BASHAHR, N. W. HIMALAYA, 1922

H. M Glover, photo.

H. M. Glover, photo.

counting of individual trees, as is done in these Valuation Forest Surveys, is a primitive and incomplete method for arriving at the valuation of any forest. When the methods of forest management are further advanced in India, it will be abandoned, and the valuation of a forest will then not be expressed by stating the number of trees but the cubical contents of timber per acre, and the quantity which is annually produced on this area. But under present circumstances the method here described must be used." Results have shown that the method was eminently practical for the time; and is equally so for many forests now coming under first management in other parts of our Empire.

The proposals of the 1864 Report were based on the following ascertained data: (1) The number of first- and second-class trees actually counted on 652 acres of forest in the different geographical regions was 3743 and 4099 respectively. (2) The time required for a tree to increase from 4 feet 6 inches to 6 feet in girth in the quickgrowing localities was from sixteen to twenty-nine years, and in the slower-growing ones from thirty-seven to eighty-six yearsaverage thirty-five years. (3) First-class trees immediately available, 58,000. Based on these data, an annual yield of 3000 firstclass trees was provided for the first period of sixteen years; after which it was supposed that the trees in the forests not then considered exploitable would furnish the material for the remaining nineteen years at the same rate of yield. In other words, by the time 35 X 3000 105,000 trees had been felled the second-class trees would have attained first-class size.

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From the examination of the forests the authors of the 1864 report were confident that the previous figures of the number of trees taken out by contractors from the more accessible forests of the region were below the mark. The first person to work these deodar forests was Soda Sing. But the first extensive fellings were commenced in 1859 by Arratoon, and between this year and 1863 they estimated that 30,000 trees had been felled, of which, owing to the wasteful methods in force, only a small proportion of the material reached the market, thus confirming Cleghorn's observations (vide I, 411). The following forest tracts which they inspected were completely destroyed by these fellings, reproduction being impossible-Kusthal and Dippi (lower part); Punang (western portion); Kilba (lower portion); Kumkuni and Sapin (lower half destroyed by fire owing to remains of felled trees lying on ground); Shoang (lower part); Serinche and Yak Bursari (considerable part of); Tanglin (lower portion); Kastiarang and Eastern Runang Forest. At the then rate of working, even with the introduction of sawing and artificial slides, the forests would be completely exhausted by 1884.

The authors proposed to divide the available forests of the region into eight divisions and to work them out in sixteen years, concentrating the working in one at a time.

The non-available forests were classified as follows: forests on the Pabur and tributaries; those on the Nogri, Choundeh and other streams below Taranda; Rupi, Shorang, Kandari and other streams on the right side below Wangtu; Wangar; Melgad, said to be extensive and fine; Punang; Barang on the feeders of the Shaengarang; Tanglingad; Upper Teedong; Kashang and the Malgun Forests below Pangi. The first step to make these forests available would be the introduction of sawyers and the conversion of the timber into railway sleepers. The Report treats of the other species of trees existing in the region, with protective measures and demarcation, and with the right to drift wood. Also with the necessity of searching for further sources of deodar timber in Jaunsar-Bawar, on the Chor Mountain between the Giri and Tons Rivers, and elsewhere to supplement the resources of Bashahr. In order to carry out the provisions laid down in the Report Lieut.-Col. Batchelor was appointed to the charge of these forests in 1865.

In their orders of 2nd January, 1874, the Government of India stated that after completing the survey of the Dehra Dun Forests, the Forest Survey Branch should take up the topographical survey and the preparation of a Working Plan for the leased forests on the Sutlej in Bashahr. In consequence of these orders, Mr. B. Ribbentrop, Deputy Conservator, was deputed by the Punjab Government to make a preliminary study of the forests on the spot, to demarcate the boundaries of the Reserves by permanent boundary marks, to lay down the lines separating blocks and compartments and to prepare a statement of existing rights in the forests. Ribbentrop arrived at Nachar on June 1st, and to his other duties added the preparation of plans for working the forests "of other pines" for the supply of sleepers to the Indus Valley Line, as large demands on that account were anticipated.

In August the Inspector-General (Brandis) was directed to visit some of the Punjab Forests, commencing with Bashahr. He proceeded to the latter region in September, being joined by Ribbentrop and Stenhouse, Conservator of the Punjab, and by Lieut.-Col. Batchelor, Deputy Conservator, who was still in charge of these forests. After a discussion of the plan of management with these officers it was decided to embody the results of Ribbentrop's labours and their discussion in a joint

report, "in which we have attempted to sketch the plan of working during the next five years, that is from 1875-6 to 1879-80. Before the end of this quinquennium a revision of the present Working Plan, it is hoped on more complete information than we possess at present, will be necessary."

The framers of the Working Plan commenced by stating that they had decided to include all the hill forests on the Sutlej which were under the control of the Punjab Forest Department, as all these forests had one common outlet and should therefore be in one administrative division. Therefore the Working Plan included, besides the Bashahr Forests, those of the Eastern Seoraj and the small British forest of Kotgarh, to which should be added any Government forests in the parganna of Kotkai. All these forests were divided into ninetysix groups, which were regarded as blocks of one large working circle. The Working Plan Report was divided into three parts: (1) General. (2) Descriptive Account of Forest Blocks. (3) Detailed Proposals of Work to be Undertaken during the next five years with the Financial Forecast.

In both the first and second parts the authors refer to the data and the maps given in the 1864 Report, stating that "it will not be necessary in this Report to repeat the general description of the forests given in these documents." Reference is also made to additional information contained in a Journal of a tour made by Brandis in 1869. It is impossible to do more than summarize here the main proposals of these Reports, but it is necessary to study them together in order to realize the position of these forests at the time and the careful steps taken with the object of safeguarding and improving their future growing stock.

It has been shown that it was estimated that 30,000 deodar trees had been felled in Bashahr between 1859 and 1864. From 1864 to 1874 the deodar fellings were as follows: Trees felled by Contractors, 7650; trees felled by the Department in Nachar (1500), Dippi (250), Tikru (120), Kunai (100). Total, 1970. Windfall trees, 1380; trees felled for the Raja on indent and by villagers on permit, 5000. Total, 16,000. It was estimated in 1864 that the number of first-class deodar trees standing in the available and non-available forests amounted to 116,000. This estimate included the Pabur and Rupin Forests, which in 1874 were no longer included in the Sutlej Division. In this latter year the authors of the Report estimated the deodar-producing tracts at 20,460 acres, supposed