58 PEOGEESS IN WESTEEN INDIA 



has been increased so as to take advantage of this 

 fact. Permanent improvements to the land are 

 steadily, if slowly, taking place, and some improve- 

 ments in the technique and outfit of the cultivators 

 can be claimed. As a result of all these factors we 

 would naturally expect to find that the spending 

 capacity of the cultivators was steadily increasing, 

 and that their power of resistance to famine conditions 

 was greater. This is what we do find. As against 

 all this we must offset the steadily increasing sub- 

 division and fragmentation of the land, and the 

 tendency of many cultivators and labourers to do less 

 work than formerly. The question thus arises : What 

 is the net result of these two antagonistic sets of 

 causes ? 



The agriculturists of the Bombay Presidency may 

 roughly be divided into four classes : — 



1. Amongst those who are designated as agri- 

 culturists there are some who live mainly on the rents 

 of lands which they lease to others, or who cultivate 

 their lands entirely by the agency of hired labour. 



2. Next come those who work adequate holdings 

 with their own hands, only hiring such labour as is 

 essential to provide for seasonal stress of work. 



3. The men who own too little land either to support 

 them or to provide them with work throughout the 

 year. These form a large proportion of the cultivators 

 of India. 



4. Last come the landless labourers who work for 

 hire. 



