Part VIII] Smythies : Afforestation of Ravine Lands 9 
13. The writer would like to record his opinion that one of the 
principal causes of the existence of this 
Cause of ravine erosion. 7 , . . . n i 
intense ravine erosion is the unlimited and 
uncontrolled grazing of countless flocks and herds of all sorts of animals 
(cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, camels, asses, etc.) throughout the year. 
These ravine tracts were once,—many many years ago—a great breed¬ 
ing ground for cattle, and they still produce a magnificent class of goat. 
The impoverishment of the grazing has increased the impoverishment 
of the people and is probably a contributory cause in the prevalence 
of dacoities for which these tracts are notorious. Anyone who has 
seen (as the writer has) a sudden and heavy downpour of rain turn 
these dry ravines into roaring cataracts of liquid mud ; anyone who 
has seen (as the writer has) a ravine dry half an hour before, bringing 
down dead camels and oxen, and becoming dry again in half an hour; 
anyone who has been washed off his feet (as the writer has) and nearly 
suffocated in the racing mud, will be convinced for all time of the 
terrible damage that results from the removal of vegetable growth, and 
of the urgent need for reclaiming and afforesting these ruined areas. 
The Jumna ravines are in fact but another example—a small but 
striking example—of the world principle that forest destruction means 
soil destruction, and while the uncontrolled grazing continues matters 
can only grow worse. 
14. This ravine land is at present almost valueless to the owners 
as it yields practically no good grazing, and absolutely no crops. Culti¬ 
vation beyond this desert belt is precarious even in years of normal 
rainfall, and the presence of these ravines render irrigation impossible. 
Throughout the whole expanse of this ravine land there is no water 
to be found except in deep wells and in the main rivers. This dry belt 
is increasing in extent, as the ravines eat into the flat lands at their 
heads every year. 
The general moisture and soil conditions of these ravine tracts are 
peculiar. The alluvium of the Gangetic plain is of unknown depth 
and normally one of the most fertile soils in the world. In the ravines 
however with the hardening effect of the tread of cattle and rapid drain¬ 
age, the monsoon rains penetrate to a depth of only a few inches and 
this quickly dries up, leaving a soil almost destitute of moisture down 
to the spring underground water table 100 feet or more below. It 
has been ascertained that the occasional scattered trees now found 
are of great age which have continued to reproduce themselves by 
coppice shoots, and their root systems have kept pace with the sink¬ 
ing spring level, drawing up their necessary moisture from great depths. 
Natural reproduction invariably dies down as soon as the rains cease. 
The vegetation which occurs consists chiefly of Acacia arabica (not 
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