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CHAPTER IX

FORESTS AND FLORA

The forests of Burma may be conveniently classified as (i) Evergreen, comprising (1) littoral, (2) swamp, (3) tropical, (4) hill or temperate; and (ii) Deciduous, comprising (1) open, (2) mixed, (3) dry. The littoral forests are confined to Lower Burma, as also are, practically, the true swamp forests, while the dry deciduous forests mostly occur in the Upper province. The other classes are common to the whole of Burma. The mixed deciduous forests yield most of the out-turn of teak. Large areas covered entirely by teak are however not known and it is rare even to find forests where teak is numerically the chief species. As a rule it is scattered through forests composed of the trees common to the locality. The in forests, so well known on laterite formation, belong to the open deciduous sub-class, while evergreen hill or temperate forests clothe a large proportion of the uplands of the Shan States. A considerable forest area in Burma is covered with a luxuriant growth of bamboo[1].

The forests are among the most valuable sources of the wealth of the Province. They are administered by Government through the agency of a skilled and highly trained staff of Forest officers. The object of the administration is the preservation of valuable trees, extraction on scientific lines with due provision for reproduction so that the supply of useful timber may not be exhausted, and the realization of State dues. An elaborate Act and still more complex Rules embody the principles of forest administration and prescribe its methods.

Briefly, the theory is that all forest land and forest produce belong to the State. But it is only over certain land and in the case of certain produce that State rights are fully enforced. There are two distinctions which must be understood in order that the situation in respect of

  1. ↑ Imperial Gazetteer of India—Burma, 1870.
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