1 ( 7)
2 16. In Oudb, protective measures were not equally success-
3 ful. Fires were kept out of a considerable portion of the Gonda
4 and Bharaich Government Forests, but in the more valuable
5 forests of the Kheri Division there has been less success. An
6 agreement was entered into for one year with the Tharts or jungle
7 tribes that, in consideration of exemption from the payment of
8 grazing dues, they should render personal service when required
9 to put out jungle fires. This plan, however, met with but
10 partial success, for the fircs were lit again as often as they were
11 extinguished, and only small patches of the Kheri Forests have
12 been saved from destruction.
13 17. A small patch of sil forest in the 6th section of the
14 Bharaich Division, where no sfl seedlings have come up for
15 years, was enclosed as an experiment, by means of a dead thorn
16 hedge, at the beginning of last rains, and some sl seed was
17 scattered inside the enclosure. On inspecting this patch of forest
18 in February 1872, hundreds of healthy sil seedlings were count-
19 ed, while not a single one could be found elsewhere throughout
20 the whole of the 6th and 7th scctions of the Bharaich Govern-
21 ment Forests. This proves the necessity of keeping cattle out of
22 low-lying sfl forests for a period of years, in order to ensure natural
23 reproduction. A few head of cattle will clear every sced from
24 under sil and other trecs in a very short time, killing the young
25 geedlings wherever they tread. The Government of India has
26 ordered further experiments (on a more extended scale) of the
27 system of reserved enclosures in the Oudh Forests.
28 18. In the Central Provinces fire and cattle have now been
29 excluded during the last seven years from the Bori Forest in
30 Hosingabad, and for five years from Jagmandal and Choharigho-
31 garh in Mandla. Regarding the effects of this successful exclusion,
32 one of the Forest Officers writes that any one walking through the
33 forest cannot fail to notice the difference in the trees inside and
34 outside the boundary, as also the condition of the grasscs,
35 which has entirely changed since fires have been excluded. The
36 open gladecs.of the forest within the boundaries are scattered with
37 young teak seedlings, most noticeable in its contrast to the bare-
38 ness of the unprotected forest land outside. Besides what has
39 been done in the above tracts, arrangements have been mado
40 for the protection from fire of the Bowergarh forests in Baitul,
41 and the Punasa forests in Nimar.
42 19. Regarding these operations the Conservator of Foresta.
43 in the Central Provinces writes as follows :—
44 The arrangements for the exclusion of fire consist of a system of well-
45 cleared boundary, and in some cases division lines, and the maintenance of an
46 establishment of watchers to patrol them. During the year under report there
47 has been a reductien in the cost of these operations, and the results for the
48 eurrent year will, I hope, show that the importance of kceping the expendi-
49 #ure under this head down to the minimum amount necessary, has not been
50 lost sight of. The present system of clearing boundary lines year after year
51 for this purpose does not seem satisfactory, but it remains to be proved whether
52 a less expensive process can be adopted with equal prospect of success.
53 The results which attend the protection of the forest from fire must
54 of necessity be as varied as the original fertility of the soil and the
55 density of the growth on it. In a forest fully stocked, with the ground
56 well shaded, the maximum yield of organic matter to the soil is at once
57 obtained. THe Icas fertile goila are naturally more open and the tree
58 vegetation on them is less luxuriant, and consequently the smaller the
59 yield off vegetable matter; while this yield, decaying as it does more ag
60 less under the direct raya of the sun, loses a large percentage of its
61 organic matter. Thus, not only is the deposit smaller in more open
62 forest, but tho proportion of that deposit. which is rendered to the soil
63 is less. Under these circumstances is it not a matter for surprise that
64 the results, ae regards the regoneration of teak in Bori, should be more
65 satisfactory than elsewhere." e soil is undoubtedly superior, and the
66 vegetation is’ far more luxuriant. One great drawback to the natural