Sept. 1895.] 



GENERAL AGRICULTUKAL NOTES. 



185 



the maintenance of adequate seed-bearing trees, and the regular 

 reproduction of timber of the more valuable kinds. 



At the present time the reserves cover an area of nearly 

 72,000 square miles ; and they may hereafter be further extended 

 in Madras and Burma, where the work of reservation is as yet 

 incomplete. Outside the reserves are about 36,000 square miles 

 of State forests, some part of which will be eventually brought 

 within the reserve area, and all of which are managed and 

 worked for the benefit of the people, of their cattle, and of the 

 public revenue. The limited areas of private forests are, except 

 where they have been leased to the Government, being gradually 

 exhausted ; and as yet few private and no communal forests 

 have been successfully brought under conservancy. In every 

 province a very few of the most valuable timber ti.'ees are 

 declared to be reserved trees, and can only be felled under 

 special licence ; outside the reserves, the country folk are 

 generally allowed to obtain from the State forests timber, 

 bamboos, firewood, and grass for their own use, free of charge ; 

 inside the reserves, only persons specially licensed are allowed 

 to extract timber or other produce on payment of fees. 



Forest revenue is raised by royalties on, or by the sale of, 

 timber or other produce, and by the issue, at specified fees, of 

 permits to graze cattle, or to extract for sale timber, firewood, 

 charcoal, bamboos, canes, and other minor forest produce. In 

 the year 1893-94, the gross forest revenue of British India was 

 Rx 1,723,000 ; the expenditure was Rx 906,000 ; and the net 

 forest revenue was Rx 816,000, as compared with Rx 726,000 

 in the previous year. Some of the better managed Native 

 States, such as Mysore, Travancore, and Baroda, following the 

 example of the British Government, have organised systematic 

 forest administration, and enjoy a considerable forest revenue. 

 Mysore has nearly trebled its forest revenue since the country 

 was restored to Native rule in the year 1881. 



Wheat growing in Victoria. 



According to the Melbourne Weekly Times one of the eflfects 

 of the fall in the price of wheat has been to drive a good many 

 wheat-growers off" the land in Victoria, but in the majority of 

 cases these were a class of farmers who would persist in pinning 

 their faith to one crop only, and when that crop failed they 

 failed with it. Low prices, on the other hand, have compelled 

 progressive farmers to adopt a system of farming to suit the 

 times, and this has resulted in more economy being exhibited 

 in the methods of preparing the soil, and in the harvesting of 

 their crops. In view of the great natural advantages soil and 

 climate give to Victorian farmers, wheat growing, when com- 

 bined with the other branches of farming, should, it is main- 



