6 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. VIII 
crop either in lines or “ thalis ”* generally lines 6 feet apart. The sal is 
“ tallied ” in July or August, after removal of the paddy crop, and again 
in September or October. In the second year a further crop is taken, 
generally the same as in the first year or cotton only, and, if there are 
blanks or patches of ground unsuitable for sal, these are planted up with 
seedlings of other species from nurseries. The sal seedlings are not 
seriously hindered by this second crop which ensures clean ground up to 
the end of the second rains. After removal of the crop the seedlings of 
sal are cleaned and tullied and should be 3' to 4' in height. Up to this 
time no payment is made, all the work being done free by villagers in 
return for the crops they get from this area and from their wet cultiva* 
tion. Sal sown in June of one year is made over, clean, at the end of 
the rains (October) of the following year. After this cleanings are paid 
for. It appears that one cleaning and tullying costing about Rs. 5 per 
acre wifi be necessary at the beginning of the third rains and possibly 
two subsequent rounds of jungle cutting costing about Rs. 2 per acre, 
after this the plantation should be self supporting. 
9. The cost of regenerating sal by the method above described varies 
considerably according to the condition of the land on which the planta¬ 
tion is made. For good sal land covered with tree growth the cost is 
low as, when the land is taken over from the forest villagers after removal 
of the second crop, the plants should be about 4' in height and standing 
in clean ground ; at the end of the following rains the plants should be 
8' in height (2| years old) and a year later they should be 12' to 14 
high and forming a complete canopy. Up to this point the cost should 
be less than Rs. 10 per acre. In addition the villagers are allowed rent- 
free land for wet cultivation, homesteads etc. It is estimated that one 
household can regenerate one acre per year so that on an 80-year rotation 
and allowing 5 acres of rent-free land per household 5/80ths or less 
than 7 per cent, of the area would be under villages and this is precisely 
the least valuable land for the production of forest crops. 
10. Plantations made by this method have been successful in all 
cases where there has been no great damage by pigs ; but several promis¬ 
ing sowings have been entirely destroyed by pigs and the only remedy 
appears to be fencing. Fences of bamboo, of wood, or of reeds, put up 
by the villagers have not proved successful. Even if the fence is strong 
enough to keep out pig, larger animals break it down and pigs use the 
gaps. Wire fencing has been tried round two plantations in Kurseong 
Division with success and further experiments on a larger scale are now 
being made. Where fencing is neoessary the cost per acre of establishing 
*Note .—A “ thali ” is a planting-hole of loosened earth and from this the verb to 
“ tully ” i.e., pull up weeds and loosen the soil round a plant has been coined. 
[ 339 ] 
