It
might as well be cut down as pass into the hands of another person
who had no feeling of interest in the eternal repose of the soul of
the planter. That person would himself have no advantage in the next
world from giving the fruit and the shade of the trees to the public,
since the prayers of those who enjoyed them would be offered for the
soul of the planter, and not for his--he, therefore, takes all their
advantage to himself in this world, and the planter and the public
are defrauded. Our Government thought they had done enough to
encourage the renewal of these groves, when by a regulation they gave
to the present lessees of villages the privilege of planting them
themselves, or permitting others to plant them; but where they held
their leases for a term of only five years, of course they would be
unwilling to plant them. They might lose their lease when the term
expired, or forfeit it before; and the successor would have the land
on which the trees stood, and would be able to exclude the public, if
not the proprietor, from the enjoyment of any of their advantages.
Our Government has, in effect, during the thirty-five years that it
has held the dominion of the North-Western Provinces,[6] prohibited
the planting of mango groves, while the old ones are every year
disappearing.
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