96 



by the mode of Indian Agriculture, must inevitably 

 lead to the results Colonel Corbett mentions in his 

 pamphlet. It is a most dangerous delusion and 

 we must not deceive ourselves and others by it 

 to think that, because the fields of India have for 

 centuries past yielded sufficient food for millions, 

 they will continue to do so for centuries to come, 

 under the present system of cultivation. 



Ample proofs have been given of the almost 

 exhausted state of the soil, and the facts Colonel 

 Corbett mentions show how near we are to the 

 end. The present system of stimulating the soil 

 by irrigation, to make it yield its utmost, will 

 inevitably result, as has already been the case, in 

 the more speedy exhaustion of the soil: the larger 

 the crop, the sooner the ruin of the land and all 

 depending on its fertility. 



The extensive irrigation- works contemplated by 

 Government will, if carried out, contribute towards 

 the more speedy ruin of the fields irrigated, 

 unless proper means be adopted to give back to the 

 soil what is taken from it, or, in other words, unless 

 the ryot lives on the interest of the capital stored 

 up in the soil, instead of drawing an annually 

 diminishing percentage from the stock itself. 



The Oriental, in an article on " Irrigation- works 

 in India," aptly remarks : " Water alone will not 

 help the land to produce crops that would, after 

 paying the land-tax and heavy water-rates, support 



