Miscellaneous, 



427 



[May, 1910. 



district. The present is a promising 

 time for the starting of such bodies. 

 There was a time when the Indian agri- 

 culturist was conservative to a degree, 

 and believed that the methods which 

 had been handed down from sire to son 

 through ages were the best. But by 

 slow degrees this feeling is changing. 

 Even ignoiant villagers have slowly but 

 surely begun to realise that science really 

 has something practical to teach, that the 

 information already acquired is worth 

 disseminating, and that given a problem 

 there is not unseldom a solution ready, 

 or if not ready, that it will be found. It 

 is just at such psychological moment that 

 earnest efforts must be made to convert 

 the ryot. Hitherto there has been no 

 spontaneous effort on his part. Lack of 

 means, smallness of holdings, the fre- 

 quency of famines and their innate con- 

 servatism have all combined to prevent 

 any general movement for agricultural 

 improvement. But, we are sure, even 

 the most ignorant ryots are now in a 

 mood to be won if they are only pro- 

 perly wooed. What is necessary is 

 practical and frequent demonstration of 

 the unmistakable superiority of modern 

 scientific methods over the ancient but 

 crude ones mostly followed. This can 

 best be done by district associations and 

 by the more substantial and enlightened 

 of landowners. The problem of im- 

 proved agriculture opens a vast field for 

 the superfluous energy of those who are 

 devoting it at present solely to unpro- 

 ductive politics.— The Parsi. 



AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS. 



(From the Journal of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, India, 17th February, 1908.) 



The formation of local Associations 

 for agricultural improvements has been 

 one of the most common methods of 

 increasing interest in the subject. It 

 has been successful in some cases and 

 more especially in the Central Provinces. 

 On the other hand the success has by no 

 means been universal. 



In the Central Provinces, the local 

 Agricultural Association is most directly 

 connected with the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of the Province. The district is 

 taken as a unit and the Collector is 

 Chairman of the Association. The in- 

 fluence and co-operation of the district 

 officers is considered to be an essential 

 condition of success. It is held that the 

 Associations must be in clo^e touch with 

 the superior officers of the Agricultural 

 Department, one of whom always 

 attends tho meetings of the Associations. 

 The meetings are held half-yearly before 



the opening of the kharif and the rabi 

 seasons, and the Director and Deputy 

 Directors devote some months each year 

 at these times to going from meeting to 

 meeting. Thus they know the members 

 personally. The members are limited in 

 number, and consist chiefly or almost 

 entirely of substantial agriculturists, 

 owners of villages who are also culti- 

 vators, heads of sub-divisions of culti- 

 vating castes and the like,— and the mem- 

 bers undertake to carry out a demonstra- 

 tion of an improvement suggested by the 

 Department. In this they are assisted 

 with seed, implements, or other mate- 

 rials needed for the purpose, and their 

 work is inspected by the Superintendent 

 of the nearest farm or other member 

 of the Departmental staff. At every 

 meeting an actual programme of work 

 is submitted, criticised by the members, 

 modified, if necessary, and the several 

 pieces of demonstration allotted to the 

 members. At the meeting the method 

 of lecturing without any actual pro- 

 gramme of work is being given up. 

 In the programme no piece of work is 

 recommended by the Agricultural De- 

 partment, unless it has been proved by 

 the Department itself to be likely to 

 succeed. Two meetings such as have 

 been described are held annually, and 

 though the people clamour for more, it 

 is considered advisable not to add to the 

 number. The time of holding these 

 meetings depends on the system of 

 cropping. 



These Associations have been largely 

 instrumental in introducing superior 

 varieties of tur, of jowar and of sugar 

 cane, and the adoption of improved 

 implements. The greatest advantage is, 

 however, felt to be that they bring the 

 Department into close touch with the 

 best cultivators in each district. 



In Madras, the development of Agri- 

 cultural Associations has taken a more 

 independent line. They are officially 

 patronised but are independent bodies. 

 They usually take the district as the 

 unit, but branch associations are formed 

 in smaller areas. Their utility gener- 

 ally depends on the activity of local 

 men, generally educated men and often 

 substantial land-holders. They have in 

 the deltaic areas been the means of 

 introducing the system of transplanting 

 single seedlings in rice cultivation. 

 Elsewhere they have brought into prac- 

 tice improvements in manure conser- 

 vation ; they have caused the use of the 

 process of green mauuring with wild 

 indigo after paddy to be adopted in 

 the Tan j ore district, and have intro. 

 duced iron ploughs. They have bee n 

 instrumental in extending the cult: 



