eroded, with the object of saving a total loss of revenue from the threatened forest, and also to prevent as many of the trees as possible being swept into the river, where they became dangerous snags, holding up the sand and detritus, and impeding the navigation. It was usually difficult to dispose of the trees unless they were transported inland at a considerable expense. The Conservator had suggested stripping them of branches and roots and then dropping them into the river, where their weight, he argued, would cause them to sink in the mud at the bottom. The Commissioner, however, feared they might form snags, and would not assent to the suggestion, pointing out that the Forest Department did not pay anything towards the maintenance of the River Conservancy Department and, therefore, should commit no act which might increase the labours of this latter Department. McRae started this year the conversion of the trees on eroding banks into planks and scantlings in situ and the experiment had proved highly satisfactory. On the subject of the important question of the ability of the forests to meet the requirements of the Indus Valley State Railway, the Commissioner of Sind, Mr. F. D. Melville, summarized the position in his Review (No. 3093, dated Karachi, 12th August, 1878) of the 1877-8 Forest Administration Report. The forests were under a so-called Working Plan (vide Vol. II, p. 175), but no detailed valuation surveys had been made. Mr. Melville wrote: "It appears that only a total yield of 1,850,000 maunds of fuel, or about 66,000 tons will be required. The yield in the past year was 1,403,413 maunds. The highest estimate of the requirements of the Railway, which began at 10,000 tons, has now been fixed at 28,000 tons, based on a calculation of three trains both ways daily, with the consumption per train mile of 100 lbs. of wood, exclusive of the quantity held in reserve, which should be a two or three months' supply. This would require an increased yield of 784,000 maunds, and, therefore, the Conservator seems to have underestimated the requirements. But with an area of 343,336 acres of forest land, the Conservator considers that he would have no difficulty in meeting the demand. Major McRae, however, repeats his recommendation of a valuation survey, which has already been supported by the late Commissioner, and there can be no question that it would be the most satisfactory method of determining the forest capabilities of Sind. It is most probable that when the Railway is in full working order, the demand for fuel for steamers will be diminished; and as a marked improvement in the system atic administration of Sind forests is observable, and the area of waste land (on which to form new forests) is unlimited, there need be no doubt that the requisite supply of fuel will be obtained without any contraction of the areas set apart for reproduction." Under the Working Plan a third of each of the forests was closed to grazing. Owing to the scarcity and want of fodder in Lower Sind it had been necessary to throw open these areas in the Jerruck and Hyderabad Divisions to grazing (except to camels and goats). The reproduction was said to have attained sufficient height to be safe from damage by cattle. The Conservator proposed to modify the plan of closing one-third of each block at a time and to only enclose annually the area which had to be cleared and worked. He proposed to add to this area any adjacent land capable of producing tree growth. This would cheapen the cost of fencing by spreading it over several years, the work would be better done, and enable the reproduction to start at once; also a more systematic method of cutting would be adopted and an opportunity be afforded for the collection of reliable data for determining the yield of the forests per acre. As has been already shown (Vol. I, p. 279), closed areas had to be fenced in this country, and the practice was well understood, since the old Mirs of Sind used to enclose their hunting areas with a view to obtaining a sufficient tree cover, for the protection of wild animals. The procedure of fencing to keep out cattle was therefore accepted by the people. Fire protection did not come so easily, however, and latterly bad fires had been experienced in Upper Sind. Since the cattle-owners were chiefly instrumental in causing the fires they were expelled from many of the forests. In this procedure the Conservator evidently had the support of his Commissioner (in fact the relations between the Civil and Forest Authorities were most cordial in Sind), for he writes : "It is almost, if not quite, impossible to take a man redhanded in setting fire to a jungle or to get information; but, I think, it