354 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE AGRICULTURE OF INDIA. 



Rfraovin°r my camp-stool to the opening of ray little bil' 

 tent, I looker! out into the fields, where I saw some men 

 pi )iiKhing. For tlie first time, during my travels, I was struck 

 with the appearance of the instrument which the natives use 

 for tilliii;^ tlie soil ; an instrument which, in fact, closely re- 

 sembles that used by the Romans, according to the directions 

 laid down in the Georgics : 



" Curvi formatn adcipit uloius aratri," &c., &c. 



—and, at first, I felt some surprise that an implement so appa- 

 rently ill-fitted for the purpose for which it is designed, should 

 answer all the requirements of the cultivator. The substitu- 

 tion of the English plough for this native bur, has been several 

 times projected by gentlemen who were zealous in the cause 

 of aa;riculture, but without any success, or reasonable hope 

 thereo; ; for when we consider the cheapness, and the great 

 amount of labour always available, the general lightness of 

 the soil, the inaptitude of the natives of India for great or 

 continued physical exertion, the inferiority of the cattle, all of 

 whicli are the marked characteristics of India, it would not 

 only be undesirable, but impossible to introduce the English 

 plough, generally, as an implement of husbandry — an 

 iinjilement requiring physical strength, manual dexterity, 

 and a superior breed of cattle for draught. Rude and 

 simple as the native hur is, or as it may seem to the 

 casual observer, cursorily viewing the operation of ploughing, 

 it has still many good qualities whish render it peculiarly 

 suited to the genius of the Indian cultivator; and it is not in 

 any immediate endeavour to improve it, or alter it, that any 

 real benefit can be conferred on the cause of Indian agricul- 

 ture. All the efforts, therefore, that have been made in that 

 direction, have been time and trouble expended to no purpose. 

 It has been said, that all improvement to be real, must be 

 spontaneous, or (alie rise withni itself; and it would seem to 

 be more reasonable to improve such means and appliances as 

 the natives me and understand, without runniug'counter to 

 the ideas, and shocking the prrjudices, which they entertain, 

 by endeavouring to compel their adoption of European modes 

 of culture, which, howev.-r well suited to the land of their 

 origin, have not the quality most necessary to their practica- 

 bility, that of being comprehensible to the people of India. 

 The true end of agriculture : 



" With artful toil 

 To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil, 

 To give dissimilar yet fruitful laads 

 The grain, or herb, or plant that each demands," 

 is best to be attained by aiding and assisting the development 

 of those resources of the soil, which have already been made 

 visible by the people themselves. 



Here it is that the duty of the Government begins. The 

 ptecanousueas cf the land tenure is que ol the greatest impe. 

 diments to ttie outlay of capital by the tenant in the improve- 

 ment of the land ; and as there is but l.ttle prospect of the 

 removal of this objection, the Government should fulfil what 

 won d were the case different, be the obvious plans of the 

 landholder, m developing the resources of the soil. Irrigation 

 and manure are the two great points most deserving of atten- 

 ?M V *? P*"°'' "'^ resources of the country are incal- 

 culable ; the advantages evident and immediate: both reauire 



flT'n "^'" r''*y °'', f'P'**'' ^^■''^ ^^^ zemindar (ultive 

 landhoh er) is often unable, and oftener unwilling to adopt and 

 incur-from want of confidence in the administration of the 

 law, and the law itself. With the ryot, or cultivator, the case 



affeot7v '""'"*• ^^f- i'^J '' '""^ administration thereof! 

 affects him in a very slight degree, compared with the zemin 



tltu "^ ^^""'^ '""""^ very little to him ; his rights 



land m^Ztl "' ^''''^- V' ™"^y «^ capital on'^he 

 land. Hisk.hehasuone. His advantage is immediate But 



K.ZV\Vr''n\^' '"^•^"^ of improvement in any way 

 He may buil.l a w.ll, c!,g a tank, or plant a grove to the me 



vre'of -...'rnttrtr'"' "^'^ ''' ^» •^ofnrenhanc^Th; 

 value 01 .!,. l..„l to the zemindar; but he almost always 



ruins himself by the act, leaving his debts to be paid by his 

 descendants, and the well, tank, or grove mortgaged to the 

 banker, for the extra expenses incurred in its establishment ! 

 It behoves an enlightened government to do for the people 

 and the country, what they are unable to do for themselves. 

 An inquiry, properly set on foot, and undertaken by competent 

 persons on the part of the Government, to investigate all par- 

 ticulars regarding the state of agriculture, would bring to 

 light many facts, which, if made fitting use of, would not only 

 greatly redound to the honour, but adduce greatly to the ad- 

 vantage and profit of the state. The information thus ac- 

 quired, and not founded on the reports of native (government) 

 collectors, police-officers, and peaons (messengers), but ascer- 

 tained by the personal inspection of European oflScials, and 

 from the opinions of the zemindars and cultivators themselves, 

 would enable the Government to know and devise remedies to 

 obviate the evils arising out of the gradual decline of the agri- 

 cultural classes in our earliest occupied territories. It would 

 show the Government many places where the expenditure of 

 font or five thousand rupees (font or five hundred pounds) in 

 the repairs cr erection of a dam, for the obstruction of some 

 raiu-filled nullah (a wide and deep ditch), would yield a return 

 nearly of equal amount, besides affording employment, and 

 the means of livelihood to hundreds of persons. It would 

 show where the opening of a road, or the building of a bridge, 

 involving but a small expenditure, would give a new life to a 

 part of the country hitherto forgotten, anrl render the inha- 

 bitants flourishing and happy, by throwing open to them a 

 market for their produce — a market at present out of their 

 reach. It would prove incontestably that the means of irri- 

 gation—the true water-power of India — has been even more 

 neglected than the water-power of that (in comparison with 

 the United States) sluggish colony, Canada. The initial step 

 once taken—the march of improvement once fairly set on foot 

 — private enterprise, duly encouraged, will follow in the wake 

 of the Government ; and capital once invested, laud in India 

 will become intrinsically valuable, and thus obtain the atten- 

 tion it merits. Agricultural improvement would induce last- 

 ing and increasing prosperity of the cultivating classes (the 

 bulk of the population) and of the country itself. — Household 

 Words. 



AN AGRICULTURAL ODE. 



BY WM. C. BRYANT. 



Far baik in ages 



The plough with wreathes was crowned, 

 Tbe hands of kings and sages 



Entwined the chaplets round, 

 Till men of spoil 

 Disdained the toil 



By which the world was nourished. 

 And blood and pillage were the soil 



In which their laurels flourished. 

 Now the world her fault despairs — 



The guilt that stains her story. 

 And weeps her crimes amid the cares 



That form her earliest glory. 



The throne shall crumble. 



The diadem shall wane. 

 The tribes of earth shall humble 



The pride of those who reign ; 

 And war shall lay 

 His pomp away; 



The fame that heroes cherish. 

 The glory earned in deadly fray 



Shall fade, decay and perish. 

 Honour waits o'er all the earth, 



Throng!) endless generations. 

 The art that calls the harvest forth. 



And feeds the expectant nations. 



