15 



the existing method of agriculture, is shown in the 

 results of the cultivation of cotton at different 

 periods. The yield of picked cotton in the middle 

 of the seventeenth century was 223 Ibs. per acre. 

 No information of a reliable character regarding the 

 staple seems to be available from that time until 

 the present century, but I would ask my readers to 

 refer to Colonel Monier Williams' memoir, in which, 

 speaking of the Broach zillah and its black soil, he 

 states that it produced in his time (1828) 128 Ibs. 

 of cotton per acre. Much later (1844), we learn 

 from Dr. Burn, who had charge of the Broach 

 experimental farm, that, under the most careful 

 treatment, only 83 Ibs. of cotton were obtained 

 from one acre. In the last decade the average 

 produce was 67 Ibs. per acre, and now it has 

 declined to an average of 52 Ibs. ! 



Mr. Rivett-Carnac, until lately Cotton Com- 

 missioner, when reporting upon the cotton cultiva- 

 tion of Ahmedabad, said he was "at a loss to 

 account for the continuous yearly decrease 7 ' of this 

 staple. But this decrease can easily be accounted 

 for, if we consider the natural laws, the Principles 

 of Rational Agriculture, which demand a conscien- 

 tious restoration to the soil of the elements of plant- 

 food which are taken away from it. If we do not 

 desire a diminution in the yearly outturn, we should 

 act in consonance with those laws ; otherwise we 

 shall only be following the example of the foolish 



