form a corresponding increasing series, thereby fully providing for the continued expansion and increasing vigour of the clump. Then, when in course of time the clump has attained its maximum development, the average number and size of the shoots of each generation will remain the same from year to year, and thus the quantity removed each year will be an exact measure of the annual production and the maintenance of the equivalent of the last two generations of shoots will guarantee a sustained yield.

As it is often impossible to recognise with certainty all the shoots of the last but one generation, it will be sufficiently safe in practice, for the purpose of ascertaining the number of shoots to be left in the clump at the successive exploitations, to take double the number of the current year's shoots.

In the foregoing paragraphs it has been assumed that the clumps to be exploited are taken in hand from the earliest years; but actually the mass of our bamboo forests are not or cannot be brought under systematic culture until they have been already worked for many years, or at least have been for a long time in full production. In the case of such forests, the first thing to be done is to bring about a proper spacing of the productive culms, always an expensive and laborious operation requiring to be effected by the agency of the owner of the forest, but one which cannot be dispensed with if exploitation on any scale is to be carried on; it is only when the clumps have been thinned out properly that they will begin to produce up to their full capability, and will be safe against mutilation whenever any shoot has to be taken out. The principles to be observed here, in the thinning as well as in all subsequent operations, are the same as those already prescribed above. If a clump has been overcut, they will enable it, without necessitating a preliminary period of rest and relinquishment of revenue, to acquire the desired increase of vigour and power of expansion, just as in the case of a young clump that has not yet reached its maximum development; and if, on the other hand, the clump has not been exploited up to its actual capacity, their immediate effect will be to at once render available a mass of produce hitherto remaining unutilised, and to place the clump in the best possible conditions for thenceforward yielding the largest and most useful production of which it is capable.

Every bamboo-cutter should be provided with a stiff narrowbladed saw, besides the usual light one-hand axe. The saw will serve to cut down close to the ground the countless numbers of shoots which cannot be reached with the axe, and without it it will be impossible to thin out overcrowded clumps.

Annually recurring exploitation requires competent workmen honestly and strictly supervised, and, therefore, in most cases, necessitates departmental agency. Nevertheless, if local labour is abundant and competition is keen, it will be possible to dispense with departmental working by adopting a system of licensing picked men and allowing only these to be employed in the bamboo exploitation: the fear of forfeiting their license will effectually compel the men to work in accordance with the prescribed rules.

Annually recurring exploitation will obtain from a bamboo forest its highest utility; it will injure the clumps least, it will yield the largest outturn, and it will furnish the greatest number of large-sized shoots.

2. Exploitation recurring at a fixed interval of several years.

Despite the immense superiority of well-directed annually recurring exploitations, the method has not received anything like the attention and consideration it deserves, and the restrictions and conditions it imposes have led many foresters to prefer longer intervals than that of a single year between the successive exploitations. In adopting these long intervals, the essence of every method, whatever the detailed procedure in any particular case might be, is to preserve only the shoots of the current year (these being easily recognised by the least experienced), and, in order to compensate for the small number of parent shoots left, to give to the clumps a sufficient length of time in which to recover from the overcutting to which they are subjected at each exploitation. Thus the question to be decided in each case resolves itself into determining the intervals at which the exploitations should recur, that is to say, the length of the rotation.

A rest of only two years would seldom suffice for the complete recovery of the overcut clumps, unless indeed the demand was considerably under the amount of the annual production. As far as can be judged from present experience, a third year of rest would be ample to restore the clumps to their normal vigour and rate of production. A longer period of rest than one of three years is not permissible in view of the overcrowding that must inevitably follow, with its highly undesirable consequences."

The practice has sometimes been adopted of allowing cutting for two years running with only a single year of rest before beginning work again, and in order to prevent the entire disappearance of the youngest generation of shoots, these are priced higher than older shoots. Such a system is, however, only an ingenious device for increasing the revenue at the expense of the production, while making a pretence of aiming at conservation and scientific culture.

As said above, the essence of every system of exploitation at longer intervals than a single year is to spare only the shoots of the youngest generation. As these may come up irregularly, their preservation alone can never guarantee an effective distribution of the shoots in each clump or the securing of vigorous and healthy parents for the coming generation. Moreover, if a clump is weak or has not, from some accidental cause, produced many shoots during the past season, the removal of all the larger shoots but these last must have the effect either of making it still weaker or of preventing it from gaining further vigour. A better plan would hence be to preserve in each clump a certain fixed number of shoots, and to select these from amongst the older generations of shoots if the full number of desirable and properly spaced shoots cannot be found amongst the youngest generation. In following this procedure, clumps which do not contain more than the fixed number of shoots to be left will not be touched at all, and the work of the cutter can be at once checked by the mere counting of the shoots left standing.

