1 1)
2 to cultivate coffee surreptitiously in these forests ; though if an European were to apply
3 for a Dévarakadu, his application would not at once be strongly opposed. I would sug-
4 gest the strictest reservation of these forests. hey are of great beauty, and sufficient
5 land has already been taken up to afford ample employment for years to come to more
6 planters than Coorg has at present. The forests should be well looked after, and all
7 coffee found in them should be destroyed and the planters thereof punished. Some’of
8 the Dévarakiidu, ike Truhkidu in Kuingerinad, aye in situations where climatic consi-
9 derations and the natural regulation, distribution and storage of floods after rains demand
10 their being strictly preserved.
11 Passing notice should alse be given to the fact that large quantities of delicious
12 lonse skinned oranges are produced in Coorg, cluefly in the central and southern parts.
13 11. leans of transport for tember. —All timber taken east, must be carried by land,
14 none of the rivers and streams on that side being available for floating purposes. Poon,
15 spars and wild jack are floated down the Barapolle, and the Udambihole to tho Wes-
16 tern Coast.
17 12. Forest Legislation. —Owing to various causes, the chief of which has been the
18 very great forest privileges enjoyed of old, or usurped by the Coorgs, forest legislation
19 lias been dificult and slow. Sut now that tho country has been invaded by European
20 planters, and that the demand for wood of all kinds hag largely increased, it has become
21 necoess iry to introduce forest rules of a more stringent nature, to prevent the destruction
22 of many fine forests which will, ore very long, form not only the sole source of supply
23 tor Coorg itself, but also for some of the adjoining Districts of Mysore. With but very
24 few exceptions overy kind of tree in Coorg was till lately liable to be felled by licenso
25 holders on the payment of a small seigniorage, or if any man could shew what was
26 thought a sufficient reason, such as tho wish to build himself a good house, he found lit-
27 tle difficulty in obtaining a free grant. The ryots in Mysore also found it profitable to
28 resort to Coorg forests, which especially in the north were fast being despoiled. This be-
29 ing at last clearly seen, a set of forest rules was after much correspondence and the ful-
30 lest attention to tho subject, which is certainly a difficult one, introduced into Coorg in
31 Soptember 1871. ‘lhese have enabled Government {o set apart certain tracts of land
32 as State Lorests, in which no felling of any kind is allowed except under the immediate
33 ordors of the Forest Departmont. The Department will establish a number of small
34 depots throughout the country for the periodical sales of wood of all kinds and of bamboos.
35 The control of the Department does not extend over any private holdings or *bane lands,
36 except that sandal wherever growing 1s a Government monopoly by immemorial custom.
37 The Department has the control of the cardamom forests, which are leased cut for the
38 cultivation of the spice only ; and it is also charged with a general supervision of the
39 udavé or forests attached to villages in North Coorg.
40 13, Revised and improved auction sale rules for the disposal of sandalwood were
41 introduced, prior to the last annual auctions.
42 SPECIAL.
43 MEAD I—SI.ATE FORESTS AND FORESTS LEASED BY THE STATE.
44 14. Thero are no forests in Coorg leased by the State. The list of State forests in
45 Coorg was published in August 1871, and the work of demarcating them commenced
46 soon after Mr. Ring, the present Assistant Consorvator, had joined. It has been pushed
47 on with energy. In my report for Jast year, I had occasion to advert to the negligence
48 of Mr. Hunter, tho late Assistant Conservator. In Augnst 1871, he was reduced to the
49 grade of Sub- Agsis(ant Conservator and transferred to Mysore.
50 ————
51 eR ee eer ee eT :
52 +Grazing lands, always more or loss covered with wood, attached to holdings.