72 HAPPY INDIA 



has shown how to deal with malaria, and so the 

 fear of that should not prevent afforestation. If the 

 Indian Government was to lay out a large capital 

 for the scientific afforestation of 100,000,000 acres, 

 it would be conferring a great and lasting benefit 

 on the country, and 200,000,000 would yield a large 

 profit upon the outlay. The cost of afforestation as 

 carried out at Etawah is 1,300 per square mile. 

 At present the Indian Government has about 

 250,000 square miles of forest to deal with, but only 

 110,000 are really protected by the State. The 

 annual profit is now about 1,200,000 a year, rather 

 less than 5 per annum per square mile of the larger 

 area, but 11 per square mile of the smaller area ; 

 but this surplus that is saved over expenses is only 

 a very small fraction of the benefit that is conferred 

 upon the country by the management of the forests : 

 the supplies of timber and fodder, the control of the 

 torrents, and the cooling of summer heats, give 

 benefits to the people equal to ten times the amount 

 of the money surplus earned by the Forestry Depart- 

 ment, and there can be no doubt that a bold expendi- 

 ture upon afforestation would yield to India a very 

 handsome return on the outlay. It is stated by 

 men of experience in India that forests tend to 

 attract rain in districts over which the clouds might 

 pass without condensing if the land was bare and 

 hot, and that afforestation will lead to a more 

 regular and greater rainfall in those places which 

 are now liable to drought. 

 I have dealt at some length with the question of 



