26 No. 350, REVENUE, 23RD JULY 1896.
grinding of the bark is done by a Carter's disintegrater of which the motor power is a vortex
turbine which, owing to deficiency of water during the dry season, can be worked only half the
year. The disintegrater is, however, capable of grinding 4,000 lb. of bark per day ; and, as it
can be worked for 150 days in the year, 600,000 pounds of bark can be annually ground, an
amount which is more than thrice as great as the vats in the factory are capable of converting
into quinine or febrifuge. The factory buildings are, however, capable of extension whenever
more vats are required to meet the demand for their outturn. At present the vats are capable
of turning out annually only 4,800 lb. of quinine and about 3,000 of febrifuge—amounts which
up to date have exceeded the demand. Should the demand exceed the present grinding power
of the disintegrater . , arrangements can, the Director assures me, be made for leading water from
another stream so as to increase the number of working days and the output of ground bark by
one-third. The factory is thus in all its departments capable of expansion. The present
accommodation for storage for bark is ample and it also is capable of expansion.
7. Fuel.—Fuel for the factory is at present obtained from a shola, behind the Hooker
estate and abou t two and a half miles distant from the factory. This shola was made o ver to
t he Di r e c t or by a f or me r Cons e r va t or of For e s t s wi t h t he di s t i nc t i nt e nt i on t ha t i t s houl d be
worked coppice fa shion as a Source of fuel for the factory. The policy of coppicing standing
forest with the object at once of utilizing the timber on it and of providing for its reproduction
b y c o p p i c e i s l a r g e l y f o l l o w e d i n F r a n c e a n d i t f o r m s t h e b a s i c o f a w e l l - k n o w n a n d h i g h l y
accredited system of treatment. Of late, however, this policy does not appear to have com
mended itself to the forest authorities on these hills, and I understand the question is now
under consideration whether the above-mentioned
shola should not be resumed. by the Forest
department and the Director compelled to buy fuel for the quinine factory. It this arrange
ment be carried out, the Forest department propose , as I ami n f o r m e d , t o s u p p l y
E u c a l y p t u s
fuel at a cost of Rs. 6 per thousand pounds, at a spot over ten miles distant from the factory.
The rate of carriage to the factory from this spot would. the Director says, be Rs. 2 per
thousand pounds. The cost of fuel from the present source of supply he estimates as at
Re. 1 per thousand pounds. The proposed increase would therefore form a not inconsiderable
addition to the net cost of the outturn of the factory. I must say, I think, it would be a
mistake to increase the net cost in this adventitious way The object of the maintenance of
the quinine factory is the, good of the whole population of the country and the allotment to the
factory of a piece of natural forest to be exploited in the interest of the Cinchona rather
than
of the Forest department does not appear to me to violate any principle of political economy .
If the management of the shola in question by the Director were to involve its destruction,
there might be a case against its remaining. in his hands ; but conversion into coppice, not
destruction, is the idea of his treatment, of it.. I would. however, with the view of preventing,
inconvenience from changes in forest policy in future, strongly recommend
that as large an
area as possible of the land in the cinchona reserves which is unsuitable for crown barks
should be utilized for the production of fuel for the factory. I may mention that, on the
Sikkim plantation, there is a large area of forest at the entire disposal of Cinchona department,
and that there is besides a fuel plantation which now covers :300 acres, and which is being
annually extended during the seasons when plantation work is slack.
8. Grazing.— Attached to each of the plantations there is a. certain amount of grass land
on which the plantation cattle and also the cattle belonging. to the estate coolies are allowed
to graze. Such land carries no timber and can be of no use for strictly forest purposes. These
cattle are kraaled at night, and their dung is carefully collected as manure which is of great
use in. the improvement of the poorer parts of the plantation. I think it would be a great
mistake to diminish the area of these plantation grazing grounds. If any change is to be
made, it should, in my opinion, be in the direction of extension rather than of contraction. I
would however strictly prohibit. the grazing of cattle in sholas.
9 Ravages of Game.—T h e r e
i s n o d o u b t , w h a t e v e r t h a t y o u n g p l a n t s a n d y o u n g c o p p i c e o f
crown barks and of crown bark hybrids are much eaten down by sambur and jungle sheep.
This is nothing new. The late Mr. Mc.Ivor complained bitterly of it to me in 1871 and
showed me large areas of young pl a nting which had been practically ruined by the ravages of
these animals. I also heard loud complaints about the matter during visit in 1878. During
my present visit I have questioned the Superintendents and some of the natives resident on
the various plantations, and I have seen for myself ample evidences of the evil. In fact any
body can see an excellent example of it by examining the margin of the plantation at the
distance of a few hundred yards of the Director's bungalow at. Nedivattam. And the mischief
is even greater on the Wood estate than at Nedivattam. Fencing appears to afford little or
no protection against this kind of game, and the only efficient way of protecting the young
plantations and coppice is by shooting the deer. For many years there has been on the Cinchona
establishment one shikari whose duty it is to frighten the game off the three plantations of
Nedivattam, Hooker and Wood. I have read the memorial of the Game Preservation Associa-
tion and the comments of the Director and of the Collector of the Nilgiris thereon, And