In the Central Provinces there are great tracts of jungle, but only a small part properly forest. The hills between the Narbada and Nagpur, though covered with trees, contain little timber of value. In the Central Provinces, 2880 square miles of forest tracts have been reserved, 11,000 square miles remain unreserved, and there are 10,000 square miles of timber tracts belonging to private individuals. The teak in the forests of the Maudla district, at the head of the Nar bada river, has been ruthlessly felled. Thence to Raipur are extensive sal forests ; and the Dela Kari forest near Pachmari is the most westerly position of the sal tree in Central India. But further west are remnants of the teak forests of Baitul and Hushangabad, from which the cities of Ujjaiu, Indor, and Malwa were built. The vast forests to the eastward, the magnificent teak along the Godavery, and the great sal belt around Ghatisgarh, extend across the centre of India from the head of the Narbada to Cuttack.
In Berar are 646 square miles of reserves. Mysore and Coorg have three great forest belts, —the evergreen on the Western Ghats, yielding angely, poon, ironwood, and blackwood ; a moderately moist belt from 10 to 40 miles wide, on the eastern slopes of the ghats, yielding teak and sandal - wood ; and a dry region on the eastern side of Mysore on which grow the Hard wickia, Terminalia, an'd Conocarpus. In Mysore the reserves are 398 square miles. In Coorg there are 317 square miles, besides the Devada Ka,clu, or sacred forests.
Forests of Bombay Presidency extend for 500 miles, from Canara in the south to the Mahi river in the north, in the districts of Canara, Tanna, Kolaba, and Kandesh, the best tracts being near the line of ghats.
The forests of Sind, called Beyla, cover 352,460 acres. They were orioinally hunting-grounds of the Amirs. They are °dependent on the inunda tions of the Indus, without which they would disappear. • In the Animallay forests of Madras there are reserved teak forests. The Conolly teak plan tation on the Beypur river was begun in 1844. The teak seed is steeped in water for 48 hours, 0,nd sown on raised beds of fine mould covered with straw, to prevent too rapid evaporation; they germinate in 10 or 12 days, and in the interval are conStantly watered. At 3ludumalli a planta - tion of 20,000 teak trees was formed in 1865.
Australian gum-trees were introduced into the Neilgherries about 1850.
Sandal - wood planting has been tried with success in Cuddapah and Kurnool districts, and in the Segur and Collegal ranges of Coimbatore. The sandal-wood tracts belonging to the Govern ment are confined to certain portions of the Coimbatore and Salem collectorates. The tree is often found in hedgerows and low scrub jungle, etc., but is seldom seen in any regular forest. Up to a few years ago, sandal-wood was considered a Government monopoly,—at least none of the ryots ever asserted a right to fell it when found in even their own fields and hedgerows ; but upon a sub collector of the Salem district raising the question, the Govermnent waived any claim to the trees, and they are now generally gold standing by the ryots, to merchants, etc., for a merely nominal
sum. Sandal-wood planting has been successfully tried in the Cuddapah and Kurnool districts, and in the Segur and Collegal ranges of Coimbatore. South Canara is held to be a promising field for the extension of the experiment, as the tree is indigenous in portions of that district. Black wood and catechu trees have been largely planted in S. Canara, and much success has attended the formation of plantations of the babul, casuarina, red sanders, and Pithecolobium saman planta tions, the latter being a Central American tree, esteemed very valuable for fuel, the seed of which was obtained from Ceylon. Much has been done for the extension of fuel reserves and plantations, in view of the railway requirements, and too much importance cannot be attached to the addi tion to the Conolly teak plantations in Malabar, which are an established success. Teak plant ing is under trial in Kurnool, the Anirnallays, Bolumputty, Mudumalli and its western vicinity, in the Cumbum valley of Madura, and in South Canara, and the results hitherto obtained are very promising.
The area of the conserved forests of the 3Iadras Presidency is supposed to be more than 5000 square miles. The area of reserves and planta tions for railway fuel is about 6200 acres, estimated to yield 67,000 tons of firewood annually; and the area of teak, sandal-wood, etc., plantations is about 2500 acres. From 1860-61 to 1874-75, the balances of receipts and charges ranged from a debit Rs. 59,380 to a credit Rs.4,28,640, the annual average profit for the period being Rs. 1,11,518.
The reserved Government forests in the Nulla mallays district are at an elevation of from 2000 to 2500 feet above the sea, and contain some of the finest blackwood timber in the world. The Cuddapah forests comprise the whole of the forests on the hills and plains on both sides of the N.W. line of railway running between Triputty and Cuddapah, and are estimated to cover 250 square miles ; reserves were established in the dis tricts of Cuddapah and North Arcot, in addition to a large plantation at Ghooty in the Bellary range. The working season in the Animallays lasts from June to November, during which time the forests are almost entirely covered with a dense under growth of grass, often growing to the height of ten feet, and swarming with wild beasts and ele phants. For the other six months of the year work is impossible, owing to the malaria causing severe jungle fevers. The woodcutters very often refuse to work on account of the large number of tigers and elephants, which prove a source of endless annoyance. These forests are the finest in India, and should be placed under a very strict conservancy system.