92 TECHNIQUE 



will be realised that agricultural practices must vary 

 enormously, and it can hardly be expected that the 

 farmer will pin his faith to any particular system of 

 cultivation, any definite dressing of manure or any 

 special kind of seed. The seasonal factor dominates 

 the situation, and the farmer is apt to be a fatalist, to 

 cut his expenses as low as possible as regards cultiva- 

 tion and manure, and to sow mixed crops or mixed 

 varieties, hoping that if one crop or variety fails, the 

 others may succeed. Each year he must be ready to 

 adapt his methods to the exigencies of the season, 

 and occasionally to face a crop failure from which 

 no skill in adaptation, no precision of system can 

 save him. Subject to these considerations, however, 

 experience indicates definite lines of progress. In 

 common with farmers all over the world the annual 

 problem which confronts the Indian farmer is to con- 

 vert a weedy stubble into a well-tilled seed-bed. This 

 problem largely resolves itself into a question of suit- 

 able implements and good teams, matters which are 

 dealt with elsewhere. But even in this matter the 

 question of knowledge and skill is important. It is 

 recognised everywhere that irrigated lands must be 

 ploughed every year; but for dry cultivation the 

 practice varies enormously. In some tracts great 

 efforts are made by the best cultivators to give the 

 land substantial cultivation during the dry season ; 

 in other parts a light ploughing or harrowing at the 

 beginning of the wet season are considered sufficient. 

 Long experience governs these practices, and it is a 



