52 HAPPY INDIA 



other great officials seem to take but little interest. 

 It is high time they were stirred up and told that 

 if they wish to work for their own honour and the 

 honour of their country, the honour of the British 

 Government and the honour of the British Empire, 

 the honour of the British people, they will set to 

 work without delay to remedy this great and glaring 

 evil. 



The remedy could be so quickly made. In India, 

 in those parts which are irrigated, it does not take 

 long for a plantation to grow sufficiently high to 

 supply firewood. In a couple of years a village 

 would have a plantation which would provide more 

 firewood than all the cowdung which they now 

 burn. Of course it requires a little arrangement 

 and a little management, but what is the Govern- 

 ment for if it cannot do those little arrangements ? 

 It might be necessary in some districts where there 

 are wealthy landowners to put a little tax on the 

 landowner, or some portion of the rent he gets might 

 go to the construction of these plantations to supply 

 fuel for the people. It is not a question that admits 

 of any doubt, every agriculturalist of science, every 

 agricultural chemist would give the same answer, 

 and he would say that every crop which was taken 

 from the soil takes away from the soil substances 

 which are necessary for the following crops, and 

 the only way to maintain the fertility of the soil 

 is to restore to it as much as possible those sub- 

 stances which are taken away from it. A great part 

 of those things are contained in the dung of the 



