88 ESTATE MANAGEMENT 



is not conducive to improvements being made by the landlord. 

 It may be found necessary to modify this custom in some 

 places and to charge a small rent for the house if it be 

 substantially improved at the landlord's cost. 



The landlord cannot be satisfied, however, only with 

 improving his tenants' holdings and his own cultivation. He 

 has to regard his whole estate as a single unit ; and he should 

 seek to devote all his resources to its development. He is 

 a lucky man if there is no waste land, or laud bringing in a 

 very poor rent, within his boundaries. Of whatever kind 

 the waste land is, there is some means known of improving 

 it and making it bear crops or some useful or saleable pro- 

 duce. It is, however, a question whether the reclamation 

 of such waste land will be financially worth while. In most 

 cases it will be ; but if the land is nearly pure sand, or ex- 

 tremely alkaline, the cost may be too high. Where canal 

 water is available ordinary reh land can be turned into good 

 productive soil, as experiments by the Agricultural Depart- 

 ments in these Provinces and the Punjab have demonstrated. 

 Ravine land may be reclaimed for cultivation by small 

 bunds and progressive levelling ; or if very bad they may 

 be planted with quick-growing trees as a fuel reserve. Even 

 if there is no waste land to be planted, it is quite essential 

 that the landlord should see that some land is put under 

 quick-growing trees for the supply of fuel. He should 

 encourage the tenants to cut fuel therefrom for a purely 

 nominal .charge on the understanding that they cease to use 

 cow-dung as a fuel and utilize it for manuring their fields. 

 He will also plant trees which produce good timber for 

 ploughs and building purposes, and should plant groves of 

 mango and other fruit-trees suitable to the climate, and 

 have them properly looked after by his own agent. In 

 these and many other ways the landlord can increase the 

 resources of his whole estate. A large zamindari is indeed 