Exploitation at longer intervals than a single year is attended with several capital disadvantages, the principal of which are absolute impossibility of keeping the clumps properly thinned out and withdrawal of a very considerable portion of the productive area from exploitation; hence reduced yield, inferior size of the shoots, difficult extraction, and heavy damage in exploitation. Although the system has many powerful advocates, and is also very extensively practised, its necessity has yet to be justified. If the demand is insignificant in comparison with the annual production, the principle of giving rest becomes entirely redundant, and if, on the other hand, the demand is large enough to require careful conservancy and working, prices will always be high enough to pay for the careful style of cutting required by the system of annual exploitation. Moreover, in this latter case, exploitation at longer intervals than one year must mean heavy overcutting in the open

areas.

SEEDING OF THE DENDROCALAMUS STRICTUS.

In a particularly hot valley in North Arcot in the Chandragiri Forests, where the Dendrocalamus strictus is almost pure, this bamboo is seeding gregariously. After a careful inspection I did not find a clump which was not seeding.

The year has been particularly dry, and the cutting has for years

been atrociously done; in most cases the whole clump has been cut over 5 feet or so from the ground. The seeding, however, began before the dryness of the year could make itself felt, and clumps which, from their inaccessibility, have hardly been touched, are also seeding.

In the south of the district, on the dry lower slopes of the Javadis, the same bamboo is seeding sporadically, as it has done for years. Here too the cutting has been bad, but, owing to the supply being much in excess of the demand, not to the same extent as in the first mentioned area.

J. G. F.-M.

AN AUTHENTIC CASE OF A FOREST FIRE CAUSED BY LIGHTNING.

THE readers of the "Indian Forester" will be interested to learn an authentic case of a forest fire caused by lightning, which occurred last April in the Alapelli forests of the Chanda District, Central Provinces. During a heavy thunderstorm a large teak tree was struck in the Mirkalu reserve, which, it is hardly necessary to say, is protected from fire. The lightning current first struck an upright branch and then ran down the stem setting it on fire. The tree was shivered to pieces, large fragments being scattered over long distances. The storm being accompanied with but little rain, the grass and dry leaves round the burning tree were set ablaze. As this unfortunately occurred in the middle of the night, more than 80 acres were burnt before my establishment could reach the spot and extinguish the fire. It is not often that one hears of a forest fire caused by lightning, and it was my good or evil fortune, whichever you will, that made me a spectator of

so rare an occurrence.

A. E. LOWRIE.

MURDER OF A FOREST GUARD.

IN these days of safety and civilization it is not often that the forest subordinate runs any risk in the performance of his duty save from wild animals or from the maladies incidental to a forest life; so that the cold-blooded murder of a forest guard in broad daylight in a frequented public road, apparently for the sake of the Government revenue he was carrying, comes rather as a shock, and may be considered worthy of notice in our only forest chronicle.

The victim of this outrage was a strong young hillman, who was engaged in carrying the daily revenue from Lalpuri to Amangarh, two forest revenue stations about 5 miles apart in the Bijnor District; he was dressed in the uniform of the Department, and carried as arms the regulation "khukri." On the day in question, in the third week in February, the revenue post not arriving at Amangarh in time, enquiries were made at Lalpuri proving that the man had started from thence in due course carrying some Rs. 42 with him.

Suspicions being aroused, careful search discovered his body lying in the forest some 25 yards from the road. It was apparent that the forest guard had been surprised before he had time to draw his weapon, his hands had been secured with his own turban, and after being carried a short distance from the road he had been dispatched by repeated blows from his own "khukri." The murderers then decamped with the revenue bag. Up to the time of writing, I have not been informed that any success has attended the police investigation of the case.

Up to the present it has not been thought necessary to send more than one guard if the revenue amounted to less than Rs. 100, and it is likely that in this case the murderers anticipated larger booty, as the bag contained Rs. 5 or 6 worth of copper coin. It is now under consideration to arm all revenue guards with Snider rifles, which will at any rate give confidence in meeting

man or beast.

S. E.-W.