immediate and direct an interest in such questions. 

 The land-revenue yields twenty millions of our 

 annual income. The means of obtaining agricul- 

 tural instruction in India are no better now than 

 they were fifteen years ago." (Lord Mayo might 

 have said, with equal truth, fifteen hundred years 

 ago.) " The work that is perTormed by the great 

 agricultural societies of Europe must be performed 

 in India by the Government, or not at all." Her 

 Majesty's Secretary of State for India says : " It 

 is certain that, with the exception of the perma- 

 nently-settled provinces of Bengal, the Government 

 has a direct and immediate interest in the improve- 

 ment of Agriculture which is possessed by no 

 Government in Europe." 



The Government, therefore, it would appear from 

 the above extracts, is fully aware of the neglected 

 state of Indian Agriculture ; but no reason is 

 assigned to explain the absence of the necessary 

 measures to effect the desired improvements. 

 From the most remote ages it has always been the 

 chief object of wise and provident rulers to encou- 

 rage Agriculture in all its branches, knowing, as 

 they did, that the products of the land, and the 

 men who raise them, are the principal foundation 

 and pillars of Empires. Does it not, then, seem 

 strange that our rulers should neglect the first 

 duties of governors, and, while concentrating their 

 attention on the intricate complications of State 

 machinery, should yet overlook the primary 



