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CHAPTER VI. 



MANURES AVAILABLE IN INDIA. 



Mr. R. II . Elliot on the future prospects of agriculture in India, 

 the want of manure, and the degeneration of man and 

 animal. The fertility of a soiHIepends upon the quantity 

 of inorganic plant-food which it contains in physical 

 combination. The chief object of agriculture should be to 

 maintain this fertility. The progressive exhaustion of the 

 soil, under the present system of agriculture in India, 

 expressed in figures. Man and animal part of the soil. 



The total consumption of food-stuffs by the Indian subjects of 

 Great Britain. The ashes, or inorganic parts of these food- 

 stuffs, are to be found in human refuse. The welfare and 

 ultimate existence of nations depend upon the proper 

 utilization of this fertilizing matter. The calculations of 

 Liebig 730 crores of rupees the value of food-stuffs con- 

 sumed annually in British India. The loss to the com- 

 monwealth by the waste of the inorganic constituents 

 contained in the refuse of food, which, if carefully restored, 

 would have enabled the soil to yield another crop worth 

 730 crores. Public opinion awakening to a knowledge of 

 the enormous waste going on. The Times on the River 

 Pollution Commission. The conservation of human and 

 animal refuse in India offers no difficulties. The project 

 of a system adapted for all small towns and villages. Mr. 

 Buck on the utilization of town-refuse at Furrukhabad. 

 Experiments made in the Deccan with human refuse as 

 manure give remarkable results, more than doubling the 

 outturn. Town-refuse adopted as manure for all food- 

 stuffs. Its approximate composition. Its mode of appli- 

 cation. 



As an introduction to the chapter on Manures, 

 I quote in extenso a letter from Mr. Robert H. 



