HAPPY INDIA 41 



would consider a shocking bad harvest. It is there- 

 fore easy to understand why there is poverty in 

 India. 



We will now consider another crop, the principal 

 crop, that is rice. Now, the average rice crop (No. 

 1344) for the eight years ending 1920 was 885 Ib. per 

 acre, much less than half the average of the British 

 wheat crop. Other crops are for the eight years 

 ending 1920 (No. 1344) approximately as follows : 

 barley 840 Ib. per acre, then various millets, jawar 

 500 Ib., bajra 370 Ib., maize 880 Ib., gram 605 Ib. 

 Taking into account the acreage and tonnage of 

 each of the above-named seven crops, we find that 

 the average crop of grain for the whole of India in 

 the year 1919-20 (No. 1344) was about 620 Ib. per 

 acre, and that year was about 10 per cent, better 

 than the average of the eight years ending 1920, 

 that is including the rice crop and the irrigated land. 

 Thus the average of all the crops in a fairly good 

 year is less than one-third the average British wheat 

 crop. It is therefore evident that unless the average 

 crop can be much improved, India must always 

 remain a very poor country. 



It may be said that while the yield of grain 

 per acre in India is very low in comparison 

 with yields in England and Germany, it is 

 not so low when compared with the yields per 

 acre in parts of other countries such as America 

 and Australia. 



The reply to that is that in those very thinly 

 populated parts no manure is used, and also that 



