Government forest.

166. The forest of the District amounts to 340 square miles, less than 9 per cent. of the total area; it is all Government land; of the three main divisions A Class occupies 160 square miles, B Class 20, and C Class 160. The chief tract lies along the hilly land which runs from east to west across the middle of the District, extending into the south of Murtizapur, Akola, and Balapur taluks, and the north of Mangrul and Basim taluks. Narnala fortress in the extreme north stands in a tract of A Class forest dating from 1894 and now covering 7 square miles. Several other isolated tracts are dotted about throughout the District; they are mostly babul bans, but some contain a variety of trees and some are reserved chiefly for the supply of grass. The stretches of forest along the central hills are all much of one type-thin jungle growing on rough stony ground which developes in places into actual ghats. They contain little good timber; the total revenue from this source has not risen above Rs. 18,000. Firewood, sold chiefly in Akola but largely also in Karanja and to a less degree in other markets, produces from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 24,000. In the two years 1906-1907 and 1907-1908 grass was taken away to the extent of I7,000 and 32,000 tons respectively, giving a revenue of Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 35,000. The chief source of income is grazing, which yields from Rs. 53,000 to Rs. 64,000. Minor produce is unimportant, yielding less than Rs. 5000; the most prominent article in it is mahua, which is collected chiefly for the manufacture of country liquor, but slightly also for local food-supplies; bamboos yield sometimes a few score and sometimes a few hundred rupees. Forests of A Class are fuel and fodder reserves, and those of B Class, ramnas, are purely fodder reserves; both are fire-protected; C Class forests are primarily pasture-land and are not fire-protected. Goats and sheep have been excluded from A Class forest since 1886; in the year 1908-1909 the number of other animals admitted was limited to one head to every 1½ acres. Complaints are often made of the inadequacy of grazing, but this restriction was necessary to prevent the reserves being over-grazed and ruined. People living in villages largely given up to forest are on the other hand commonly anxious to have more land given out for cultivation; the adjustment of the forest area involves difficult questions. There are no forest villages. It is impossible to show the development of the forest system in the District because the area upon which statistics are based was entirely altered in 1905; the old Akola District was a part of the Buldana Forest Division; Murtizapur, Basim, and Mangrul taluks were divided between two other Forest Divisions. In 1907-1908, however, the area was 219,135 acres, the revenue Rs. 1,32,000, and the expenditure Rs. 40,000. The charges made for passes are As. 6 for a cartload, and As. ½ for a headload, of grass or wood; As, 3 a year for a cow, As. 1½ for a goat, and As. 1 for a sheep in C Class forest; and As. 6 for cattle in A Class forest.

Roadside avenues.

167. The Public Works Department has charge of eight roads with an aggregate length of 233 miles; avenues, in every case incomplete, have been established along 66 miles. More than one-third of the Akola-Basim-Hingoli road has been planted in this partial fashion, less than one-quarter, on an average, of each of the other roads. To provide trees for a road a nursery is established for every 12 miles, maintained till that space is covered, and then abandoned; the trees chiefly planted are nim, mango, jamun, and shisham, and they are watered for three years. The expenditure in the year 1906-1907 was Rs. 1000 for planting and maintaining trees, and Rs. 1200 for the upkeep of nurseries. The District Board has already planted trees along 6 miles of road, on the station-roads at Kuram and Mana and the drive at Akola. It has now taken up an arboricultural scheme, to cover the years 1908 to 1918, which is to cost Rs. 17,000 altogether and will be wholly confined to planting the 18½ miles of road from Akola to Mahan. The Board has in its care 52 miles of metalled or muramed roads, and 450 miles of fair-weather roads; the completion of this scheme will mean that neatly one-half of the present system of made roads in its care has been provided with continuous shade.