have very little beneficial effect on the outturn of 

 the more valuable portion of the crop. 



The fact that most of our fields are deficient in 

 the mineral food necessary for the proper develop- 

 ment of the grain, and that this deficiency has been 

 caused l^y the exhaustive processes of past and 

 present cultivation, cannot be disputed in the face 

 of statistics showing the relative outturn of the 

 past and present. Considering the rapid advances 

 Agriculture has made in Europe during the last 

 century advances which have raised this pursuit 

 to the rank of a science it is astonishing that not 

 one of the principles on which alone it can be 

 carried on profitably, and without injury to future 

 generations, has found its way into India. 



Lord Mayo, in one of his despatches in 1870, 

 says : " It cannot be denied that Indian Agricul- 

 ture is in a primitive and backward condition, and 

 the Government has not done for its improvement 

 all it might have done. When the light of science 

 has been properly brought to bear upon Indian 

 Agriculture, the results will be as great as they 

 have been in Europe. The duties which in Eng- 

 land are performed by a good landlord, fall in 

 India, in a great measure, upon the Government. 

 The only Indian landlord who can command the 

 requisite knowledge and capital for the improve- 

 ment of the land, is the State. There is perhaps 

 no country in the world in which the State has so 



