1 ( 33 )
2 188. uel Reserve Division—In the first year of transferred charge it is
3 hardly to be expected that many extensive improvement
4 works should be recorded. Annual and casual cultivation
5 finds a place in the income of this Department for the last time, and everywhere
6 it has been stopped.
7 Rakh improvements.
8 189. In Montgomery 10,000 acres of rakh have been
9 closed against grazing of all kinds.
10 190. In Lahore the rakhs Kot-Lakpat and Tira were visited by me, and
11 Method of improving Were closed for reproduction. Part of Lakpat, visited with
12 rakh “ Kot-Lakpat.” Mr. Ribbentrop also, has famous reproduction, and part is
13 on hard “ kankar-laden” soil. We proposed, as an experiment, to let out the kan-
14 kar digging, conditional on excavations being made five feet square in lines, in the
15 hollows, filled up with soft earth from which the kankar has been extracted, seeds
16 of bér (Zizyphus sp.), Jnand (Prosopis,) and other rough trees will be sown. I am
17 not at all satisfied, however, with the state of the Lahore ‘rakhs, and have .
18 directed a careful list to be made out of all rakhs
19 eee iden nd curt recently cut, so as to close them and institute measures
20 the romaindor still to be systematically to improve them. We must also determine
21 ene: the order of cutting such as may be cut ; this will I hope be
22 Closing for re-production.
23 done this winter.
24 191. A large area of finerakh land remains under the Mian Mir Cantonment
25 Abuses in “Military” With the usual complement of complaints and_ encroach-
26 rakhs. ments. This year, in spite of the fact that the right of get-
27 ting grass for the troops is the only one, the Cantonment Authorities have
28 given out grazing leases, sold the “kdna,” or large grass used for basket-
29 work, &c., and taken the whole of the miscellaneous income, which, up to
30 1870-71, was credited to the Forest Department. I have reported on this
31 subject fully,—vide my No. 1045, dated 28th February 1871, to the Military
32 Secretary to Punjab Government,—but I regret to say that no orders have
33 yet been issued on this subject.
34 192. In the Northern Division, (Gujrat, Jhelam, Shahpur, &c.,) much time
35 Visiting in the Northern Was occupied by visiting and becoming familiar with the
36 rakhe. newly-transferred rakhs. Mr. Wild has completed his
37 visit and selection of Shahptr, which only wants my report.
38 193. The Jhelam rakhs were visited, and again in the winter Mr. Wild
39 Thelam rakhe and I visited carefully some of the Jhelam rakhs available
40 to supply fuel to the Northern Railway, with a view to
41 determining what we might do to increase the supply.
42 194. Most of the rakhs are hilly, with deep rageed rain-cut ravines and
43 sandy vallevs at the bottom ; down these in the rainy season
44 Character described. x é .
45 the water rushes, breaking up the marl and soft sandstone
46 of which the soil consists into a thousand fantastic shapes. Occasional slopes
47 und levels however offer good loam soil, and there is an abundant growth of
48 Cause of the stunted J?’hulahe (.1. ALodesta) always described in reports as
49 growth, “ stunted,” but [I must say a careful examination of a
50 vreat many acres of this growth convinces me that the stunting is artificial,—
51 Result of nibbling by cat- goats and camels (chiefly) preventing the shoots gaining
52 tle. way. We observed also, that after the shoots have been
53 several times nibbled down, a small spider attacks the bush and envelopes it
54 with a dense but finely-spun web fabric completely
55 Closing of a few rakhs. ° : ~ . ee He .
56 choking it. Some time ago the District Officers reported
57 a list of 17 rakhs which might supply wood, but IT have began cautiously to
58 close five or six only of the best near the road, but absolutely against all ingress
59 and grazing, &c.
60 195. A little planting was successfully done in some “ Belas” (Mohlé and
61 Planting on “ Bélas.” Nath,) but afterwards the land was carried away by floods ;
62 | the cheap and easy success to be had on these lands must
63 be paid for by the liability to loss.