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interior of the province of Mysore a province generally 

 admitted to be above the average of Southern India and 

 examine the scanty manure heaps, you will find that they 

 consist almost entirely of the dung of lean cattle, and of 

 the ashes of such part of the dung as has been used for 

 fuel ; and the value of this manure may be estimated by 

 stating that even the dung of grass-fed cattle only, 

 contains, out of every 1,000 Ibe., about 11 Ibs. of valuable 

 matter. Whence, then, asks the practical agriculturist, 

 is to be supplied the phosphoric acid, lime, potash, and 

 nitrogenous matter which is carried off the land, partly 

 to be eaten by the farmer, and partly to be exported to 

 enable him to pay his rent ; and whence that vegetable 

 matter which is entirely consumed by cattle, but which is 

 so necessary, not only for its constituents, but for the 

 effect it has in maintaining the texture as well as the 

 radiating and absorptive powers of the soil ? The answer 

 is that there are no means of adequately supplying them 

 at all. The land, as we have seen, is deprived of its 

 vegetable matter because that is needed to feed cattle, and 

 from the absence of trees there is no means of procuring 

 leaves ; nor is there any practicable means of supplying 

 vegetable manure. It is deprived of its phosphoric acid, 

 lime, and nitrogenous constituents, which are but very 

 partially replaced by the infinitesimal quantities of these 

 substances to be found in the dung of lean cattle, and it 

 is deprived of its potash and other mineral constituents, 

 which can hardly be said to be replaced at all. And 

 what is true of the interior of Mysore is true generally, 

 as far as our information goes ; and were I not afraid of 

 wasting your space, I could easily bring ample evidence 

 to show that the soil of all India is, with few exceptions, 

 bordering on exhaustion. 



