NIGERIA 161 
in reality only a permanent forest, which is primarily maintained for 
the definite production of some forest or other product. It cannot 
be too much emphasized that it is definitely set aside to be used wisely ; 
and for all the trees taken, suitable replanting operations are under- 
taken by the Forest Department. The name “ Reserve” is in fact 
rather a misnomer. In the early stages of a forest administration it 
is convenient to talk about Forest Reserves as distinct from the 
rest of the country, which is usually covered with forest and termed 
“unreserved ” forest. It may, later on, become agricultural land ; 
it may also be reserved, in which case it becomes a Forest Reserve or 
one of the permanent forests of the country. The main point to be 
observed with a Reserve is that it is primarily for use, and not that 
the timber is to be reserved and not to be utilized by the general 
public. Evenin those cases where the local demands of the people 
are great and have to be satisfied first, before any outside timber 
exporter is allowed to work the forest, it is utilized to the greatest 
extent compatible with its maintaining a yearly permanent output 
of timber or other forest product. Permanency of output is the 
watchword, and strict utilization of the increment-bearing capacity 
of the forest each year. The increment is of course the amount which 
each tree grows each year. This amount, added together over the 
whole area, makes up the quantity which may be felled, on the propor- 
tional area during the rotation, in any one year. Thus, to give a concrete 
example: If an area is 100 square miles in extent, and the rotation 
is 100 years, then one-hundredth of that area, or one square mile, 
may be cut over in one year ; also, if the sum of the growth amounts 
to 40 cubic feet per acre per year, this means to say that an annual 
cut of 25,600 cubic feet can be made each year over one square mile 
of the area, in the case of a clear felling of all the trees, or spread over 
an area of 10 square miles in the form of a slight thinning of the trees. 
In the Temperate Zone, on moderate soil, 40 cubic feet of timber per 
annum is a good yield, so that in the Tropics we may expect a yield of 
quite double this amount; therefore it will be seen how readily the 
forest can grow and how much timber can be obtained permanently 
from the Permanent Forests or Reserves. 
Another great advantage of the Permanent Forest or Forest Reserve, 
compared with the ordinary leased areas, is the fact that the planting 
is done by the Forest Department and not by the leaseholder. In 
an ordinary leased area this planting is a considerable source of expendi- 
ture and worry to the leaseholder, and even then satisfactory results 
are hard to be obtained. He is continually being reminded of his 
planting duties by the Forest Department, and he is continually striv- 
ing to keep up the proportionate amount of planting, ie. 24 trees for 
every tree felled, and this is by no means easy to attain. Although 
the annual leaseholder working in a Forest Reserve may be under 
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