August, 1908.] 



161 



Miscellaneous. 



and forests and incidentally the people 

 themselves, though they would not 

 realise it at the time, would be bound to 

 benefit by it. At settlement the area 

 required by each village could be roughly 

 marked out and a few simple rules pres- 

 cribed. Above all, the fire-protection of 

 the area allotted to each community 

 should be insisted on and an endeavour 

 should be made to gradually concentrate 

 the cuttings of each year. Such areas 

 should come under the care of the 

 revenue authorities. The Forest Depart- 

 ment would have enough on its hands 

 looking after the areas of unclassed 

 forests which were not subject to 

 taungya cultivation. 



7. To turn to the question of areas 

 inside reserved forests which are subject 

 to taungya privileges, I think we 

 could and should do something to re- 

 gulate the operations of the taungya 

 cutter. It is the duty of the forester so 

 to manage any forest burdened with 

 rights, that it may be capable of yielding 

 whatever produce the right-holder is 

 entitled to, and even if taungya cultiva- 

 tion is reckoned a privilege, subject to 

 restriction or abolition at the stroke of 

 a pen, I would submit that it behoves 

 us to attempt, as far as we can, to keep 

 the areas subject to it in as fit a state 

 for the purpose of taungya cutting as 

 possible. I would further submit that 

 foresters of other countries would 

 adversely criticise our methods if they 

 realise that in some, at any rate, of the 

 areas subject to taungya privileges 

 inside our reserved forests taungya cul- 

 tivation was allowed to continue in the 

 old primeval manner in which it was 

 practised in prehistroric times. 



8. In the settlement proceedings of 

 certain reserves that were settled in 

 Lower Burma some twenty or more years 

 ago, areas allotted to each village for 

 purposes of taungya cultivation were 

 determined by multiplying the number 

 of taungya cutters in the village by the 

 average area in acres worked annually 

 by each taungya cutter, multiplying the 

 figure thus obtained by the average 

 taungya rotation, and doubling the result 

 to allow for areas unsuited for taungyas. 

 The figure thus obtained was taken to 

 represent in acres the area required by 

 each community. The only restriction 

 was that no teak was to be cut or 

 injured in the taungya areas. In none 

 of the areas, that I have experience of, 

 was fire-protection compulsory, though 

 of course fire-pioteetion would have 

 been insisted on had the fire-proteotion 

 of the rest of the reserve been under- 

 taken, and the annual fires have so 

 reduced the fertility of the taungya 

 areas, that each Forest Officer that visito 



21 



the area has to listen to long grumb- 

 lings about the inadequacy of their size. 

 Whereas, if these areas were treated 

 under any system or even tire- protected 

 only, they would in all probability 

 suffice to support double the population 

 located on them. If certain taungya 

 cultivators, such as the Karens in the 

 Karen Hills, recognise that fire-protection 

 is beneficial to their taungya areas, 

 there can be no doubt that it must be 

 beneficial. 



9. I would therefore suggest the 

 following rules for areas subject to taun- 

 gya privileges inside reserved forests :— 



(a) That the privilege-holders fire- 

 protect the whole area allotted tor 

 taungya cultivation. 



(b) That they observe a fixed rotation 

 for their taungyas. 



(c) That they gradually concentrate 

 their taungyas for each year in one 

 block. 



(d) That when putting in a crop in the 

 poorer part of their area where woody 

 growth is scarce, they put in at intervals 

 some quick-growing woody plants, e.g., 

 the common taxing kathit {Erythrina 

 stricta) seems specially suitable, It 

 thrives anywhere and everywhere, and 

 has such an extraordinary vitality that 

 any cutting placed anyhow into the 

 ground will probably grow. Such woody 

 plants if put in wood protect the soil and 

 serve as a useful manure at the next 

 cutting. 



10. Some such regulations seem abso- 

 lutely necessary where taungya cultiva- 

 tion has to be permitted in reserves 

 formed on high hills for the protection 

 of the water-supply or for climatic 

 reasons. The result of their application 

 would cause the tauugya areas to resem- 

 ble to a certain extent a forest managed 

 under a clear cutting system on a short 

 rotation. If the areas are fire-protected 

 the percentage of the soil exposed at a 

 time would be much less than if they 

 were not protected from fire, and the 

 damage done by the taungya cutter 

 would be reduced to a minimum. 



11. To pievent the regulations from 

 becoming a dead letter or to enforce a 

 taungya rotation on communities that 

 have never observed one, the area sub- 

 ject to taungya privileges could suitably 

 be divided into a number of compart- 

 ments of approximately equal area to 

 correspond in number with the years of 

 proposed taungya rotation, each com- 



artment being demarcated by rough 

 lazing, and the privilege-holders could 

 each year choose which block they liked 

 for their taungyas, provided they did 



