do as my father has done before me." To improve 

 Indian Agriculture, therefore, while being one of 

 the most important, is yet one of the most 

 difficult, things which Government has to accom- 

 plish ; it is a task which requires no ordinary 

 energy, patience, and indefatigable perseverance. 



From time immemorial the soil has not only 

 been cultivated in the rudest possible manner, but 

 the very first principle of Agriculture, i.e., " To 

 give back to the soil what is taken from it," has 

 been utterly disregarded. Harvest after harvest 

 has been reaped, crop after crop has been removed, 

 and when we consider that with every bushel of 

 rice, with every bundle of straw, we take away 

 from the soil a certain amount of inorganic sub- 

 stances which formed originally a most important 

 part of it, we may justly feel surprised that it yields 

 still as much as it does. On the presence of these 

 substances in sufficient quantities depends all vege- 

 table life ; it is therefore evident that, without ade- 

 quate restoration of what is withdrawn, it would be 

 impossible to carry on agriculture for any length of 

 time without gradually but surely impoverishing 

 the soil. This tact is now being realized in India, a 

 country which has been almost entirely ruined by 

 the ignorance and recklessness with which past 

 generations have squandered its resources, and 

 dissipated the treasures Nature so lavishly had 

 stored up in its soil. 



