Part IV.] Shebbeare: Artificial Regeneration of Sal . 15 
above it and another eighteen inches higher still. It is stretched on strong 
sal posts 30 feet apart and about three inches at the bottom of the 
woven wire is buried in the ground. This type of fencing costs about 
Rs. 1-2 to 1-3 a running yard including freight, posts, labour etc. or about 
Rs. 45 per acre for a square plantation of 50 acres. This is the initial 
cost and assuming that the wire will last for about ten years with two 
moves in that time (plantations have to be kept fenced for three years) 
the cost of fencing with moves and repairs is estimated at about Rs. 17 
per acre where 50 acres are put out yearly. Even such a fence as this is 
not absolutely gameproof and a few determined animals will get in from 
time to time; elephant and rhinoceros trample it down, pig will get under¬ 
neath if there is any trace of slackness in the lower strands, barking-deer 
jump through between the woven wire and the barbed strand and sam- 
bhur and bison occasionally clear the whole thing. I have measured 
a place where a full-grown bison had cleared 5 feet 8J inches, an almost 
incredible jump for such a heavy animal. The damage done by the few 
animals that succeed in getting inside is, however, negligible and I have 
never seen any serious harm done to a sowing protected in this way. 
Various forms of wire fences are still being experimented with and it is 
not likely that the last word as to economy or efficiency has been said yet. 
18. The average cost per acre of these “ taungya ” plantations is a 
question that will naturally be asked and it is unfortunately not easy 
to give a definite answer even now. If the cash-book items against 
each plantation are added up and divided by the acreage the results 
will vary from nil to Rs. 80 but most of the figures are misleading ; 
either they overlook the value of free labour supplied by villagers who are 
really paid in wet cultivation and other privileges, or else they include 
the cost of experiments and, especially in the older plantations, expensive 
efforts to retrieve partial failure. (Newly recruited villagers are apt 
to go away without warning after reaping the first crop, leaving the 
Forest Department the choice between abandoning the plantation al¬ 
together or carrying on weedings and cleanings with expensive outside 
labour.) If no allowance is made for free labour the Buxa Division figures 
for establishing sal at Rs. 12 per acre may be accepted but this does 
not include the cost of wire fencing as the sowings to which this figure 
refers have been fenced by the villagers with bamboo etc. Although 
this fencing has answered the purpose there it is pretty certain that the 
majority of plantations, not being so fortunate with regard to game, 
will require wire. Recently an attempt has been made to find out what 
plantations really cost by entering in the plantation journal against each 
operation not only the cost but also the labour involved in terms of coolies 
per acre ; the results are unfortunately not yet available and the most 
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