FORESTING AND DEFORESTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3923, 12 September 1874, Page 6 (Supplement)

FORESTING AND DEFORESTING

IN CEYLON.

(From the Ceylon Observer, June 19.)

The Madras Standard brings us so excellent and interesting a summary of the Report on the Forest Department of the Madras Presidency for 1872-3, that, we cannot Help longing for the period when similar reports from the recently instituted department in Ceylon "will present us with facts something more than the rechauffe of oft-dissipated fallacies to which we. are treated by authorities who, ■• if their -opinions carried .weight; ought to render permanent Jthe temporary suspension of the sales by Government of mountain forest lands. The lands now: blocked oub are mainly in the districts of Dimboola, Dickoy'a, and Maskeliya, and they run from 2500 to 5000 feet above sea level up the sides of mountain ranges, the forested summits of which are from 1000 to 2500 feet still loftier: Even if there were not a stick of timber higher than a coffee, tea, or' cinchona shrub on the tops of "mountains from 4000 to 8000 feet high,, the monsoon rains would bursj;. all the "' same, the ! raiu-fall would be equally copious. AW. "experience and all observation in Ceylon tend to prove that the deforesting of high lands, or rather the substitution of coffee bushes of four feet high for forest trees of forty or sixty on such lands, has not the slightest effect in diminishing rainfall. When the common sense arguments are used that from such lands the rains run jYiore rapidly off, or that the'moisture from the surface is more rapidly dissipated, we listen with respect. There can be no doubt also that the planters who clear away everytree from their land are inflicting a double injury on (heir own interests and those of the country. Let us by all means reserve the topß of the mountain ranges, so that all the rain may not run off at onp.e, and1 ajso fnat it store of vegetable deposit may b;e preserved' for the gradual enrichment of the lower lands. Limited reserves of forest land considerably under the summit^ of the great ranges will also be useful for timber arid fuel purposes, but let us hear no more of such reserves, or the entire stoppage of the sales of mountain forests beiiig necessary to secure Ceylon her share of the mountain rains. Whenever, in Ceylon, correct records of rainfall have been W*--it has been ..(**•>*>* a'- : ' --tr-> .* - --""«■ "iat, with the greatest possible variations in months and years, a certain average is sure to be arrived at by taking the resul^ of any five Wars, adding the figures and dividing by five." The process of denudation has been the largest and longest continued around i Kandy, and yet it can be proved that the average raiu-fall has not diminished a decimal of an inch since Sir Edward Barnes had the.forest cleared from Gangaruwa to make room for coffee. We trust' therefore, £he present suspension of sales of Crown land does not mean the adoption of the extreme views so popular in some quarters, but tha^the common aen.se and moderate policy announced by Mr Gregqry wiU be persevered in. The time

731« theownerß of private <>> lauds will find it to their interest to grow" - • trees good for timber, for fruit, an £ lot " tuel, and vre hope that amongst other and , larger benefits derived ' from establishment of a Forest Department will be that of supplying information regarding ™«a beSJ km- ds t0 Plant« and *h« best modes of sowing, planting, pruning, &c, at various altitudes and in various climates Ceylon is celebrated for its ebony, xs_ satin-wood and many other trees suited for cabinet work. The island is rich, too, in good timbers, whether culri- ' vated, like the palmirah, or growing spontaneously, like the haLnilile, &c? i3ut there is no reason that we know of why teak and blackwood, and even sandal-wood should not be added t) our forest treasures; and we trust the reault of .the labours,- experiments, and suggestions of the Forest Conservators Wl ll be to add to our indigenous wealth of timber trees much of the best ' specimens.from other lands-India, Australia China, and Japan, and the" various countries of Europe. For the tleSof temperate dimes there are vast expanses of .patana and chena lands in our mouh! tain system, while an enormoua extent of low scrub lands is available for strictly tropical trees. Even lands which have been subjected to the wasteful "chenaing" process can in many cases be turned to good account w £ direcstwrn, and perhaps it would not be a bad plan to offer to the natives whia c ?tn° n t0 thf P r°P°^ion of S which follows a certain acreage of rice land kept m cultivation, an additional area proportioned to the number of timber and fuel trees they may succeed in rearing tip to a certain age. The details have to be worked out but there can be no doubt that while Ceylon presents a fine field for the growth of such economic products as ample and favourable scope for the application of the principles and practice of the art of forestry. To any ' one who has travelled in Germany, and seen how every waste spot, and every uncultivated corner, and every roadside are utilised for the growth of useful trees, we need not dwell on the contrast which Ceylon presents, and the improvement for which there is room., Owing probably in a large measure to the unnecessary stringency of the rule which forbids Government servants to write to the papers, the public has heard little or nothing cf the proceedings of the Conservators of Forests since they were appointed and drafted to their resoective provinces. But their functions and operations so closely resemble those' of , the director and superintendent of the gardens Peradeniya an d Hakgalla, that we trust an exception similar to that raadem regard to Mr Thwaite's annual ££? r % e*t&*A^™ the ««, to those which the Conservators have made to the Government agents or to the Government direct, and that they will be supplied to the Press as soon as^rinted We feel quite certain that the members of the Legislative Council will -be the last to object, the first to approve of a course which will place them equally ■ Jitti the public promptly in the possession of information, which we take it for grated will be interesting and useful. Our own firm belief is that there is a great and profitable future for well- ! directed, systematic, intelligent forestry