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2 91. The supply of timber, grass, and other forest produce for the district,
3 and in fact for the whole of the Poorna Valley, is
4 derived chiefly from the unreserved forests of the
5 Mailghit, which are estimated to cover an area of about 1,100 square miles.
6 Supply of Forest Produce.
7 The produce is brought for sale by the Koorkoos to certain established bazars
8 at the foot of the hills, where duty is paid on it by the purchasers, prior to its
9 exportation to the plains.
10 Up to the end of 1870, unrestricted cutting of all timber was allowed in those
11 forests, and as was naturally to be expected, almost tho only varioty of wood that
12 used to be brought to the bazars was teak. In the boginning of 1871, Captain
13 Douglas found, on inspecting the nakahs, that owing to large teuk boing no longer
14 procurable, exporters were bringing to the bazars nothing but saplings varying from
15 9-9 inches in diameter, and he then drew the attention of the Resident to the
16 necessarily exhausted state of the forests, and obtained sanction to the immediate
17 ‘reservation of the following trees:—
18 Teak (Tectona Grandis.)
19 Tewus (Dalbergia Oojeinensis.)
20 Sheshum (Dalbergia Latifolia.)
21 pending the preparation of a scheme for working them systematically.
22 92. This scheme I incorporated in my memorandum on the Mailghat Forests
23 submitted with letter No. 196, dated 26th February
24 Scheme for working Mailghét Unre- Jast, and to describe it, I cannot do better than quote
25 served Fvrests. ne aa ‘
26 verbatim” that portio of the memo. directly
27 bearing on the subject :-—
28 * T have just completed a minute inspection of the onen portion of the Mail-
29 ghat, and can fully endorse all that Captain Douglas wrote after his examination of
30 tle nakahs, and the timber there offered for sale.”
31 “Teak 18 more plentiful in some portions of the forests than in others, but
32 with few exceptions, there is hardly a tree to be found, that would yield a ‘* gole”’
33 12 feet long by 18 inches in circumference.”
34 “ Everywherg this description of wood has been cut down, and from the system
35 of felling hitherto in force, the trees as a rule consist of nothing but sinall stems of
36 average thickness, with numerous branches spreading in all directions. The latter
37 comprise the saplings that used to be taken to the bazars; the stems from 4-6 feet
38 long—the distance from the ground, at which the trees had originally been cut
39 over—remuined untouched.”’
40 “ To bring these trees therefore into a healthy condition, and to introduce a
41 natural growth, the only course left is to coppice them level, or at most 3 inches
42 above the ground, and as [ consider that 15 ycars will be required to produce the
43 oles, rafters, and small wood, which form the chief want of the people of the plains,
44 i propose that this be the period of rotation adopted for the working of the forests.
45 It being desirable that as littlo time as possible should be lost: in the cutting over of
46 the teak, and the yicld of the forests, during the first period of rotation being
47 likely to prove more limited than in after years, I would suggost that, as a com-
48 mencement, the whole area be divided into 15 blocks, one of which would be opened
49 annually. Afterwards, when the teak had assumed a healthy form, and increased
50 in quantity, it would be advisable to divide tho forest into two or perhaps more
51 blocks, and again to sub-divide cach of these into compartments according to
52 rotation, so that in each block one compartment would he opened annually, and thus
53 the requrements of the people in the different parts of the Mailghat and the plains
54 supplied with the least possible delay or trouble.”