the danger that the latter's initiative and other valuable moral qualities will tend to atrophy. The very reverse is true of the cooperative movement, every detail of which is calculated to implant and foster just those qualities of self-help and thrift which are most valuable. The progress of the movement will be described in some detail in a later chapter and here it is only necessary to take note of it as one element in the great process of improvement in the lot of the agricultural population of India which is now going on. Further, the impending developments in the Indian banking system are of immense interest and importance to the co-operative movement. A brief mention of the way in which these developments can affect the movement was made in the first chapter, and in chapter V, which deals with Finance, we shall see that the projected Gold-Standard and Reserve Bank Bill contains certain provisions calculated to fortify and invigorate the vitally important financial side of the movement. But apart from this, the Government of India take a direct and practical interest in the co-operative movement in spite of the fact that the latter is an entirely provincial subject. Clearly it has certain sides in which concerted effort and joint deliberations can be of great value, and it is here that the Government of India can help and has helped. During the year under review, at the request of the Government of Bombay the ninth Conference of the Registrars of Co-operative Societies in India was opened at Bombay in January 1926 by His Excellency Sir Leslie Wilson, the Governor of the Presidency. This was the first All-India Conference held after the reforms-the last one having been held in 1918. Although the subject of Co-operative Societies has now become a Provincial transferred subject under the Government of India Act, 1919, and the movement has not progressed on uniform lines in the various provinces, there are still several important matters of principle, as well as practice, which can be most usefully discussed in an All-India Conference of official experts assisted by non-official co-operators. Such a conference provides an opportunity for interchange of ideas and discussion of problems of considerable importance to the movement as a whole. The development of Land Mortgage Banks, the organization of Consumers' Societies, popularly known as Co-operative Stores,' the co-ordination between the Departments of Co-operation, Agriculture, and Industries, and relations with the Imperial Bank of India were some of the important subjects discussed at the Conference.

It was decided to hold the next All-India Conference at Simla in 1928. It is believed that such interchange of ideas and discussions will be of great practical use to the Registrars and their non-official helpers, as well as to the Governments of the various provinces.

The influence of State activities on the welfare of the agricultural population of India is seen most clearly and directly in the work of the Irrigation, Agriculture, and Forest Departments, to which a great part of this chapter will be devoted. The importance of these departments to India's well-being can hardly be exaggerated. The irrigation works in this country are, of course, the most famous in the whole world; the value of the Indian Agricultural Department devoted to research and the spread of agricultural education will be easily realised, but to enable the general reader to understand the part played by the forests of India in her political economy some explanation is necessary. Forests are Agriculture's foster-mother, for they, as is well-known, exercise a marked influence on climate and rainfall. They hold together the fertile surface soil; they store water and dole it out gradually, thus preventing disastrous floods and the formation of ravines; by checking erosion they prevent good soil from being washed into the rivers, and carried away to waste. Forests also directly increase the fertility of the land, being capable of forming rich vegetable mould even from mineral soils. Finally, in India, forests are a valuable asset in times of scarcity or famine, for they yield vast quantities of fodder and provide edible fruits and roots of which the poor readily avail themselves. Advantage of the visit of the Royal Agricultural Commission has been taken by forest officers to lay stress on the immense benefits that forestry can bestow on the peasant by providing him with wood fuel so that cow-dung may be used as manure. Small plantations properly established and cared for should be scattered in suitable places all over the plains of India to provide timber for houses and agricultural purposes as well as for fuel. The neglect of her forests in times past has exposed India to many penalties. The dense forests once situated in the Gangetic plain have now very largely disappeared, the land once occupied by trees being either cultivated or standing as a deserted tract with ever expanding ravines. Every province in India can show examples of the havoc done by deforestation. In the Punjab. on all sides may be seen low barren hills and ravines pouring forth sand to encroach on good arable soil. Manure, particularly cow

dung, which should enrich the land, is used as fuel, a practice which has far-reaching economic effects. The process of deforestation has probably continued for many centuries, but its serious effects seem to have become for the first time apparent, when, under the stabilised conditions of British rule, the population of India greatly increased. New demands for timber and fuel, and the extension of tillage caused a fierce onslaught upon the forest areas. Fortunately the danger was perceived before it was too late and forest conservation has now been applied systematically for more than half a century. In earlier years the task was beset with great difficulties, for the Forest Department was compelled to discharge the unpopular duty of protecting the heritage of nature from the thoughtlessness of mankind. The close connection of forests with the well-being of the people, and the dependence of Indian agriculturists upon the forests in their vicinity, naturally operate to prevent the broad national aspects of forest conservation from being generally appreciated at their true value. Yet, were the Himalayas deforested there could be no perennial canals on which the life of the Punjab and the United Provinces now so largely depends.

