________________
and are least damaged by tremors as compared to masonry and concrete structures. In a good forest area the moist and humid conditions prevent natural fires. It is an established fact that forest fires are man-made either deliberate or by carelessness. The intensity of blazing sun is completely subduced, absorbed by layers of canopies of mixed dense forest. There is no damage by harmful ultraviolet rays. Trees have a wonderful capacity to absorb all sorts of obnoxious gases, carbon-di-oxide, carbon-mono-oxide, Nitrogen oxide, Sulphur-di-oxide, and then convert them into useful products, edible seeds, oil seeds, flowers, fruits, dyes, gums, resins, medicinal constituents in leaves, flowers, fruits, bark, wood and roots and host of other chemicals. Green leaves of trees are most efficient in utilising solar energy. They are highly organised, well managed factories producing all sorts of products free of cost and human labour.
Forests-an ideal symbiotic eco-system :
In natural forest areas all life forms live in harmony and are symbiotic with mutually cooperative relationship among themselves and also in relation to inanimate constituents. The bigger trees with deeper root system help provide moisture and nutrients to younger and smaller companions. Men, animals and birds eat flowers, fruits, get necessary food and simultaneously help the plants in dispersal of their seeds. Butterflies and other insects suck nectar from flowers of plants but are agents of pollination. It has been proved by experiments that production of fruits increase by more than 25% in orchards where honey bee farming is also done. There are different species of pest and predator insects on different plants in perfect natural balance and there is no insects damage. Many insects living symbiotically on trees produce useful products like lac, silk, honey etc. The burrowers like rats etc., which cause extensive damage in agriculture, are useful in forests as they work as tillers of land by burrowing and turning up the soil. There are carnivorous animals,
95 For Private & Personal Use Only
Jain Education International
www.jainelibrary.org