is a safe plan to make the máldahs in a great measure responsible for fires, and I have very little doubt that good results will follow if the system of expelling máldahs from a forest, in which a special block has been burnt, and not letting them return unless they restore the burnt fences and clear a certain area of land as a protective belt is persisted in." There were four forest divisions in Sind-Sukkur, Naushahro, Hyderabad (under the charge of Mr. Hexton) and Jerruck. The ordinary methods of obtaining new crops was to fence in the land against cattle and keep out fire when the area became covered with crops of bhan (Populus euphratica) and babul (Acacia arabica). In 1877-8 there were 60,611 acres in this condition. Artificial reproduction was almost entirely confined to Upper Sind (Sukkur, Naushahro and Hyderabad), where an area of 418 acres existed. Its necessity was said to be due to the prevalence of "flood, fire and frost." Mr. Dasai (the first Indian Officer trained at home, Vol. II, p. 54) was in charge of this work and was achieving a marked success. It will be remembered that Strettell had established this nursery and commenced experimenting with exotics (Vol. II, p. 174). In the Rahuja nursery at Sukkur Mr. Dasai had successfully raised the following exotics: Teak, Terminalia tomentosa, Pterocarpus marsupium, Schleichera trijuga; blackwood (D. latifolia), Anogeissus latifolia, Ceratonia siliqua and Prosopis glandulosa. The Prosopis had attained the extraordinary height of 10 feet in eight months from date of sowing. The teak and Terminalia were also growing remarkably fast. McRae did not think that teak would grow to any size, but said that if it would grow into pole size for boats on the Indus it would supply a demand, "there being no indigenous wood in Sind fit for the purpose." In the Hyderabad Division the bamboo plantations was doing well and expected to yield a crop of bamboos fit for the market the following year-i.e. four years after planting. The Prosopis had been subjected to the attacks of pig and porcupine, "and," says McRae, as no fence will keep these animals out, I have protected the land with a mud wall." The total cost of the natural and artificial reproduction work during the year was Rs.15,900 for a total of 61,029 acres. By the year 1877-8 the forest revenue of the Province, though not up to the sum included in the revised estimates, amounted to Rs.3,66,421, expenditure to Rs.2,71,291, with a net revenue of Rs.95,130. During his tour of the Sind Forests in 1867-8 Brandis had recommended the establishment of depots for the sale of wood as likely to be remunerative (Vol. II, p. 174). Ten years later there were seven depots in existence-at Shikarpur, Sukkur, Rohri, Sehwan, Hyderabad, Kotri and Karachi. During the five years 1873-4 to 1877-8 fuel had been supplied by the Department to (1) Indus Flotilla Company; (2) State Railway; (3) Sind Railway; (4) Commissioner's Steamer; (5) Punjab Government Steamers; (6) Indus Ferry Steamers; (7) River Conservancy Dept.; (8) Public Works Dept. ; (9) Karachi Harbour Works; (10) Nawab of Bhawulpur's Steamer; (11) Ice Factory, Karachi; (12) Commissariat Dept., Hyderabad; (13) Hyderabad Water Works. The total amounts supplied rose from 960,000 maunds during 1873-4 to 1,300,000 maunds in 1877-8. In the Review of Forest Administration for 1889-90 the Inspector-General states that no fresh cultivation of exotics had taken place and that it was said that the experiments had, on the whole, been a failure, In the following year it was reported that the survey of the Sind Forests, which had been undertaken by local surveyors and not by the Forest Survey, had proved of little value. The system in force in Sind, though not clearly described in the Circle Reports, appears to have still been clear felling with natural reproduction, both coppice and seed, under the direct influence of inundation water. The Government of India's Resolution, No. 22 F., of 19th October, 1894 (vide II, p. 484), was involving some changes in classifications and settlements in Sind as elsewhere in Bombay. But the Inspector-General demurred at the disafforestation of some 60 square miles of Reserves in 1894-5. This area was given up for cultivation chiefly because it was said it could not be worked at a profit for the production of wood. It was pointed out that there was a growing demand for fuel both locally and in Baluchistan, and it was increasing in value. A commencement was made with the preparation of Working Plans in 1896-7. The work had been impeded by demarcation operations which had to be first undertaken and subsequently by the incidence of the plague. Progress was being made in the Sukkur Division. |