Forest produce from spontaneous growth is not agricultural income without basic cultivation operations on the land.

Receipts from the sale of sal trees of spontaneous growth in forest were not agricultural income because no basic operations such as planting, sowing, or tilling of the soil were shown. The court held that preservation, nursing, protection, and improvement of existing forests are only subsequent forestry operations and do not amount to cultivation of the land itself. As the income did not arise from agricultural use, it was not exempt under section 4(3)(viii) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922.

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Issues: Whether receipts from the sale of sal trees growing spontaneously in forest lands, where no planting, sowing, or tilling of the soil was shown, constituted agricultural income exempt from tax.

Analysis: The governing test was whether the assessees had carried out basic operations on the land itself amounting to cultivation, so that the income could be treated as arising from agricultural use of the land. The claimed activities related to preservation, nursing, improving, and protection of existing forests, but the trees were of spontaneous growth and the soil had remained untouched. Such forestry operations, even if useful for fostering growth and increasing yield, were only subsequent operations and could not be equated with the basic agricultural operations required to convert forest produce into agricultural income.

Conclusion: The receipts from the sale of sal trees were not agricultural income and were not exempt under section 4(3)(viii) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922.

Ratio Decidendi: Income from forest produce of spontaneous growth is not agricultural income unless there are basic operations on the land itself amounting to cultivation; subsequent forestry operations alone do not satisfy that test.

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