GENERAL CONSIDERATION. 21 



merely of the nature of protective works, and will probably often 

 remain idle during periods of several years. Yet, the additional 

 value which increased security against disaster confers upon the 

 land must in the long run amply repay the capital expended on such 

 undertakings. Of course, the work must eventually be carried out on 

 a gigantic scale, and is one that even the wealthiest Government can- 

 not perform in one day ; but since the ultimate source upon which all 

 agriculture depends is the rainfall, the most economical distribution 

 of that rainfall must eventually become the means of obtaining the 

 most remunerative condition of agriculture. All that has been done 

 so far in India, has been along those lines, and when the work is 

 completed, India will find herself able to provide amply for a much 

 more numerous population than she supports at present, without 

 any risk of periodical starvation, and without having recourse to 

 such desperate palliatives as emigration and other extreme measures 

 which have to be resorted to as a remedy for the evil as it exists at 

 present. As to artesian irrigation which is every now and then 

 advocated as a remedy by well-meaning persons, I have endeavoured 

 to show that by following the question to its ultimate conclu- 

 sions, we find that they must have been deluded by the deceptive 

 appearance of exceptional occurrences, and it is well to be guarded 

 against such proposals, and not waste upon a matter, which is only 

 of secondary importance, energies that can find better employment 

 elsewhere. 



The foregoing remarks apply only to those areas where in all 

 but exceptional years the rainfall is sufficient for agricultural pur- 

 poses. In more arid regions, agriculture depending on local rainfall 

 alone becomes so precarious that it is not attempted. Cultivation 

 is only undertaken where rendered possible by irrigation, and such 

 regions do not undergo the risk of severe famine. Artesian 

 reservoirs are of course locally of the greatest utility wherever they 

 can provide the necessary means of irrigation ; but those regions do 

 not present problems of such urgent character and vital importance 



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