SCAECITY OF FUEL. 287 



finest cultivated plains to be met with in the country. To the 

 fertilising properties of the residue of the waters of the river 

 deposited after floods, in a great measure is the richness in many 

 localities owing. Nowhere in India is manure more sparingly 

 used than in the Punjab, and the reason is because the Zemindars 

 are obliged to use all the manure procured from their cattle for 

 the purposes of household econonry. In every Doab, wood is 

 scarce in the extreme, all that is required for architectural pur- 

 poses being brought down the rivers from the Kohistan. For 

 burning, the roots of the Dawk (Butea frondosa) are dug up, dried 

 and sent to Lahore and Amritsir. In other quarters, at a distance 

 from the jungles, or in the upper parts of most of the Doabs, that 

 which ought to go to the support of the soil, the manure of cattle 

 is dried and used ; and we can assert, that throughout the length 

 and breadth of this fine country, a few hundred good timber-trees 

 are not to be met with. Formerly in Hazara fine forests of Sissoo 

 existed, but these during the hard times of the former reign, were 

 nearly all cut down by the ruthless hands of the conquerors, and 

 the few left, swept away by the waters of the Indus during 

 the great debouche in 1840. 



To supply the demand for wood for burning purposes, which, 

 will ere long be immense, is a subject worthy of consideration on 

 the part of government. In almost every Doab there are tracts 

 lying waste which could with a little trouble and labour be formed 

 into nurseries, from whence the Zemindars might be gradually in- 

 duced to take trees to plant out. At every Thannah a small 

 nursery of a few Beegus of land might be formed, and might be 

 worked with prison labour, under the guidance of Mallees, and one 

 would be sufficient to take charge of two or three nurseries, as it 

 would not always be necessary for him to be present in one place. 

 In addition to the value of rearing timber for burning purposes, the 

 country would be greatly benefited, provided that planting was carried 

 on on an extensive scale, by the additional moisture, which it is 

 well known, trees attract. But to bring about this, planting would 

 require to be carried out on a most comprehensive system. It is 

 a well known fact that districts marked for their moisture have, 

 when cleared of trees, become comparatively dry and arid ; and 

 others again, when planted, comparatively moist. By extensive 

 planting in the Punjab two objects would therefore be gained ; 

 when the canals, now about to be dug, are commenced on, small 

 nurseries ought to be formed every five or ten miles, from whence 

 young trees could be procured to plant their banks. This being 



