HAPPY INDIA 63 



gives in its atlas a map showing the forest areas of 

 India ; from this it appears that the greater part of 

 India is distant between 10 and 50 miles from forest 

 land. The course of the River Ganges from Benares 

 to the Sundarbans is 100 miles from forests north 

 or south ; Cawnpore and Agra are 200 miles from a 

 forest, Delhi 150 miles. These distances are measured 

 as the crow flies. From this map and the table we 

 get a rough idea of the distance one must go in most 

 parts of India to find a forest which could supply 

 the requisite fuel. The 261 districts given in Table I 

 cover a total area of about 977,000 square miles, 

 giving for each district an average area of about 

 3,700 square miles, which might be contained in a 

 square measuring 61 miles on each side. 



It would, of course, be better to grow the forests 

 in each small district, so that the fuel should be 

 within an easy walk of each villager's hut. The 

 question therefore arises, How much land would be 

 required to be set aside for timber-growing in order 

 to supply this fuel ? I have read a great many 

 books and accounts of India in order to try to 

 find an answer to this question, but I have not been 

 able to get a thoroughly satisfactory reply. There 

 is a magnificent book on the Silviculture of India, 

 in three great volumes, by Professor R. S. Troup, 

 now of the Forestry School at Oxford, and in that 

 he gives an account of a tree imported from Australia, 

 the Eucalyptus globulus (this tree grows well on the 

 hills, but will not flourish on the Indian plains), 

 and he describes a well-established plantation, thirty 



