EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 39 



which this is reckoned among the necessaries of life. In 

 these the demand for firewood is such that there must be 

 kept up a supply ; but this is done with a rise in price, 

 which rise is ever increasing as the supplies have to be 

 brought from ever-increasing distances. Thus it is in 

 the larger cities of Russia ; and there in mining districts 

 the continuation of smelting and manufacturing operations 

 has in many cases been found to be unprofitable. In 

 India, some twenty years ago, the destruction of forests 

 in connection with the construction and the working of 

 railways, imperilled the very existence of large communities 

 through the diminution thus occasioned in their supply 

 of fuel needed for lesser industries, and for the preparation 

 of their food. In Siberia and in Mongolia dry cow dung 

 is extensively made use of by the Mongols, under the 

 name of argol ; and in South Africa the same material 

 and sheeps' droppings called mist constitute in many 

 districts the only fuel made use of. But from this the 

 Indians shrunk ; and, some influenced perhaps by religious 

 prejudice, would have died rather than make use of such 

 fuel. With the abundant supply of coal which exists in 

 Britain, this evil may not be felt here j but it is otherwise 

 elsewhere. 



In a volume entitled French Forest Ordinance of 1669 : 

 with Historical Sketch of Previous Treatment of Forests in 

 France, I have given details of the crisis produced in 

 France, which called forth the memorable saying of 

 Colbert, minister of Louis XIV., France perira faute des 

 Bois ! and the delight with which this Ordinance, designed 

 to arrest the destruction of forests, was hailed in other 

 countries in Europe in which it is still spoken of as the 

 Famous Ordinance of 1669, tells of the extent to which the 

 evils mentioned were then prevalent. 



Of such evils it may be alleged that they are simply 

 the privation of what has been destroyed, in accordance 

 with what is taught to children, that they cannot both 

 eat their cake and keep it, spend their shilling and retain 

 it. But other evils have followed. 



