6 Indian Forest Records . |~Vol. YIJ 
(2) Weeding, thinning, and subsequent tending, could not be 
carried out properly over So large an area. 
(It may be mentioned here that the results obtained during the last 3 
or 4 years with the methods of treatment described below have been 
excellent.) 
8. Again for a long time no further action was taken in the matter 
of afforesting the Jumna ravines. But in 1912, Sir John Hewett, the 
Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces, issued a most important 
resolution, in which he defined the policy of Government in the matter 
of afforestation of denuded areas, and the establishment of fuel and 
fodder reserves throughout the Province. This resolution was the 
commencement of a new epoch in the history of afforestation in the 
United Provinces. An extract from the resolution will indicate the 
scope of the work which was contemplated :— 
“ Among the 'peasants' greatest needs are firewood to replace manure , 
small timber for houses and wood for implements, as well as 
grazing and. fodder for his cattle. It has been recognised with 
increasing clearness that forestry has an important vocation 
as the handmaid of agriculture, and that she is called to come 
down from the hills . Sir John Hewett is convinced 
that a stage has now been reached in the economic development 
of the Province when a systematic examination of the possi¬ 
bilities of afforestation is imperative . 
“ With the agricultural and industrial development of the Province 
a rapidly expanding demand for forest produce, and in parti¬ 
cular for fuel, small timber, and grass, must be anticipated 
and the Lieutenant-Governor believes it essential that action 
should be undertaken to provide well-ddstributed areas for the 
production of these commodities. 
Afforestation is however a branch of forestry which differs widely 
from the management of existing forests, and it is a branch 
in which the officers of the Forest Department have as yet had 
little experience. The Lieutenant-Governor therefore considers 
it essential that, before a definite scheme of afforestation is 
embarked on, a systematic survey of the available areas should 
be undertaken and that this survey should be combined with 
a scries of experiments on various classes of waste lands with 
a view to determining the best methods of dealing with different 
soils, the species best adapted to various conditions and the 
cheapest and most efficient methods of propagation 
In order to carry out the policy thus defined, Mr. Courthope, 
I.F.S., was deputed to make the preliminary survey of waste 
lands, and commence the necessary experiments, and the 
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