60 CLIMATE AND EESOUECES OF 



now useless lands, there are other benefits of no small im- 

 portance which nature has pointed out. 



Where land is allowed to remain undisturbed by man, and 

 cattle are not allowed to graze on it, in course of time it 

 becomes covered with grasses, trees, and shrubs. The grasses 

 as they die, and the leaves falling on the land, enrich the soil, 

 and render it more fertile than it formerly was. When forest 

 land is broken up the surface-soil is found richer, and pro- 

 duces better crops without manure than land which has 

 been some lengthened time under cultivation. This is due to 

 the accumulation of vegetable matter in the upper layers of 

 the soil ; the leaves, &c., which have rotted on it and become 

 converted into humus or vegetable mould, and the roots 

 which have penetrated the deeper layers of the soil and have 

 forced apart its particles have made it more loose and porous, 

 and the smaller root-fibres or rootlets have also on rotting 

 become humus. 



Having this evidence before us of the results of forest 

 growth, we can easily imagine what would be the ultimate 

 effects on the soil of planting barren lands with trees. The 

 first expense may, while these lands are in the hands of im- 

 poverished landlords, be the chief obstacle; the expense, 

 however, would be a mere trifle, as most of the trees grow 

 well from seed sown on the spot, and no transplanting is 

 needed. But as trees grow very rapidly in Upper India, and 

 wood for all purposes sells at a very high rate, particularly 

 where the barren lands are chiefly situated, and where there 

 is no wood grown on the spot, the expenses would soon be 

 recovered, the return would be sharp. 



Wood is largely used as fuel by the railways for locomo- 

 tives, and has to be brought from a distance, which is steadily 

 increasing, and costing more for carriage. The natives can 

 only at high prices obtain the wood required in constructing 



