Special diffi¬ 
culties with 
exotics in 
forestry. 
Exotic culti¬ 
vation by 
Indian Forest 
Officers during 
recent years. 
> Indian Forest Records . [Yol. IV 
must as a rule accept our species as they exist in nature and the 
best procedure appears to consist in elaborating our treatment of them 
in such a way that each species is wounded as little as practicable and 
is provided as far as possible with the conditions of soil, moisture, 
climate and light, which suit it best in nature. In this way it is 
possible to keep up the general health of our plants and to avoid 
many diseases which are primarily due to inferior vigour. Our chances 
of success in this respect, therefore, are obviously greater in the case of 
indigenous plants, with the needs of which we are more or less inti¬ 
mately acquainted, than in the case of exotics of which we know com¬ 
paratively little. 
5. Due regard being paid to the 
financial results of the operations, it becomes, as a rule, impossible in 
forestry to employ (except occasionally on a very limited scale) 
methods of cultivation which greatly assist the healthy development 
of plants and which are more or less generally employed by gardeners, 
agriculturists, arboriculturists and planters. Such methods, for 
instance, include the thorough working of the soil, the artificial supply 
of water at critical periods and effective protection from the competi¬ 
tion of other plants. Successful growth in gardens and avenues, 
therefore, is no criterion of a tree's ability to constitute a profitable 
forest crop in the same locality. Time after time, in India, plants 
which have grown well in the nursery have entirely failed to hold 
their own in the forest. 
Finally, it must be remembered that mistakes, in the way of 
introducing unsuitable species, cannot, as a rule, be so quickly, or 
so cheaply, rectified by the forester, who has to wait many years 
for the development of his plants and for the maturing of their 
products, as by the agriculturist or planter. In forestry, therefore, 
it behoves us to be particularly careful to avoid being dazzled by 
the brilliance of the exotic which only too frequently proves to be a mere 
6. Some idea of the work now being 
done by Indian Forest Officers in the way of cultivating exotics will be 
obtained from a perusal of the list given below. This list gives details 
of the exotic species, the introduction of which has been attempted 
by Forest officers in the different provinces of India during the last few 
years. It has been compiled from information kindly supplied annually 
[ 132 ] 
