HAPPY INDIA 59 



these new railways were made and the new coalmines 

 developed, and it might easily be asked, Is there no 

 quicker and cheaper mode of providing the cultivator 

 with his small wants in the shape of fuel ? What is 

 the quantity that is required ? If we assume that 

 on the average the cattle, including cows, bulls, 

 buffaloes, horses, mules, donkeys, pigs, sheep, and 

 goats, are equivalent to as much as one ox per head 

 of the agricultural population, and assuming that 

 one ox will give i tons of dry manure in a year, 

 then for a family of five we have rather more than 

 eight tons of dry manure from the domestic animals ; 

 and if one-half of that is burnt, we have rather 

 more than four tons of dry manure that is burnt. 

 If we assume that dry wood is twice as good as dry 

 cowdung for fuel, then if we supply the cultivator 

 with two tons of dry wood, he will have sufficient 

 fuel to enable him to put all the cowdung into the 

 ground ; and if we assume that one ton of coal equals 

 two tons of wood, then one ton of coal would be 

 sufficient for the average cultivator's household for 

 one year. The population engaged in agriculture is 

 about 170,000,000 in that part of India which is 

 under direct British government, and taking the 

 householders as being five persons, there are 34,000,000 

 households which, on the average, require one ton 

 of coal per annum. Some of these, of course, require 

 none, some want two or three tons of coal a year, 

 and some want only half a ton of coal a year, and 

 there are many persons in the town who now buy 

 cowdung as fuel and who would have to be supplied 



