The Forest Resources of India1

Abstract

MORE than one-fifth of the total area of British India (including the Shan States), comprising some 250,000 square miles, is under the control of the Forest Department. In this vast area the diversity of climate, soil, and vegetation is very great. The forest vegetation ranges from that of the arid, semi-desert tracts of North-west India and the alpine scrub on the higher slopes of the Himalayas to the luxuriant evergreen forests of parts of Assam, Burma, and the west coast of India, while the total number of woody plants comprises approximately 5000 distinct species. The number of valuable timbers and other commercial products available in the forests is very large, and many of them are as yet imperfectly known. Among the best-known timber trees are red cedar (Cedrela Toona), deodar (Cedrus deodara), satin-wood (Chloroxylon Swietenia), rosewood (Dal-bergia latifolia), padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergi-oides), sandal (Santalum album), sal (Shorea robusta), and teak (Tectona grandis). The principal minor products are classified under bamboos, grass, fibres, oil-seeds, tanning materials, essential oils, gums, resins, rubber, drugs, and lac. Minor forest industries which are likely to develop considerably in the near future are the paper-pulp industry, which offers great scope for the utilisation of bamboos and grasses, and the production of turpentine and rosin from the resin of Finns longifolia. During the last twelve years the Indian resin factories have increased their output tenfold.