November, 1909.] 



428 



7 imbers. 



some provinces there are still thousands 

 of square miles of waste lands, the 

 property of Government, which are not 

 yet under the control of the Department. 

 So far then from adopting a regular 

 scheme for checking deforestation and 

 for pushing on afforestation, the Forest 

 Department has not yet been allowed to 

 manage all the existing forest lands, and 

 the first step, we consider, should be 

 that all waste lands owned by Govern- 

 ment should be made over to the manage- 

 ment of the Department. If it were 

 desirable in any case it could be laid 

 down that the areas were not to be 

 managed for a profit, and that when 

 necessary land should be given up for 

 the extension of cultivation, but while 

 the lands are waste, often with a good 

 deal of forest already existing on them, 

 we strongly urge their being handed 

 over for management to the Department 

 specially trained for the purpose. 



We have already stated that the 

 Forest Department as constituted at 

 present has more than enough to do in 

 the management of existing forests, and 

 such matters as deforestation and 

 afforestation on lauds outside the re- 

 served forests are beyond its scope, for 

 it would not be possible for the existing 

 staff to do these works in addition to 

 their present duties. The subjects how- 

 ever appeal strongly to every keen 

 Forest Officer, and we strongly advise 

 the expansion of the Department in 

 order to deal with them. 



Before going further, it is necessary 

 to state that the work of afforestation 

 is a very different branch of forestry to 

 that of management of existing forests. 

 Forest Officers in India have had little 

 experience as yet in afforestation on a 

 large scale, and though trained in the 

 subject under conditions existing in a 

 temperate climate, they will encounter 

 much greater difficulties in this country 

 on account of the extremes prevailing 

 at different seasons of the year. They 

 will have many problems to solve in 

 India as to the cheapest, quickest and 

 most successful methods of creating 

 forests on waste lands. The choice of 

 species to suit various soils and the 

 methods necessary for successfully pro- 

 pagating the individual species are 

 matters which can only be learned by 

 experience. Unfortunately, in the past, 

 plantations have been as a rule discour- 

 aged and artificial reproductive works 

 have been often condemned as waste of 

 money. This attitude we believe arose, 

 first, from the fact that we have not 

 sufficient staff to manage our existing 

 forests properly, and secondly, because 



we are still in the experimental stage as 

 regards plantations, so that it often 

 happens that money spent on them is 

 not productive. Experience in this case, 

 as usual, must be bought, and if we set 

 to work systematically, it will soon be 

 found out how to afforest various types 

 of soils quickly and cheaply. 



We are emphatically of opinion that a 

 separate Afforestation Branch of the 

 Forest Department is needed. We by 

 no means wish to advocate that the 

 Government should commit itself imme- 

 diately to a vast scheme of reboisement, 

 and as a beginning we think it would be 

 sufficient if one Imperial Officer were 

 specially appointed for this work with 

 an Extra Assistant Conservator or good 

 Ranger under him in each Province. It 

 is probable that all Provincial Govern- 

 ments would be able to put small areas 

 of different classes of waste land at his 

 disposal, and it would be his duty to 

 direct experiments to find out how each 

 class can best be afforested. 



By the time it has been discovered 

 how to successfully afforest the various 

 classes of soils, Government will, we 

 trust, be able to adopt a regular scheme 

 for the gradual afforestation of waste 

 lands, with a fair prospect of success, 

 and then the Afforestation Branch could 

 be gradually expanded in order to cope 

 with the work. 



In the meanwhile the special Affores- 

 tation Officer, in addition to directing 

 such experiments, could inspect and 

 tabulate the waste lands suitable for 

 afforestation, so that by the time that 

 Government is prepared to proceed with 

 a reguler scheme, there would be useful 

 data ready as to the position, quantity, 

 and kind of land available. He could 

 also make enquiries and work out the 

 best methods of obtaining the land. 

 We do not for a moment suppose that 

 Government would acquire all the land. 

 It would be often possible toarange with 

 owners that Government should afforest 

 the areas and hand over all profits to the 

 owners of the land. Similarly when 

 village lands are taken up all profits 

 might be divided among the community 

 concerned. In other cases it might be 

 possible to close areas for afforestation 

 and in return grant a proportion of the 

 profits, and so on. 



We must, however, point out that in 

 order to ensure the success of any 

 general scheme of afforestation, it is 

 absolutely necessary to have the people 

 with us, and to gain this end we recom- 

 mend that a simple primer be prepared 

 for use in all schools throughout the 



