I0 3 2 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1882. 
in the present order of things freedom is not turned 
by the labouring class into license. An employer gets 
labourers, let us say from Calcutta. By the time each 
man is lauded in Rangoon he has cost his employer 
some forty or fifty rupees. He leave3 a day or two 
after he gets here, and bis employer has no remedy 
but to sue him for damages. Of tbo value or rather 
worthlessuess of this remedy we have already spoken, 
and have only now to repeat what we, and most of 
our Indian contemporaries have often said before, 
that it is high time a change was made. Wheu this 
is done, we may perhaps hope for better days for 
Burma manufactures, particularly of the manufacture 
of Burma cheroots. — Pioneer. 
THE DEHRA FOREST SCHOOL. 
Seven subjects for study had originally been pro- 
posed by Mr. Brandis, namely (1) Forestry (practical 
and theoretical) ; (2) Mathematics, (elementary); (3) 
Surveying up to the lower standard. These three 
subjects only were first to be taught, and as arrange- 
ments could be made, (4) Botany ; (5) Rocks and Soils ; 
(6) Meteorology ; and (7) Law were to be introduced. 
But owing to the delay that has occurred it has been 
found practicable to open with a full programme, and 
instruction in Botany, the Elem°nts of Natural Science, 
and Law is being given in addition to the obligatory 
subjects. The most important branch of instruction 
given in the Forest School is, of course, Forestry or 
Sylviculture. Some of the probationers and apprent- 
ices have been employed in the forests for nearly two 
years, and must be able fully to appreciate the theo- 
retical instruction they are now getting. The original 
plan was to admit the apprentices on 1st June, so 
that four months of theoretical teaching would open 
each year of the two years' course ; and no doubt 
ultimately this will be the order of things. Forestry 
is taught in the class-rooms by Mr. Fisher, the Deputy 
Director, assisted by Mr. A. Smythies, Assistant Con- 
servator, in charge of the Jaunsar Division. Mr. 
Fisher's course embraces (!) an explauaiion of the func- 
tions of all the parts of a tree, its physiology in fact ; 
(2) and (3) a description of the mode of growth of 
different lands of trees, and of bamboos; (4) details 
of all the other kinds of forest produce, which a 
ranger must utilize, such as fibres, fruit, caoutchouc, 
resin, lac, honey gums, and wood oils ; (5) he treats 
of tbe composition of wood and charcoal, and the in- 
fluence of rock and soil ; (6) of climate, altitude, and 
aspect in their influence on forests; (7) of the relation 
of forest trees to each other in mixed forests ; (8) of the 
classification of forests, which is necessary with a view to 
plants for working them ; (9) of artificial and natural re- 
production ; (10) of the treatment of forests, as regards 
selection of fellings, thinning and cutting of creepers; 
(11) of different, systems of management, as high forest, 
coppice, or coppice with standards, and (12) protecti- 
on, from fire, pasturage, fro^t, fungus and lichens 
injects and other animals. Mr. Smythies treat of (1) 
the properties of timber, and other forest produce; 
(2) forest operations, i.e., preparing the timber and 
other produce for the market ; (3) of transport by 
land and water; (4) of the disposal of timber ready 
for the market, whether standing, or felled and worked 
up. Instruction is given by other lecturers in Mathe- 
matics, Surveying, Natural Science, Botany and Law, 
its bearing on forest affairs. The students attending 
the school are of three classes, aud instruction is ad- 
ministered to them accordingly: and all have about 
.six hours of attendance to gpt through daily. The 
junior class is composed of the native apprentices ; 
senior class (a) comprises the probationary officers; 
of whom there are now 2 Europeans and 3 Bengalis, 
and these two clashes work pretty much together. 
The henior class (/;) is formed of G European Sub- I 
Assistant and Assistant Conservators, who have not 
received a European forest training, and who have 
been deputed from various provinces, at the invit- 
ation of the Government of India, to attend the 
school for this session, with the view of improving 
their theoretical knowledge. At the close of their two 
yearo' course of training and instruction the apprent- 
ices who qualify will receive a certificate stating 
that they are competent to hold the position of a 
forest ranger. For Probationers there are two standards 
of qualification (a) for the position of a forest ranger, 
aud (b) the higher certificate of being eligible for pro- 
motion to the class of Sub-Assistant Conservators. 
This latter will be granted only to those probationers 
who distinguished themselves by special aptitude for 
the superior staff, and who are otherwise fully quali- 
fied. Promotion to the superior staff will only be 
given after two years' service as forest ranger, but 
cannot then be claimed as a right. Altogether the 
Forest School seems to have fair chances of success ; 
and institutions of the sort are certainly necessary 
now that it has been recognized that the department 
must be recruited in this country. In a former article 
it was stated that an area of 25 square miles, or 
1.GU0 acres was to be the average for a forest range, 
an d that 600 executive officers would be required, with 
100 controlling officers. From a later paper by Mr. 
Brandis it appears that the area of demarcated forest 
under the Government of India now 15,000 square 
miles will probably be increased to 20,000, but that 
the average area of a range will not be less than 30 
square miles. The number of the ranges will there- 
fore have to be 660. The controlling staff is now 93, 
and is not likely to be increased beyond 100 ; but 
the number of rangers is now only 97, and hence 
ranges are frequently in charge of mere foresters, or 
of members of the upper establishment. 563 additional 
trained Forest Rangers are therefore required, aud on 
the proper selection and training of the candidates for 
these posts will -mainly depend the success of Forest 
Administration in India. — Pioneer. 
THE PANDANUS OR SCREW PALM. 
(From "Coral Lands," by H. 8. Cooper, 1880. ) 
I have before mentioned the pandanus, or ecrew- 
palm; this remarkable tree nourishes most abundantly 
in the Tuamotus; though it is to be found more or 
less all over the islands of the Coral Sea. This is 
a most valuable product, and deserves to be better 
known. It is a very suggestive fact that the pandanus, 
custard-apple and other tropical productions of this 
region are found in a fossil state in the Isle of Sheppey, 
in England. The pandanus is called 'screw-palm' for 
the reason that it grows with a twist, like the screw 
of an augur. Its height is generally from twenty to 
forty feet, the stem being straight like a column, 
sending forth branches at regular intervals in such a 
form as sometimes to remind one of the golden candle- 
stick in the tabernacle of MoBes. Each of these limbs 
terminates in a tuft of long drooping leaves, having 
in tiie centre a large yellowish flower, of an over- 
powering odour, very agreeable, but sickly by reason 
of its intensity. Underneath this tuft hangs the fruit, 
which is of a dark green colour, outwardly of the 
size of a man's head, and a form resembling a pine- 
apple, or more exacly that of the cone which on 
ancient sculptures is made to surmount the thyrsus 
of Bacchus. This fruit is commonly regarded by white 
men not only as unpalatable, but even as uneatable ; 
nevertheless, it constitutes almost the sole subsistence 
of thousands of natives in the Kiugsmill and Marshall 
Groups, where no vegetable food exists. 
When the fruit is ripe it easily comes to pieces, 
and is found to consist of a multitude of separate 
capsules, each of the form of a truncated cone, with 
