THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 



AGRICULTURAL PESTS are the foes of man. The injuries 

 which they inflict on man, on the products he has reared, 

 and on the animals he has domesticated, are observable 

 in every - day life, in the field, the garden, the poultry 

 yard, the horse and cattle sheds, the sheep pens, and 

 elephant and camel karkhanas. No country is free from 

 them, but in British India there are conditions peculiarly 

 favouring their presence. 



The census of 1881 showed its population to be 

 198,790,853 souls, of whom 69,952,747 were agricul- 

 turists, 220,803 horticulturists, 35,076 arboriculturists, 

 and 990,342 were tending animals. 



In 1884 85 the revenue of British India was 

 Es. 70,69,06,810, of which the land-tax yielded 

 Es. 21,83,22,110; Es. 8,81,64,690 were derived from 

 opium, and Es. 98,69,840 from forest. In that year 

 22,425 human beings were killed by elephants, tigers, 

 leopards, wolves, bears, hyaenas, and venomous snakes; 

 and of cattle killed the number was 49,987. The 

 numbers engaged in agriculture, the great revenue obtained 

 from the lands, and the losses the people are exposed to 

 from wild beasts, all indicate the need for protective 

 measures ; and there has been a beginning made : 



In Ceylon, Travancore, Bengal, Burmah, and Siam, 

 arrangements have been made by the respective Govern- 

 ments for snaring elephants ; also in India rewards of a 



