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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [Vol. 8, No. 3 



measures can be taken to proclaim and maintain forest reserves for the supply of 

 forest products and the maintenance of stream flow, are problems as much for pre- 

 sent as for future consideration. 



The montane rain forests have already in large part disappeared and been re- 

 placed by grass. In some cases this deforestation has advanced up the slopes 

 with clearing for cultivation, leaving the higher elevations crowned with forest. 

 Fire apparently has been the chief agent of complete deforestation over large 

 areas on the extensive uplands of Nyika and Vipya, and over smaller areas on 

 such mountains as Mlanje. Although the Nyasaland native dislikes and if possible 

 avoids the cold of the high elevations, cultivation there in times before the advent 

 of the white man can not be ruled out in accounting for the change from moist 

 closed forest to grassland conditions. The Nyika Plateau, with an area of about 

 900 square miles at 7,000 to 8,000 feet elevation, carries today the remnants of 

 what is known to have been a much larger population which lived there and culti- 

 vated gardens after being driven from the lower country by the Angoni. The Vipya 

 Plateau, with an area of about 1,100 square miles at 6,000 to 7,000 feet, is at pre- 

 sent uninhabited, as is Mlanje, and all the high uplands and mountains except 

 Nyika. The seemingly fertile rolling uplands of Nyika and Vipya are considered 

 suitable for European settlement. 



The long-range effects of fire on the various types of open forest or woodland 

 are not easy to determine, and opinions differ in Nyasaland as elsewhere. In 

 Nyasaland, however, certain deleterious effects are recognized officially. Annual 

 burning of the grass by the natives is not discouraged, but by law it must be done 

 within a prescribed period after the wet season; not later than about August or 

 September, according to locality. Fires up to about this time of year do not burn 

 the grass completely, and the underground parts are not damaged. Fires later in 

 the dry season may leave the ground bare, scorch the trees, and expose the soil 

 to accelerated erosion by the heavy rains with which the wet season usually be- 

 gins. Regulations notwithstanding, much burning of grass is done late in the dry 

 season, when a pall of smoke lies over the whole country and lines of fire light 

 the mountainsides at night. 



In areas such as Nyasaland, where shifting woodland agriculture is practiced, 

 much necessary burning is done in clearing land for cultivation. Hunting peoples, 

 everywhere, bum the grass to induce the growth of fresh young feed which at- 

 tracts game to the burned-over areas. Herdsmen and shepherds, and the owners of 

 free-ranging domesticated animals, burn the grass for the benefit of their herds 

 and flocks. When large numbers of free-ranging animals are the consideration and 

 watering places few, extensive tracts are bumed so that the animals will be at- 

 tracted away from the waters and by spreading over the back country be assured 

 of sufficient feed in the dry season and be less subject to insect pests. Travelers 

 on foot, on animal-back, and in motor vehicles, burn to clear their route in open 

 country, whether it be by path, bush road, or across trackless wilderness. In 

 regions inhabited by dangerous wild animals, burning is practiced to destroy cover 

 around houses and villages, food gardens, fishing places, the places from which 

 the domestic water supply is carried, and routes in regular use. 



This purposeful firing is done at any time the grass is in .condition to burn, 

 but there is much piecemeal burning early in the dry season, when fires in years 

 of normal rainfall will not travel far. The hunters and herdsmen know they will get 

 the best growth of green feed by burning while the ground is still moist after the 

 seasonal rains. It is to the best interests of the hunters, moreover, to burn 

 patches on which game will concentrate to feed, rather than fire the whole country- 



