280 AROUND THE WORLD VIA INDIA. 



the interior and along the Indian Ocean coast; very 



little fruit culture anywhere. Between Madras and 



Calcutta, and in the vicinity of Jaipur, the monotony 



of the landscape is somewhat relieved by mountain 



ranges, which are, however, almost bare, dotted only 



here and there with clumps of shrubs and dwarfed, 



hardy, much-branched trees. 



Water is India's greatest concern. On the amount 



of rainfall depends the success or failure of the crops. 



All the results of agriculture are dependent not 

 so much on reason and diligence, as on those 

 most uncertain things, winds and weather." — 

 Cicero. 



Deforestation has impoverished India, as it has the 

 Holy Land, Greece, Turkey, Spain, southern Austria, 

 and parts of the United States. The building of reser- 

 voirs and dams to hold heaven's gift have succeeded 

 only in part in preventing drouths when the rainfall is 

 scanty. The government has at last recognized the true 

 cause of the frequent drouths, and in 1880 passed laws 

 prohibiting further forest destruction, and took active 

 steps to restore what had been lost by the reckless, 

 thoughtless, destructive work of man. The results of 

 the efforts of reforestation are apparent in many parts 

 of the country, and if this good work is carried on with 

 the deserved energy, India will get its good share of 

 rain in less than a hundred years ; the farmer will reap, 

 from year to year, the rewards of labor, famine will 

 disappear and the general prosperity of the country 

 will reach a degree never known before. Nature has 

 made provision for reforestation of arid regions. In 

 the desert of Sahara, along the banks of the Suez Canal, 

 [ noticed a shrub from 4 to 8 feet high, with a dark 

 green foliage — the Tamarix tetragyna — in places where 

 nothing else would grow. This shrub is pre-eminently 

 fit for dry saline soil. The leaves are eaten by cattle. 

 This shrub would flourish in the deserts of our western 

 states. 



At present the laboring classes spend much of their 



