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the subject, as already stated, go to show that there is no 

 proof as jet of any deterioration having taken place, but that 

 there is reason to apprehend such deterioration in the future 

 should the exports of agricultural produce — chiefly seeds — 

 increase at the rate they have, and manurial substances, such 

 as bones, should continue to be exported in increasing quanti- 

 ties. The exports of agricultural produce, however, bear now 

 but a small proportion to the total agricultural production 

 of the country, and bones have been ascertained not to be 

 exported to any appreciable extent from this presidency. 

 Nevertheless, the dangers referred to should be provided 

 against, and this can be done only by the diffusion of 

 knowledge of improved agricultural principles and practices 

 among the ryots and by the establishment of agricultural 

 banks already referred to, which will enable the ryots to adopt 

 agricultural improvements when the conditions of the market 

 admit of their adoption with advantage. The efforts of agri- 

 cultural officers for bringing about agricultural improvement 

 were not successful at the outset, because there was a disposi- 

 tion among them to condemn native methods of cultivation 

 wholesale without stopping to inquire whether the conditions 

 of the case admitted of European methods being adopted. 

 The failure of the Saiddpet Farm itself to yield profitable 

 results has since produced a re-action, and the tendency has 

 perhaps been to go to the other extreme and hold that the 

 ryot has nothing to learn in this direction. The fact is that 

 in this as in other things the ryot is neither so stupid as 

 not to be alive to his interests when the desirability of adopt- 

 ing an improvement is demonstrated to him in the only 

 way in which he can understand, viz., by showing that it 

 will pay under the conditions under which he has to work ; 

 nor is he so enterprising and watchful as to dispense with 

 skilled assistance and guidance. For the purpose of furnish- 

 ing him with this assistance and guidance, agricultural ex- 

 periments have to be tried under as diverse conditions as 

 possible in a great many parts of the country when the 

 requisite agency for conducting the experiments can be pro- 

 vided. The Government Agricultural College should be able 

 to provide the necessary subordinate agency which should be 

 made to work under local committees, and the co-ordination 

 and tabulation of results obtained should be conducted under 

 the advice and superintendence of a skilled scientific expert 

 trained in England. To attain this object, the Agricultural 

 Committee appointed by Lord Connemara's government sug- 

 gested the establishment of agricultural schools £fnd farms in 

 halfa dozen stations to start with, but though three years have 



