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2 the doom of all the sf&l seedlings and saplings in that piece of forest is from
3 that time fixed, and all hope of its ever producing timber is gone, unless fire
4 can be excluded. The tender shoots thrown up by the seedlings or saplings.
5 during the rains are regularly burnt during the succeeding cold weather. The
6 plants as a rule begin after a year or two to throw up several shoots instead
7 of asingle one, and so dissipate their strength; these shoots go on being
8 annually burnt, and finally the plants die. I could show you many square
9 miles in the sfl forests of the North-Western Provinces where these miserable
10 results are too plainly demonstrated, and I cannot express too strongly my
11 conviction that forest fires and the growth of s&l are incompatible, and that
12 nexc to fires, buffaloes and goats are the greatest enemies to young sil forests.
13 2.) Works for cpening out and improving the Forests.
14 27. The following isa list of some of the principal forest
15 works executed by the Department during the past year. In
16 the North-Western Provinces the following new roads and bridges
17 haye been constructed :—
18 In the Garhwal Division, two roads for the extraction of
19 sleepers and scantlings, respectively of 8} and 24 milesin length,
20 have been constructed; the latter completes without break the
21 connection of a chain of forest roads 56} miles in length.
22 In the Jounsar Division, a footpath 55 miles in length,
23 passable for a pony, has been carried up the Tonse River for the
24 double convenience of the gangs of men employed in flonting
25 sleepers down the river, and for the import of grain to the forests
26 during the winter months, when the snow prevents all access to
27 them by the route across the high hills near Chakrata. The
28 Tonse River also has been bridged in two places—at Naintwar
29 and Datmir.
30 In the Bhagarati Division the forest road has been carried to
31 its furthest upper limit, at Jhala.
32 The completion of all the above roads and bridges will
33 materially facilitate the execution of the heavy sleeper worl
34 for the Rajputana State Railway, and will tend to lessen the
35 cost of bringing out the timber.
36 28. In the Punjab, in the Upper Chinéb Division, arrange-
37 ments have been made for placing a wooden bridge at
38 Mindla; and the bed of the Sanch tributary of the Ohindb
39 has been partly blasted out, and the water-way improved.
40 The road between Barmoar and Lamu in the Upper Ravi
41 has been continued, and will be completed next ycar. In the
42 Bias, the construction of a mule road between Manikam and
43 Phulga, a distance of 10 miles, is going on: this road will be
44 completed in 1872-73; paths have also been made skirting the
45 Dumegri Forest, to enable the villagers to take their cattle to
46 and from the forests, without injury to the plantations. The
47 Satlaj has been spanned by an excellent wooden bridge (con-
48 structed by Major Batchelor) at Sholto, above Wangtu, in a
49 place where a bridge, to give access to the forests on the opposite
50 banks of the river, was much wanted.
51 29. In Oudh, important lines of road have been completed
52 in the Kheri Division, from the forests to Khyragarh and Somnri-
53 pur. The road from Duduaghat to the Mohan River, and the
54 main Goarigh&t road (both important lines of export), have been
55 cleared and made passable for timber carts ; the former being 14
56 and the latter 17 miles in length. Besides other less important
57 works, a bridge over the Sohili River at Duduaghft, and a
58 double-storied building for the accommodation of the Forest
59 Officer posted there, have been eompleted, and two wells have
60 been sunk at places in the forests where water was not obtain-
61 able. The Sohili River has also been thoroughly cleared of snags.