13 



though twenty-three years have elapsed since the 

 penning of that despatch, nothing, or next to 

 nothing, has been done in the matter. Though I 

 may be guilty of repetition, I cannot avoid asking 

 again whether it can for a moment be supposed 

 that we could raise year after year the same kind 

 of crops on the same soil, without rotation, without 

 any manure worth mentioning, and not bring about 

 a gradual but certain falling -off in the yield ? Or 

 that we could withdraw year after year from the 

 soil a certain quantity of fertilizing substances, 

 without ultimately rendering it utterly sterile ? 



I am in possession of ample evidence to prove 

 that the yield of India's soil has gradually dimi- 

 nished since the last century. I will mention here 

 only a few facts in support of the charge I advance 

 of reckless cultivation a recklessness which has 

 resulted in our crops being now grown on an 

 exhausted surface-soil, yielding a return which 

 would be utter ruin to any farni in Europe. 



The Ayeen Akbary contains a set of tables show- 

 ing the average produce of food-stuffs and other 

 agricultural products throughout India, which, 

 dating from the middle of the seventeenth century, 

 were prepared in the reign of Akbar by order of 

 his great minister, Tudar Muhl, and were based 

 upon the records of nineteen years' careful obser- 

 vation of the seasons. (The natural philosophers 

 of that age regarded nineteen years as a lunar 



