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to show why there is so much difficulty in putting into practice the 

 principles of agricultural science under a given set of conditions, and 

 that it is not reasonable to expect any marked improvement in agri- 

 cultm-al methods unless there is a change in these conditions. At the 

 same time, foreign demand for agricultural produce is changing the 

 conditions so as to enable the cultivators to cultivate the soil in the 

 manner calculated to. make it yield the largest return ; and in this 

 way while, on the one hand, foreign trade carries off the ingredients 

 of the soil, it also, by placing more wealth in the hands of cultivators, 

 and by making improved methods of cultivation, by which the waste 

 is repaii'ed, possible, works its own cure. 



It is at this stage — a stage to which the country is tending — that 

 Government has to adopt all possible measures to ensure that the 

 ryots do not fall below the requirements of the situation. The chief 

 requisites in the ryots can only be very briefly indicated here. These 

 are (1) enterprise or readiness to seize hold of advantages within their 

 reach ; (2) knowledge of agricultural principles and practices ; and (3) 

 capital. The first want can be supplied only by education — both high 

 and elementary, high for the richer classes who must be the pioneers 

 in agricultural improvement, and elementary to the poorer classes who 

 must imitate and successfully carry out the improvements demon- 

 strated to be practicable by the former. The second want must be 

 supplied by the establishment of Agricultural Schools and Model 

 Farms at various centres in the country. It would not do to look for 

 any immediate results from the establishment of these schools and 

 farms, any more than from measures for imparting elementary edu- 

 cation, but the knowledge acquired in these institutions when it 

 becomes diffused would bear fruit in time so soon as the conditions of 

 any particular tract allow of its practical appKcation with profitable 

 results. The third want must be supplied by the establishment of 

 Agricultui'al Banks. The poorer ryots are unable now to obtain 

 small sums of money required for various purposes connected with 

 their calling except at rates varying from 12 to 18 per cent, even 

 when they are able to offer unexceptionable security for the loans, and 

 this means that they are debarred from making improvements other 

 than those which yield large returns for a small outlay ; and this 

 circumstance must, of course, greatly limit the scope for improve- 

 ment. Moreover, one of the effects of the present regime is to diffuse 

 wealth among the mass of the population and not to concentrate it 

 in a few hands in a form easily available for industrial purposes. 

 Unless measures are adopted by Government, by the provision of 

 banking facilities of a character which commands the confidence of the 

 people, to collect these savings in one mass and make them available to 

 persons in need of money for various industrial enterprises at reason- 

 able rates of interest, the material progress of the country will be 

 greatly retarded. None of these measures, it is almost needless to say, 

 will by itself suffice ; they should all go hand in hand and when the 

 external conditions favorable to agricultural improvement come into 

 being, those who are expected to move in that direction will be enabled 

 to seize hold of the opportunities presented. It must further be 

 remembered that agricultural improvement after it has set in cannot go 

 on indefinitely and that real progress must come from continual 

 improvement in the standard of living, which implies the gradual re- 