Restrictions upon the grazing of cattle, the felling of trees and the lighting of fires, so necessary for the conservation of India's forest wealth, are frequently resented by those classes of the population whose activities are thereby restrained and from time to time the resulting friction between the Forest Departments and certain sections of the general public has led to agitation of various kinds. In several provinces public opinion is being enlisted in support of the policy of the Forest Department by the constitution of committees, whose task it is to explain and justify the measures recommended by forestry experts. Many of the smaller reserves, which are chiefly valuable for the grazing which they supply to local cattle, have been handed over to village Punchayats for management. It is to be hoped that with the gradual education of public opinion on the subject of forests, the task of the authorities may be simplified; for nothing could be more disastrous to India's natural resources than the sacrifice of the future development of her forests to the immediate interests of the present generation. Even now, no fewer than 12 million animals graze in Government forests at nominal fees varying from 2 annas to Rs. 2 per annum. Moreover, it is estimated that the total value of rights and concessions enjoyed by villagers every year from the administered forests

amounts to nearly one million sterling. Rights so extensive, unless carefully controlled and scientifically regulated, are capable of inflicting severe damage upon the forest resources of the country and Mr. A. Rodger, the Inspector General of Forests and President of the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun, has spoken of the "terrible damage caused in India by excessive grazing."

Inspite of the hindrances which it encounters from the unwillingness of the public to co-operate with it and of the drawbacks inseparable from a restricted staff, the Forest Department manages to return an appreciable net profit to the Government of India. In 1924-25 this profit was approximately Rs. 24 crores, a very gratifying result when it is remembered that in neither the United States nor Canada are the State forests paying concerns. There is no reason to doubt that the Indian forests will become increasingly profitable to the Indian Government as improvements in methods of transportation in silvicultural research and other technical matters are effected and as the work now being carried on in the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun is enlarged. The following account of the work of the Institute is taken from an article in the Empire Forestry Journal contributed by Mr. A. Rodger.

Since about the year 1900 it has been realised that the proper development and utilization of the forests of India must depend on expert and scientific guidance which can only be obtained through a properly organised research institute. The first research officer to be appointed was a Forest Zoologist, who began work on insect pests in 1900. In 1906-07 a Silviculturist, an Economist, a Botanist and a Chemist were appointed. The Forest Zoologist started work directly under the Inspector General of Forests, but the control of research finally devolved on the Director of the Forest School at Dehra Dun, who became the President of the Forest Research Institute and College.

It may be noted here that the area of the forests in connection with which the Research Institute works is 160,000,000 acres, indeed more, because Indian States have also large forests in addition to the above area. This area is no less than one quarter of the area of British India, and the gross revenue realised from the forests in the year 1924-25 was Rs. 5-67 crores. In the year 1912-13 the gross revenue was Rs. 3.22 crores. This all but doubling of the gross revenue in 11 years may fairly be ascribed in part to the

work done in forest research in India since 1906. This research is principally economic, but a great deal of work has also been done by the silvicultural and chemical branches of the Research Institute, and the results of this have already been apparent. In the botanical and entomological branches it is naturally much more difficult to make visible and measurable progress within a short period of years.

Silvicultural research has helped largely by developing the scientific side of tree growing and by introducing more correct methods of estimating the correct yield from a forest. In a number of cases the volume of timber annually removed from an area was too small and it has been found that the forests can really yield more timber and can be worked profitably under a shorter rotation. But it must be remembered that by far the greater part of the silvicultural experimental work is not nearly complete and will not be really useful for some years to come. When we know how all our best forests should be worked, the increase in revenue from them is bound to be very large.

Turning to economic research we see that this branch at Dehra Dun has developed more than any other during the last ten years. To give only one example, the important subject of lac propagation has received much attention and many new facts about it have been observed and recorded. The methods of sowing and harvesting lac have been much improved, and the area under lac has been largely extended. This valuable product provides a very large annual revenue to the department and the value of lac exported last year was Rs. 7-55 crores. India provides practically all the shellac in the world. Regarding timber, a great deal of information has been collected about the qualities of the more important timbers available all over the Indian Empire and these have been recorded and published. During the last few years several sections of the economic branch have been established which submit all the important timbers to every conceivable kind of test. In addition, other products are being investigated on a large scale.

The important subject of wood Technology has been the subject of study for some years at the Research Institute and valuable results have been obtained. Timber Testing also has been carried on a large scale at Dehra Dun with the object of establishing the relative strengths of well-known and unknown Indian woods and