UPPER INDIA. 97 



exclude the heat, the temperature seldom rising above 95 ; 

 whereas in Upper India at 6 or 8 degrees further north, and 

 from 400 to 1,000 feet above the sea-level, the doors, &c., of 

 houses have to be closed during the hot weather, from 8 or 9 

 a.m. till sunset every day, and sometimes have to be kept shut 

 all night for that purpose. This is owing to the state of the 

 surface of the country, and its- action on the temperature, 

 which can be altered. 



At the same time and in the same way that the tempera- 

 of the hot weather is reduced, the temperature of the rains 

 would probably be reduced some 10 degrees; and if we are 

 to be guided by the action of forests in equalizing temperature 

 in other countries (reducing the extreme heat of summer and 

 modifying the cold of winter), we may infer that the injurious 

 effects of the frosts of the cold weather might be less. 



With the hot-weather temperature reduced and the climate 

 moderated by the methods I have suggested, improvement 

 will take place in all the agricultural produce of the country. 

 If we take wheat as an example, we find that the wheat pro- 

 duced in Upper India has a shrivelled shrunken appearance, 

 and is not the plump grain we find in countries with a moister 

 climate. The shrivelled state of the grain is more marked 

 when the wind sets in steadily from the west, before the crops 

 are ripe ; and this early setting in of the west wind is dreaded 

 by the cultivators, as it greatly reduces the weight of the 

 crop. The grain is dried up by the hot dry air before it 

 has time to swell properly, as it would under more favourable 

 conditions, i.e. with a more genial and less arid state of the 

 atmosphere. With the temperature of the hot weather reduced, 

 numbers of food-producing plants might be introduced into 

 and flourish in the plains of Upper India, as, for instance, 

 the Spanish chestnut, also many fruit-trees, and the cultiva- 

 tion of the tea-plant might be possible throughout the country. 



