HAPPY INDIA 43 



times as much rice or wheat in their time as it buys 

 now. How did the Moguls get a bigger land 

 revenue if the crops per acre were no bigger than 

 now ? 



I will suggest possible answers. 



(a) If the population was less dense and each 

 farmer had three times the area to cultivate that 

 he now has, and if he had strong well-fed oxen to 

 plough and carry, each man might produce three 

 times the amount of grain that he now produces, 

 and so he could pay half the crop to the tax-collector, 

 instead of only one-tenth part of the crop as now, 

 and so the revenue per acre might be five times 

 the present revenue. 



(b) The Mogul conquerors, perhaps, did not recognise 

 any person as a landowner except themselves. So 

 that there might be no intermediaries to collect 

 rent and live on it, paying only a small fraction of 

 this rent to the Government. 



I think it probable, though I have no sufficient 

 evidence to do more than suggest probabilities, 



(1) That the crop per acre was larger two 

 hundred years ago than now. 



(2) That the production per man was in a 

 much larger proportion than now. 



(3) That landowners were not recognised, and 

 that the tax-collectors had to work hard for 

 their living. 



