184 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



[Sept. 1895. 



The examinations at the conclusion of the course extend to 

 both theory and practice. In the practical examination every 

 student is expected to make an ordinary horseshoe and a shoe 

 for an abnormal hoof He is also required to go through the 

 entire operation of shoeing a horse, including the removal of 

 the old shoe, the preparation of the hoof, and the fitting and 

 putting on of the new shoe. 



The theoretical part of the examination is for the most part 

 oral, upon the different subjects taught during the course. 



The school is supported by an annual grant of 100^. from 

 the Ministry of Agriculture, by a smaller grant from the local 

 authorities of Gratz, and by the income derived from the smithy 

 and the hospital. 



Forestry Administration in India. 



The report on the progress and condition of India to which 

 reference is made in another part of this Journal, contains some 

 information relating to the Indian forests. It seems that a 

 beginning was made in the forest administration and conservancy 

 of Southern India in 1844; 10 or 12 years later similar work 

 was begun in Western and Northern India, and was taken up 

 systematically all over India when the Mutiny troubles were 

 over. Within the last 20 years, forest laws have been enacted 

 for, and forest administration has been placed upon a permanent 

 basis in, every province of India. The superior officers of the 

 forest service have been, for the most part, selected by competi- 

 tion, and have been trained in forestry, either in Germany, or 

 in France, or at Cooper's Hill College. During the past year, it 

 has been decided that 20 per cent, of the superior posts in the 

 forest department shall eventually be filled by selected officers 

 from the subordinate or provincial branch of the department. 

 Some of the subordinate officials are trained at a forest school 

 near Dehra in the sub-Himalayan country of the North- Western 

 Provinces, and this system of professional training at local 

 centres will be gradually extended. 



The first object of the forest administration is to select, 

 acquire, and mark off as reserves, an area of State forest in 

 every province sufficient to supply the wants of the neighbour- 

 hood and the province in respect of timber, firewood, bamboos, 

 canes, and other forest produce, and sufficient also for supplying 

 the foreign demand for such articles as teak timber, sandal wood, 

 and rubber. The reserves are, or will be, surveyed, conserved, 

 and worked on sanctioned plans, designed so as to obtain the 

 largest possible permanent yield in the most economical way. 

 Private rights in the reserves are bought out or otherwise ad- 

 justed, ^.mong the most important measures of conservancy are 

 the prevention of the yearly fires which used to devastate forests, 



