394 
Indian Forest Records. 
[VoL. i. 
Let us suppose that it is wished to ascertain by the volumetric method the 
possibility of the fir forest of 1,600 acres, excluding blanks for which it has 
been ascertained that the productive power of the soil is 63 cubic feet of wood a 
year. Let us also assume that the exploitable size of the trees is 2 feet in 
diameter, and that it requires on an average 150 years for the trees to attain 
that dimension. 
Under these conditions, the material on the ground being, as stated, 
(150x63x1,600)4-2 = 7,560,000 cubic feet, and the size of the annual coupes 
being l,6004-150 = 10f acres, there would be felled each year lOfx 63x150 = 
100,800 cubic feet of wood, or 1'33 per cent, of the total material on the ground. 
On the assumption that w'ere the forest worked by the selection method, an 
equivalent yield could be obtained, it would be possible, without exceeding the 
capability, to fell 1’33 of the material on the entire area, or 13'3 per cent, of the 
material on one-tenth of the area, every ten years. We may suppose that 
number of years to be the interval between the successive fellings on the same 
area and the forest to be divided into 10 coupes, or we may take as many times 
1‘33 per cent, of the material as there are coupes or years in the interval between 
the successive fellings. Now the wood capital will be far from being exactly 
and evenly distributed over the forest; some of the compartments will be rich 
in material and some poor. Each year there would, howev.er, be exploited 
successively in each coupe in its turn 13'3 per cent, of the material on the ground, 
without ever exceeding this figure, but so as to fell exactly 100,800 cubic feet 
of wood. If the 13‘3 per cent, of the material in a coupe exceeded the allotted 
total volume of 100,800 cubic feet, the surplus would be left for the following 
j'ear; if less, the volume prescribed would be made good from the next coupe. 
In this rr.anner what was felled in a compartment would always bear a fixed 
ratio to what existed in that compartment; from the rich compartment more 
would be taken, from the poor less; while outturn could remain the same from 
year to year. 
in. — Gurnaud' s Method. 
Gurnaud’s Method need not be described here in detail, and for 
two reasons. In the first place the method has been fully set forth 
in its most favourable light by Mr. E. E. Fernandez, late Conser- 
vator of Forests, in his report on a tour in France.* In the second 
place the method has not worked satisfactorily, for it appears to 
have been abandoned in the various localities in which it was ori- 
ginally tentatively applied. 
The following extract from Mr. Fernandez’s report gives a 
suflBciently clear account of the method: — 
The rotation for the fellings is fixed at 6, 8 or 10 years, never more, and 
the compartments of the forest are formed into as many groups of as nearly as 
practicable equal productive power. If the forest is large, several felling 
circles are constituted, and then it suffices to divide each felling circle into equal 
or nearly equal coupes, 6, 8 or 10 in number, according to the number of years 
in the rotation; inequalities in yield of the different circles then counterbalance 
* Report on tour in France : The Gurnaud system of treating and working 
forests on the so-called Methode de Controle, by E. E. Fernandez, Conservator of 
Forests. Printed at the Government Central Press, Simla, 1897. 
