66 Indian Agriculture in its Physical Aspects. 
this is so is only fully understood when it is remembered what 
the raiyafs difficulties are in the way of providing fodder for his 
beasts, and when it is explained that, while the only really avail- 
able source of manure is cattle-dung, this is largely burnt as 
fuel, and is thus lost to the land, simply because there is not a 
sufficiency of wood available to take its place. This agricultural 
loss might to a considerable extent be met by the extension of 
the wood-supply of the country, and steps in this direction are 
being taken both by the Forest Department and by the local 
authoi'ities of towns. The importance of provision of pasturage 
and shelter for cattle in times of drought is very great, whilst 
in holding up the soil and preventing its denudation by the 
unbroken flow of water over its surface, the covering of the 
ground with trees and herbage has an indirect bearing upon the 
climate of the heated regions. In the course of a journey one 
frequently passes vast open but perfectly barren spaces over 
which large herds roam ; these are not the tisar plains referred 
to previously, but they are the " village wastes," the common 
property of the villagers, and melancholy examples do they 
afford of what the cultivators would , by excessive stocking and 
over-grazing, do with the rest of the land now under forest, 
were it left to their unchecked control. 
I have briefly touched on the supply of manure to the land. 
Of this, as stated, the only really available source is the cattle- 
manure produced on the holdings, and of it a great part is lost 
owinw to its beincr used as fuel in the absence of wood. In 
Indian agriculture manure by itself is not sufficient, water is 
needed along with it ; nor is water by itself enough, manure 
must go with it ; the two are in fact interdependent. Could 
the raij/at have both of these where there is need of them, he 
would be behind none in the results of his cultivating skill and 
diligence. » 
J. Augustus Voelcker. 
ACIDITY IN MILK. 
When it is considered that directly milk passes from the udder 
of the cow it exhibits traces of acidity, that this acidity goes on 
steadily increasing the longer the milk is kept, and that it 
exercises a most important influence both on the value of the 
milk itself as an element of food and on its conversion into butter 
and cheese, it will be evident how essential it must be to the 
