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that the laws of nature cannot be disregarded for 

 any length of time without severe retribution, and 

 that the poverty of the agricultural classes of 

 India is a just though severe punishment for 

 the sins of their fathers, who have squandered the 

 resources of the soil in the reprehensible manner 

 I have shown. 



It may not be out of place here to draw attention 

 to the export of bones from India, which is steadily 

 on the increase. It is really a matter of deep 

 regret that India's stores of this most important 

 manure, which she herself needs so sadly, should 

 be thus gradually withdrawn to fertilize the soil 

 of a foreign country which has to spend now 

 several millions sterling annually in order to 

 repair the agricultural waste that preceding gene- 

 rations have been guilty of. It is a matter of deep 

 regret that the native cultivator, in his profound 

 ignorance, is not yet aware of the immense import- 

 ance of bones to agriculture, and therefore 

 never utilizes them ; but it is a matter of still 

 deeper regret that the exportation of bones, now 

 going on, will deprive India of a treasure which 

 could repair the culpable waste of the past. 

 India, I say, cannot afford to lose a particle of 

 this most essential aliment for her grain crops ; 

 she has already lost enormous quantities, and will 

 want every grain of it ultimately returned. 



An analysis of rice grown in Salsette gave the 



