16 
Indian Forest Records . 
[Vol. Yin 
reliable figures are those of the Cinchona Department whose coolies 
are paid at a fixed daily rate (men As. 4-6, women As. 3-6 and children 
As. 2-6). The cost of three established plantations including all ex¬ 
penses except European supervision and depreciation of tools are given 
below:— 
Rs. 
137 acres . 2,440= 18 per acre. 
155 „ . 3,462 = 22 
100 „ . 2,087=21 
These are all in the hills where fencing is unnecessary. By “ established ” 
is meant that no further attention other than remunerative thinnings are 
required ; between the 6th and 10th year a thinning is made in these 
plantations which yields about 750 stacked cubic feet of fuel to the acre 
the royalty on which, at Forest Department rates, would be Rs. 15 or Rs. 22 
according to the situation of the forest. This early return does much 
to mitigate the cost of formation. 
19. The financial advantages of Taungya over the Selection System 
may appear doubtful in the face of the high cost of formation and fenc¬ 
ing quoted above ; nevertheless the following three points in favour of the 
former are worth consideration. Firstly, it is hoped that the profits 
from field-crops can be made to pay, directly or indirectly, a larger 
share of the cost in future. Secondly, the value of the even-aged forests 
which it is hoped to raise should be considerably greater than that of any 
of our existing forests and the rate of growth faster. Thirdly, the cost 
of exploitation under a clear-felling system is less than under a selection 
system and this advantage can be increased by the use of mechanical 
means such as railways, skidders and saw-mills. With regard to the first 
point, the villagers in some of the older felling series are beginning to 
take a keener interest in their dry crops, to our mutual advantage, 
and, in this direction, the wire fences, which are at least as useful to the 
cultivators as to us, are having their effect. The departmentally grown 
crops should this year give us an idea of the real value of fenced and 
cultivated forest soil for agriculture. The second and third points 
require paragraphs to themselves. 
20. The rate of growth attained by young trees grown on clean land 
was not fully realized until experiments in temporary cultivation were 
made. Sal plants under these conditions average one foot in height 
in their first twelve months (they will grow a little taller in the open 
but the crops over them do not impair their vigour in any other way) 
3 feet by the end of their second year and 7 feet by the end of the third 
after which a steady growth of about four feet a year is maintained as 
far as our observations on artificial crops go, probably until the height 
[ 349 ^ 
