218 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



be able, at the same time, to give a larger and better paid 

 rent to his landlord ; his landlord to the rajah, the rajah 

 to the Government ; thus starting at once the whole 

 fabric in a state of prosperity, and putting into their 

 pockets as profit some ^"10,000,000 annually and up- 

 wards, for surplus corn exported to England. There 

 have latterly been introduced some reforms in this 

 respect, but much more is required. 



All this is clear as the light of noon-day, so that a 

 proper system of tenure is the first step to be taken in 

 the reformation of our East Indian empire. With the 

 establishment of such, the intellectual capacity of Hin- 

 doo farmers would expand. Naturally ingenious, they 

 have a thirst for physical science the moment they are 

 circumstanced to enjoy the benefits it is calculated to 

 confer. This acquired, they would become indepen- 

 dent members of society ; cease to be the dupes of 

 Brahmin priestcraft, and embrace with anxious inquiry 

 the truths of Christianity. 



No other policy than this can succeed in India. We 

 may introduce railroads, and improved agricultural and 

 other machinery, as has lately been done ; but so long 

 as those who apply them to the soil and its produce do 

 not enjoy their full benefits, our labours will prove 

 fruitless, amounting to nothing more than the selfish 

 efforts of a few individuals to increase their rents and 

 revenues, without conferring any lasting benefit on the 

 ryots, who form the foundation of the whole social and 

 industrial fabric of the country. 



With pauperism and slavery for the foundation, what 

 can be expected of the superstructure ? 



The day is fast passing by, when fortunes can be 

 wrung from the labouring classes of society through 

 the instrumentality of improved machinery. This is 

 just as true in Hindostan as in England, or the United 

 States of America. An ignorant pauper population is 

 fast becoming the terror of every government, and not 

 without just occasion. Again, give the masses educa- 

 tion, and you must respect them accordingly, or they 

 vnll soon contrive to do without you. Every day's 

 experience is proving this to the whole of Europe ; and 

 if we attempt to increase the revenues and rents of 

 Hindostan by the aid of machinery and the like, with- 

 out first elevating the masses to that level they have a 

 right to occupy, the obvious result is the sacrifice of an 

 empire. On the contrary, in the great work of reforma- 

 tion at issue, let the superstructure be based on a solid 

 foundation, and England may yet experience a value in 

 her Indian empire, which she may not now estimate 

 aright. With the tenantry emancipated, the circulation 



of our capital among them would give an impetws to 

 the industry of every caste ; thus elevating the whole 

 financial circumstances of the country in a correspond- 

 ing degree, giving to the work of progress more than 

 a buoyant character, and relieving society of all its 

 pauper ills. 



No doubt several objections might be made to the 

 above proposition. First, it may be said that the dis- 

 tance is too great to form a proHtable corn-trade con- 

 nection with Hindostan. Second, that until Parliament 

 redeem the dividends of the Company — which cannot 

 take place until after 1874— the Company will prove 

 a millstone about the neck of progress. Third, that 

 the zemindars would object to the emancipation of the 

 ryots, and the agricultural capital of the country falling 

 into their hands. Fourth, Brahmin priestcraft will 

 prove a check to intellectual progress, without which 

 agricultural progress is impossible. But all these fall 

 to the groimd. For — 



As to the first, nowhere can corn be grovfn so cheap, 

 under an improved system of agriculture, as in Hindos- 

 tan ; and, with regard to the distance, steam navigation 

 and the " wheat canister" would soon overcome that. 

 Second : The Company's claims amount only to a dividend 

 of " ^630,000, being 10^ per cent, on a nominal capital 

 of £6,000,000," juEt 20s., or two bushels of wheat, to 

 every 100 acres, to pay off the Company altogether ! 

 or four bushels for every 100 acres, to cover the 

 double interest of capital. Now, how long would 

 it take a prosperous empire to pay ofl' such a 

 trifling debt ? Certainly not more than one year 

 of two good harvests! No great millstone this, 

 Third: From the little value of agricultural stock, 

 the ryots if emancipated could easily pay off the ze- 

 mindars by instalments, for a short terra, if. guaranteed 

 against extortions. As the Brahmin priests would have 

 a share of the increased produce, they would be inte- 

 rested in the liberation of the ryots, and hence would 

 keep the zemindars quiet. And, lastly, agricultural in- 

 telligence would neither interfere injuriously with the 

 religion of the country, nor its system of castes, 

 but the contrary, acd therefore would meet with the 

 support of Brahmins, if properly introduced. The 

 taste system of India is but another name for the subdi- 

 vision of labour ; and, if the interest of that subdivision 

 was properly studied — which would be the duty of Go- 

 vernment religiously to do — every caste would enjoy a 

 corresponding benefit from an improved system of agri- 

 culture, returning double and treble the present amount 

 of produce, and consequently would gain in the march 

 of progress. 



THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



THE YEAR 1860. 



There recently appeared two most interesting and in- 

 structive papers — one by Mr. R. Bond, being a lecture 

 to the Halesworth Farmers' Club, *' On Agricultural 

 Money-making;" the other, a paper "On the Forces 

 used in Agriculture," by Mr. J. C.Morton, read at the 

 meeting of the Society of Arts, papers which every agri- 

 culturist ought to read and attentively study. In ad- 

 dition to this, we have an able article in the Times upon 

 the " Progress and Profit of the Steam Plough," equally 

 important with the above. The three papers deserve the 

 reprint that has been given them. Mr. Bond treats chiefly 

 upon what the improvements in agriculture have achieved 

 for this country; viz., that while France is producing its 

 crop of wheat at an average of 14 bushels per acre, America 



at 15, Holland at 23, Great Britain produces more than 

 28 bushels ; that France, with an area of one-third acre- 

 age more than England, produces in meat a value of 64 

 millions sterling, while this country produces 84 millions 

 of pounds sterling, i. e., 35 per cent, less acreage pro- 

 duces 20 per cent, more of animal productions ; that in 

 about 1688 the produce of England did not exceed 

 2,000,000 qrs., whilst in 1859 the produce of wheat 

 alone was computed at upwards of 14,000,000 qrs., and 

 upwards of 30,000,000 qrs. of grain generally ; that in 

 1815 a committee of the House of Commons declared 

 the yield to have improved one-fourth within the pre- 

 vious ten years ; in 1821 it was computed that the yield 

 of wheat per acre was not more than 17 bur' ols, iu 



