Part VIII] Smythies : Afforestation of Ravine Lands 
Mr. Courthope’s report, 1913. 
resolution concludes with the following striking sentence ; 
“ Sir John Hewett regards his anointment as the first step 
in an undertaking which may prove of incalculable advan¬ 
tage to the Province ” 
9. Mr. Courthope submitted his report in 1913. He appears to 
have been much impressed by the unique 
opportunity presented in the Etawah dis¬ 
trict of carrying out the policy and in his reports refers to the vast 
wastes of this district. Mr. Courthope, after recapitulating the 
benefits which an agricultural system of improvement would confer on 
the population, proposed the acquisition of the whole tract of ravine in 
the Etawah district (over 100,000 acres), and the formation of a forest 
division with the primary and paramount object of improving the 
fodder supply and grazing. He deprecated the work being left to 
private agency as owners were not likely to do more than tinker with 
the scheme and it was a work without question for the State to under¬ 
take. The owners were also considered too poor to undertake the 
work. 
In order to assist the Scheme forward for the afforestation and re¬ 
clamation of these ravine lands, the owners were approached as regards 
their willingness to hand over their estates to Government, free of 
charge, for the purpose of reclamation and in return to receive the 
surplus profits over and above 4 per cent, on the capital invested by 
Government, who in return agreed to stand all loss incurred if any area 
should be abandoned. The owners would however be entitled to pur¬ 
chase back their estate at the conclusion of any settlement at the capital 
value assessed at the time. As the ravines are at present valueless 
to the owners, and the grazing at the best of times is of the poorest de¬ 
scription, and as the scheme offered possibilities of turning these wastes 
into valuable pasture lands and fuel reserves, with the possibility of 
some profit as well, there was no difficulty in obtaining offers of suit¬ 
able blocks of land, and agreements were entered into with the zamin- 
dars for the control and management by Government of 20,000 acres 
of ravine lands situated near the Jumna and Chambal rivers. In this 
way the recommendations made by Dr. Brandis in 1879 have resulted 
in the formation of the Etawah division 35 years later ! 
10. While this larger scheme was being carried out, afforestation 
and reclamation experiments were being actively attended to in the 
plantations previously acquired, i.e., the Fisher Forest at Etawah, the 
Kalpi Plantation, the Allenbagh at Cawnpore, etc., and the experience 
gained in these areas proved of the greatest use when the larger scheme 
was tackled in earnest, so that the preliminary failures which were 
experienced at Kalpi and Etawah have to a groat extent been avoided 
in the newer plantations. 
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