HAPPY INDIA 73 



afforestation, because it is part of the question of 

 supplying fuel to the cultivators so that they may 

 use their cowdung for its proper purpose, that of 

 manuring the land. All agriculturalists, all agricul- 

 tural chemists, every practical man knows that the 

 dung of cows, oxen, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry 

 is the best possible manure for the land. It is not 

 the only manure, and by itself is not always sufficient, 

 but without that manure it is difficult, and sometimes 

 impossible, to keep the land in good condition, 

 because it is not merely the chemical effects of the 

 manure, the nitrogen, the phosphoric acid, the 

 potash that is in the manure, but the mechanical 

 and also the bacteriological effects in this organic 

 material in the soil, because before manure can act 

 upon the land there must be an organic condition 

 which is imparted or maintained by putting in the 

 manure of animals such as those above mentioned. 



