would be suitable, many of which he himself noted to be natives of the district. He appends to his Report what was probably the first botanical list of trees drawn up for this region. As an instance of the rate of growth of babul, neem and siris he gives details of an eight-year-old plantation made by the Public Works Department in moist soil and with close planting at the Inspection Bungalow of Siendra in Merwara. His enumeration gave 1261 trees to the acre, from 3 to 25 inches in girth (breast height) with an average height of 30 to 40 feet. The seed was sown in the rains of 1870 with the object of forming a nursery. The plants were never lifted and the above results were attained. The usual method of sowing areas direct had been either by ploughing the land first, from which good results had been attained in parts, or placing the seed in prepared patches. Brandis recommended that pits 6 inches deep should also be tried, the seed being placed both at the bottom of the pit and on the edge. In the latter two cases he recommended that the seed should be sown in the hot weather before the first heavy fall of rain. For the former, since the land could not be ploughed before the rain fell, and for planting, the work was undertaken after the first heavy fall of rain. The chief species raised by sowing were khair, kalia or the black siris (Albizzia odoratissima), the Indian elm (Ulmus integrifolia), babul, ber (Zizyphus nummularia) and, in sandy places, Ailanthus excelsa. Brandis was insistent on further experiments being carried out with the Dhankra (Anogeissus pendula), which up to date had failed. He pointed out that the seed ripened in January and that possibly it should be sown at once to attain success.

Quoting the classic French examples in the Alps, the Inspector-General advocated a commencement being made with the building of small embankments ("barrages") across valleys and ravines in order to retain the silt and to form soil for planting. With this object in view he appended to his Report a most interesting memorandum on the subject, drawn up by Mr. W. Culcheth, the Executive Engineer of Irrigation Works in Ajmére.

Brandis then deals with the advantages to be expected from the protection afforded by the Reserves. These are far better realized at the present day than they were over forty years ago. But even so, the chapter he devotes to this subject is of remarkable interest, and in perusing it one realizes that the writer was fully aware that he had here test case which would go a

long way to prove to the Authorities the enormous advantages of forests, not only in dry arid countries such as the one in question, but also in their effect on catchment areas, in maintaining the supply and providing a more equable flow of water in the rivers and streams throughout the country. It is impossible to follow Brandis throughout this chapter. He realizes that the various points in connection with the water supply remained to be proven, the other objects of the reservation, the growth of grass and wood, having already shown the wisdom of the steps being taken. He suggests a detailed system of observations to be undertaken at stations to be established in selected tanks, wells and springs, with the object of taking periodical readings to ascertain the effect of the afforestation on the water supplies. And he quite correctly recommends that in so dry a country where a large proportion of the rainfall, especially of light rainfall, is lost by the rapid evaporation, the catchment areas of the tanks should be reserved and afforested.

The Inspector-General then deals in detail with the results achieved in the existing Reserves, which, considering the few years which had elapsed since the commencement, are remarkable and witness the close co-operation given by the Civil Officers in the new departure. But he takes a wider view and recommends that the reservation of far more extensive areas should be undertaken. One such had been decided upon, the demarcation of the Danta tract, in order to secure the water supply of Nusseerabad from the Danta tank. The InspectorGeneral recommended that the hills between this and the Srinagar Reserve should be demarcated, which would place the whole of the catchment area of the Bir tank under protection. A number of other areas for reservation were also listed as extensions to existing Reserves or as new reservations.

Brandis proposed that the pay of the staff should be graded so as to afford better prospects, but he did not materially increase its strength. He thereby followed the line of least resistance which he invariably took in this matter. Even here, where there was little hope of a revenue covering the expenditure for some time to come, it is open to doubt whether this economy in staff at the outset of a young and new administration was not a mistake; for, as events have shown, it gave rise for many years to a fixed idea, on the part of the Central and Local Governments, that Forest Establishments should be kept at the lowest possible strength, with the result that the revenue

gradually stagnated whilst much professional work which would have enormously enhanced the value of the Forest Estate remained undone.

