42 CLIMATE AND RESOURCES OF 



or is collected in hollows where it does harm, instead of being 

 in the soil of the fields, where it is required for the crops ; 

 where Nature gave it and intended it should be used. It is 

 in the wrong place. 



A cubic foot of rain-water is said to contain, on an average, 

 the following manurial matters : 



Nitrogen ... ... ... 10 to 12 grains. 



Nitric acid, about ... ... 26 ,, 



Ammonia ... ... 5 



Chlorine ,, ... ... 3 



Magnesia ... ... 3 



Lime ... 9 



Every cubic foot of rain-water that runs off by surface- 

 drainage is a loss of the above amount of manurial matters, 

 which would, had the water sunk into the ground, have been 

 retained in its upper layers available for the use of crops. 



Nature knows best where water is wanted and ought to be, 

 and deposits it over the whole country ; cannot we carry out 

 Nature's grand conception by assisting her to retain the 

 water she gives where she places it ? 



Another result of draining the jheels would be that the fish 

 in them, which supply a considerable amount of food to the 

 neighbouring population, would be lost. The unhealthiness 

 of these jheels, and the jheels themselves, are a result of 

 surface- drainage ; prevent the surface -drainage and the jheels 

 will be reduced, and the unhealthiness caused by them will 

 disappear. 



I have mentioned on a previous page the ridges or small 

 embankments round the fields, the remains of which are still 

 traceable on the higher lands, showing they were formerly 

 cultivated, and which are now used throughout the country as 

 boundary-marks of the separate fields. These ridges, which 



