HAPPY INDIA 93 



for maintaining the fertility of meadow land, and 

 this led to the first use of superphosphates in order 

 that the milk supplied by the cows might have the 

 requisite amount of phosphorus in it. This it would 

 not have if the land was deficient in phosphorus, 

 and land manured only with cowdung will, in course 

 of years, become deficient in phosphorus, and that 

 is one reason why India now requires phosphates 

 applied to its land. 



Every practical and scientific farmer knows that 

 whilst manure is necessary, it is not the only thing 

 that is necessary to produce good crops. One of 

 the chief things that is necessary is proper tillage. 

 The Indian farmer, as a rule, understands how to till 

 the land. Another thing that is necessary with some 

 crops is the proper spacing of the seeds. For 

 instance, with maize it has been discovered that 

 with proper tillage and proper spacing of the seeds 

 the yield may be very largely increased quite irre- 

 spective of any manure that is applied. But then, 

 of course, we are in this dilemma, if by the most 

 careful tillage, if by the spacing of seeds, if by the 

 selection of the best seeds, we succeeded in increasing 

 the crops, then we also succeed in increasing the 

 drain upon the soil and hastening its exhaustion, 

 because these crops will take away from the soil 

 necessary constituents, and therefore the better the 

 agriculture, the better the tillage ; the more scientific 

 the spacing of the seeds, the better the seeds ; the 

 more careful selection of the plants, the more neces- 

 sary does it become to supply those manures which 