The total forest receipts in Ajmére-Merwara for the seven years 1872-3 to 1878-9 amounted to Rs.6,293, whilst the expenditure during the same period amounted to Rs.1,42,136. During a portion of this period the salary of a Superior Officer (Moir) was incurred. Brandis did not consider that he was in a position to advise that a home-trained officer should be placed in charge again. His estimate of the annual expenditure for the succeeding five years was Rs. 1800 with a revenue of Rs.2000 only. Nor did he think that the occasional visits of a Punjab Officer, Moir or another, could prove sufficient to maintain the necessary control. He surmounted his difficulty by suggesting that the Conservator of the School Circle in the N.W.P. should be constituted the professional adviser in forest matters to the Commissioner of Ajmére, and that the former or an Officer of the School should visit the region periodically. That Brandis fully recognized the value and importance of the work is evidenced by the following remark made in advocating the above suggestion. "The task to be accomplished by forest conservancy in Ajmére possesses a peculiar interest, as it is the first instance in India in which Government has undertaken the formation of forests with the chief object of improving the agriculture of the district. But apart from this the work here proposed to be done is of an exceedingly varied character, and will be most instructive for the officers employed on it, and for the probationers and apprentices who will receive their training at the Forest School."

Brandis was rather too sanguine. Ajmére came to be looked upon as a white elephant. It is difficult to understand, moreover, how he could have really held the belief that the observations he suggested should be kept at his proposed stations on tanks, wells and streams could have any accepted scientific value when kept by uneducated men under the supervision of, to them, unknown officers paying flying visits and with no controlling authority over them.

Much was done in Ajmére by the end of the century, as the examples quoted by Ribbentrop of the Mendikola Stream in the Mohwa Bir Reserve (II, p. 557) and the effects of the protection of the Danta Reserve (II, p. 559) well illustrate.

But scientific results of inestimable value, both to India and

elsewhere in the world, might have been available had a welltrained Forest Officer with a scientific and mathematical bent of mind been maintained in charge of so interesting a departure.

In 1884-5 the area of Reserves amounted to 144 square miles. It was considered that a larger area of forests would be necessary to provide for the requirements of the country and 32 square miles of forest were to be made into Village Forests. In 1897-8 20 square miles, comprising the forests of Chang, Borwar, Kotra, Seliberi, Auspahar and Beliawas, were surveyed by a Surveyor of the Forest Survey branch and mapped on the scale of 4 inches to the mile. In the following year a set of simple rules for the conservation and management of Village Reserves was prepared by the Commissioner and was under the consideration of the Government of India. Progress was also made with the construction of roads. Ajmére suffered from the severe famine of the closing years of the century. The Chief Commissioner remarked: "The revised record-of-rights sanctioned by Government could not be brought into operation, as the season of acute famine and scant yield of grass rendered necessary the adoption of special grazing rules with a view to mitigate the distress among the villages." The wisdom of the afforestation work undertaken thirty years before became abundantly manifest. For the people were saved from the worst of the horrors of 1867-9.

CHAPTER VI

THE PROGRESS OF FOREST CONSERVANCY IN THE PUNJAB AND BALUCHISTAN, 1871-1900

I

more

N previous chapters devoted to a consideration of the introduction of forest conservancy in the Punjab reference has been made to the fact that the first enquiries and investigations undertaken mainly referred to the deodar forests in the Himalayan region of the Province. Deodar was the principal timber used and unrestricted fellings had been made by contractors in the in the accessible forests in the native states of Chamba and Bashahr. With the object of checking further devastation and instituting a control over these valuable areas it has been shown that leases were obtained by the Local Government from the Rajas of these States, annual payments being made to the latter (II, 255-6). The Punjab Government had also expressed the opinion that all forests similarly situated on the great rivers and their affluents should, if possible, be leased and placed under the Forest Department (II, 261).

A great demand for sleepers had arisen owing to the construction of the Punjab Railways, and the idea appears to have been entertained that the Bashahr Forests might be cut out to supply this demand. This suggestion was vetoed by the Secretary of State for India in his Despatch sanctioning the fifty-year lease of the Bashahr Forests (II, 257).

Allusion has also been made (II, 256) to a "Report on the Deodar Forests of Bashahr." This Report was drawn up in 1865 by Brandis, Stewart, Conservator of the Punjab, and Wood, Conservator in Oudh. It will be necessary to briefly detail some of the prescriptions for the management of the forests laid down then before dealing with the Preliminary Working Plan framed by Brandis and other officers in 1875.

The deodar forests visited by Brandis, Stewart and Wood in 1864 were (1) those between Poinda and Sapni on the left or south bank of the Sutlej River, termed the Lower Sutlej Forests;