92 
Indian Forest Records. 
[VoL. I. 
PART 1. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SAL. 
‘ ‘ The Sal tree occupies two principal regions in British India. The 
first is a belt at the foot of the Himalaya and running into its valleys 
and up its lower hills to 3,000 or 4,000 feet, and exceptionally, as for 
instance at Lansdowne, to a still higher altitude.” It is found “in 
the Kangra Valley and the regular continuous forest commences in the 
Ambala Siwaliks, west of the Jumna, whence it passes through Dehra 
Dun, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Kumaun, Oudh, Gorakhpur, Nepal, the 
Darieehng Terai, Western and Eastern Duars, Kamrup, Garo Hills, Khasi 
and Jaintia Hills, Nowgong, with an outlier in the Darrang District. 
The second is the Central India belt, and the Sal country begins on the 
Ganges near Rajmehal and passes through the Sonthal Purganahs, 
Rewah, Chota Nagpur, the Central Provinces, Orissa, and the Northern 
Circars, ending in the Palkonda Range of Vizagapatam and the forests 
of Jeypur.”* 
From the tables which accompany this note it will be seen that in 
the area occupied by the Sal the mean annual rainfall varies from 40" to 
180" and the elevation above mean sea level from 150 to 5,890 feet, thus 
indicating great adaptabihty on the part of this species so far as these 
two factors are concerned. As regards soil, however, the tree is far 
more exacting and a loose well-drained subsoil appears to be absolutely 
essential for its healthy development. The tree is almost exclusively 
confined to sandy or shingly soil and attains its best development when 
there is a fair admixture of humus with the upper layers. While the 
quality of the soil is thus chiefly responsible for the distribution of the 
tree within its areaf, other factors, especially the amount of the annual 
*A Manual of Indian Timbers by J. S. Gamble, page 78. 
■)• “The physical, and possibly the chemical, characteristics of the various rocks and 
soils appear to play an important part in the life history of the Sal, and the trap and 
laterite formations especially seem to affect its distribution and growth to an extent 
that makes their exact relative position of considerable interest and consequences.’’ 
. . . “A detailed acquaintance with these tores,t& (Balaghat Division, Central 
Provinces) is held to support the contention that soils derived from trap rocks, and 
to a lesser extent from mica quartz shist rocks, have a ja'ejudicial effect on the growth 
of the Sal, so much so that where pure trap rock and soil occur the Sal is absent.’’ 
Working Plan for the Sal forests of the Balaghat Forest Division, Central Provinces, 1906 — 
?925, hy A. Percival, I.F.S. 
