1821.1 



Jflricultural and Horticultural Society in India. 



255 



(iiiiie a variety of plants, suited to 

 ("\eiy soil, and calculated to funiisli 

 crops for all sorts of land; and it only 

 lequircs the unite I efforts of public 

 spirited men to briui^ these articles to 

 uotice, and eucourajre their cultivation. 

 The improvement of implements of 

 husbandry has occupied the attculion 

 qf some of the first mechanics in Eu- 

 I'ope, in countries i.vhere, previously to 

 these improvements, the meanest im- 

 plement far surpassed tliebe.st wliich is 

 to be found in India. Tiiis would na- 

 turally be an additional object of the 

 soc,it?ty now proposed. The Europe 

 pioMgfj and the harrow, the scythe and 

 the sickle, the fork and tiie rake, with 

 the cart to carry the produce of tiie soil 

 to the farmei-'s yard ; and afjreat num- 

 ber of other desirable implements, must, 

 it is true, be introduced by slow de- 

 grees, and their utility clearly proved, 

 iSO as to induce the indigent farmers of 

 Jlmdoostanto discern their usefulness, 

 and ultimately adopt them in practice. 

 But that they mitrjit thus be introduced 

 there can remain little doubt. 

 ' '■fio attempt to improve stock appears 

 '6'^r to have taken place in India, but 

 ieVfery thing has been left to nature: 

 tijere is, however, every reason to 

 tliink, that the breed of horses, cows, 

 sheep, goats, swine and every otlier 

 ttseful animal, might be improved as 

 effectually as it has been in other coun- 

 tries, were proper means employed to 

 accomplish the end. The quantity of 

 milk in cows might undoubtedly be 

 increased, the quality of wool might 

 he iulproved, a stronger and more use- 

 ful race of cattle, both for draught and 

 burden, might bcLn-adually introduced, 

 and, in short, every thing might be ex- 

 pected from persevering attempts to 

 irnprove those animals which come 

 under the denomination of stock, wiie- 

 'fher intended for labour, the dairy, or 

 for food. This, then, would form a 

 ■proper object to call forth the exertions 

 of rfn agricultural society. 

 ^' 'But another object, which it is ex- 

 fceedingly desirable to encourage, is, 

 the bringing of waste lands into a 

 State of cultivation. The quantity of 

 laud in India now lying uncultivated is 

 io; large as almost to exceed belief; ex- 

 ieiifjive tracts on the banks of the nu- 

 pl^oos rivers are annually overflowed, 

 Had produce littleexcepl long and coarse 

 gi'ass, scarcely eaten by cattle Mben 

 young and tender, and never a( tempted 

 to be made into hay, or to be turned 

 tn any useful account, that very small 



jKirt excepted which is employed in 

 (hatching the Iiouses of the natives. 

 During the rains these tracts are the 

 luiunt of wild buffaloes, which in the 

 night come uj) from them and devour 

 the crops of rice on the higiipr lands, 

 and in the cold sea-^on wild hogs, tigers, 

 and other noxious animals unite, with 

 tiie buffaloes in occupying these per- 

 nicious wastes. The securing these 

 from inundation by embankments.orby 

 other methods, is an object of (he first 

 importance, as it respects the security 

 and healthfulness of the country ; and 

 the increase of good meadows, or valu- 

 able arable land, would add greatly to 

 its prosperity. The same obser\'ations 

 will ajjply to the vast tracts which are 

 now M'hoiiy overrun with wood; and 

 which being entirely neglected, ami 

 neither valuable as forest, pasture, nor 

 arable land, subtract from the salu- 

 brity of the country, and prove a nui- 

 sance to the surrounding districts, by 

 affording slielter to great numbers of 

 noxious animals. 



In a country like India, where, even 

 in those parts wiiich have been longest 

 under the British dominion, though am- 

 ple security is givoi to the property of 

 all, theopjjressions of landowners and 

 petty officers are with diOiculty restrain- 

 ed ; where the cultivators of the soil 

 are considered as mean and beneath 

 the notice of the higher parts of the 

 ccnunnnity; where indolence so per- 

 vades all ranks as to reduce the whole 

 to an inert mass ; and where, in all the 

 districts not subject to Britain, the 

 wliole population has been constantly 

 exposed to such flagi-ant injustice and 

 oppi'ession, that no one could reason- 

 ably promise himself security for a sin- 

 gle night ; it is natural to suppose that 

 agriculture should be in manyparts en- 

 tirely neglected, and in others partially 

 followed, and that under great disad- 

 vantages. Thus one of the finest coun- 

 tries in the world, comprizing almost 

 every variety of climate and situation, 

 diversified by hills and vallies, inter- 

 si^cted in every part by streams, most 

 of which are navigable six months in 

 the year, and many of them through 

 the whole ye'ar, afford every facility 

 for carrying manure to the land and 

 every part of the produce to market, as 

 far as it respects its agricultural inter- 

 e-ts, is in the most abject and degraded 

 state. 



It is also known and lamented, that 

 the state of horticulture in this coua- 

 fiy is almost as lov.' as that of agricul- 

 ture; 



