1 ( 5 )
2 small plantations of teak at Bamunpokree in the terai, however, seemed to
3 Mr. Camphell to be so far very successful; the young teak trees grow well,
4 they are close together; the ground is thoroughly shaded and kept moist ; and
5 the young trees were as good as we could wish. The whole question of plgn-
6 tations in Behar, in Assam, and in the eastern districts, has still to be taken up.
7 In Behar a plantation in connection with the new canal may be possible. In
8 Assam and other castern districts young teak grows very rapidly. The Punjab
9 experience clearly shows that a large plantation in one block pays best, and
10 that a long line of plantation does not ordinarily pay. One of the young
11 officers of the Forest Department has been sent for six months to learn planta-
12 tion work on the Punjab plantations; and the Licutenant-Governor hopes that
13 an extensian of teak plantation, and perhaps of mahogany and some other plan-
14 tation, may be possible during the current year. Thejolantation at Shillong
15 will have great advantages in cheap land, ample rainfall] and if its supervision
16 can be joined to the model farm, or to the cinchona ge.den work, the planta-
17 tion ought to be a success. The attention of the Commissioner of Assam will
18 be specially invited to the desirability of pushing on this plantation.
19 9. The cost of the Forest Department during the vear was Ks. 1,08,000,
20 and the income it realised was Rs. 78,500 ; so that the ceficit on the year’s work
21 was Ks. 29,500. Out of the receipts, Rs. 47,500, or mucn more than half, was
22 realised from forest tolls in the Chittagong hill tracts, which gave rise to much
23 complication, The forest collections by civil officers indeed more than cover
24 the deficit; but then these collections would have been made just the same
25 if there had been no Forest Department. Next year may perhaps show
26 a different balance sheet, because the Railway Department may take over
27 the timber which has been cut. But in ordinary years, unless we make
28 more revenuc than we can expect on the system hitherto followed, the
29 Bengal Forest Department can hardly hope to pay its way so long as the
30 timber market is so fully supplied with foreign timber. Still, if real conser-
31 vancy or plantation work were going on, the benefit would be felt by the next
32 generation, and the Lieutenant-Governor would not grudge the annual forest
33 deficit. But at present the Lieutenant-Governor is not satisfied that any
34 sufficient result is secured by the Forest Department. Doubtless, the absence
35 of trained oflicers has much to do with this absence of results. But the
36 Lieutenant-Governor hopes that within the next two years the administration
37 of the eastern and north-eastern forests may be put on a reasonable and
38 firm footing; that some systematic planting may be begun in various parts of
39 the country, and that some approach may be made to a solution of the questions
40 on which the ultimate success of a forest system in Bengal depends.
41 As regards a supply of timber from existing sources, in addition to making
42 the most of our forests in the Bhiitan Dooars and Assam, it seems to the Lieute-
43 nant-Governor that the main question is, whether timber may not be got in
44 large quantities from the Eastern Himalayas as it has been got from the Western
45 Himalayas. No doubt deodar is not to be had, but the Lieutenant-Governor is
46 given to understand that forests of the beautiful silver fir, of which specimens
47 may be secn at Darjeeling, exist in the interior of the Sikkim hills; and if any
48 pine or other woods, which with or without creosoting can be used for railway
49 slecpers and other purposes, exist in the great Himalayan range, from Darjceling
50 to the extreme east of Assam, and can be brought down the many rivets, self-
51 interest may bring the tribes into much closer commercial relations with us.
52 10. As respects plantations, the two questions which a scientific man
53 should devote himself to solve are—first, whethcr sil can be made to grow
54 large ; and second, whether teak will grow large in those provinces.
55 11. It may be said that the whole country, wherever it is in the lcast
56 degreo raiscd above water level, is one mass of natural sal. Not only does this
57 tree abound all along the foot of the hills of the northern and eastern frontiers,
58 but throughout the western borders of Bengul and Behar; the traces of it are
59 everywhere apparent, and the Chota Nazpore division, and Orissa Tributary
60 Mehals from 50,000 or 60,000 square miles, may be said to be one great sil forest