds sweep over the thirsty plains of Hindostan, and being 

 condensed in the Himalayas, return in the form of floods in the great rivers. The hope 

 is that, if forest tracts were distributed over the plains, there would be cool surfaces to 

 attract the clouds and to arrest them, as it were, on their way. There are many tracts 

 where forests, if preserved, would grow up in a short time. Thus it is anticipated by 

 many that the climate would be improved, and that the early and the later rains 

 would descend more seasonably than at present. It is remembered that, throughout 

 the world, those regions which possess rich vegetation receive abundant rains, while 

 those which are denuded of vegetation are rainless. It is remarked, too, that those regions 

 in India, which ordinarily receive rain, but have been parched by a long drought, are 

 plagued afterwards with immoderate rain. 



" At all' events the forests, and their subsidiary vegetation, husband and store by a 

 natural process the exceeding moisture of the rainy season, for the benefit of the country 

 during the dry season. The streams become better filled and more available for the use 

 of the people ; the springs are less likely to run dry, the wells less liable to failure. This 

 consideration becomes peculiarly important in those regions where the canals for irrigation 

 are drawn from rivers having their source in mountains which depend on the annual rain- 

 fall for moisture. Near the springs and along the upper courses of these rivers the 

 vegetation needs especially to be preserved for the sake of the canals. 



" The economic considerations relating to the forests are manifestly important, as 

 wood is used largely in the construction of the houses and cottages in most parts of the 

 country. In northern India, where trees are few, the earth, indurated by the sun, affords 

 good material, and the ear them walls are durable, but elsewhere the earth does not 

 always possess a like degree of consistency. For these reasons it is essential that the 

 timber markets should be well supplied. Without interposition by the State, the wood 

 and timber would become scarcer and dearer from time to time, as the forests became 

 exhausted. As coal is not available, the people require wood for fuel ; if they cannot 

 obtain wood they will use cow-dung cakes for burning. The practice of consuming for 

 fuel that which ought to be used for manure in a country too, where artificial manure is 

 not available, extensively prevails, is most injurious, and tends to exhaustion of the soil. 

 The only means of lessening this practice is by preserving the forests to provide a cheap 

 and plentiful supply of wood for fuel. 



" Thus the policy of preserving the forests rests on two grounds, first the improve- 

 ment of the climate and the retention of moisture ; secondly the husbanding of the national 

 resources in timber and fuel for the use of the people. This policy is of much consequence 

 to the well-being of the country and the nation." 



