The Indian Forester January 1919

During the writer's incumbency of the post of Agency _Forest Officeof the Orissa Feudatory States he had frequent oppotunities of observing the effects of Thinning on Sal which may best be describeti by following the process from the time when virgin Sal forest is first jhumed down to the disappearance of the Sal. [...] After the period of resf—the period dependinlargely on the density of the population' and the amount of jungle available the smaller the population and the larger the area of jungle the longer the period of rest—the same area is again jhumed over for another 2 or 3 years in succesion and after this second jhum the crop of Sal will be found to be considerably thinner many of the stools bei [...] I recollect when carrying out my first girdlings in Burma namely in the Katha District drawing attention to the even-aged character of the trees in patches and to the fact that lines or heaps of stones piled up on the edges of the original clearings reminded due of the rice field kazins " or bunds and clearly indicated the origin of the tree growth."1919] A PLEA FOR TEAK TAUNGYAS 9 The fact m [...] The extension of cultivation in the last century with its accompanying heavy fellings reduced the once continuous Sal forest of the Gangetic plain to the existing blocks of small areal extent and produced conditions which led to the extermination of the species. [...] After the lapse of five years the girths of the trees in each plot have again been measured and recorded by me and as concrete proof of the beneficial effect of the thinning a comparison of the figures is I think of general interest.