Miscellaneous, 



534 



[June, 1910. 



the former have been lately created by 

 a bureaucratic Government anxious to 

 give all the assistance it can to its agri- 

 cultural subjects. The demand for im- 

 proved agriculture has not in India, ex- 

 cept in special cases, come from the culti- 

 vator. While, therefore, in the West 

 the cultivator is naturally in direct 

 touch with the Department of Agri- 

 culture, in India it is necessary for the 

 Department to put forth every effort, 

 first to ascertain the needs of the culti- 

 vators and then to demonstrate how 

 they can most effectually be met. 



The subject of the present report is 

 a consideration of the methods by 

 which these ends have been attained and 

 of the improvements which have been 

 introduced as a result. It must not be 

 forgotten, however, that the success of 

 a particular method in one area by no 

 means ensures its success in another, 

 since the conditions vary so enormously 

 in different parts of India. This has 

 necessitated the description of the con- 

 ditions, under which a method has been 

 found effective, in far greater detail 

 than would have been otherwise neces- 

 sary and the giving of a number of 

 illustrative examples. 



II,— Agricultural Associations. 

 The formation of local associations 

 or societies, which have as their object 

 the improvement of the agriculture in 

 the district, has been one of the most 

 common methods employed for increas- 

 ing interest in the subject and bringing 

 the Agricultural Departments into im- 

 mediate touch with the people. 



Central Provinces.— In the Central 

 Provinces the agricultural associations 

 which have been founded in every dis- 

 trict are very closely connected with 

 the Agricultural Department and in 

 nearly every case the impulse towards 

 their formation has sprung from the 

 Director of Agriculture. The district 

 has been taken as the unit and the 

 Deputy Commissioner is always Presi- 

 dent of the association. In fact the 

 influence and co-operation of the dis- 

 trict officers is considered to be an 

 essential condition of success. It is held 

 that the associations should always re- 

 main in close touch with the superior 

 officers of the Agricultural Department 

 and one of these always attends the 

 meetings of the local association. These 

 meetings are held half yearly, generally 

 before the opening of the kharif and 

 rabi seasons. The Director and the De- 

 puty Directors of Agriculture devote 

 some months each year at these times 

 to attending the meetings of the asso- 

 ciations. Thus they know the members 



personally and they consider this per- 

 sonal knowledge essentially necessary. 

 The membership is limited and consists 

 chiefly of substantial agriculturists, 

 owners of villages who are also culti- 

 vators, heads of cultivating castes and 

 the like. At the meetings, all the pro 

 ceedings are in the vernacular and 

 usually consist in a discussion of the 

 results of demonstrations carried out 

 by the members in the previous season 

 and the presentation of a programme 

 of work to be carried out in that which 

 follows. The latter is generally done 

 by the Deputy Director, and his pro- 

 gramme is then criticised by the mem- 

 bers, modified where necessary and the 

 various pieces of demonstration are 

 allotted to the several members. No 

 work is recommended which has not 

 been already proved by the Department 

 to be likely to succeed. For the de- 

 monstration of an improvement the 

 members are assisted with seed, imple- 

 ments, or other material required and 

 their work is regularly inspected by 

 the Superintendent of the nearest farm 

 or other member of the departmental 

 staff. Through the associations the 

 Deputy Director of Agriculture is thus 

 enabled to get into close contact with 

 the people and as a result Inrge numbers 

 of people are attracted to the farms 

 of the Department for information. 



The following are improvements that 

 have been introduced a? a result of the 

 work done by these associations. The 

 pickling of jowar seed against smut, for- 

 merly unknown, is now largely prac- 

 tised ; the cultivators in the Chhattisgarh 

 District are beginning to adopt the sys- 

 tem of transplanting rice, where broad- 

 casting was previously universal, with 

 considerably increased profits ; superior 

 varieties of jowar and of sugarcane 

 have been extensively introduced ; new 

 or improved implements suited to 

 the conditions of special tracts have 

 been adopted. But it is felt that per- 

 haps the utility of associations has been 

 best shown in their being the means 

 of bringing the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment into contact with the best culti- 

 vators, and so winning their confidence. 



Madras. — There is a Central Agricul- 

 tural Committee which meets quarterly 

 in Madras, the Director of Agriculture 

 being at present Chairman. It issues 

 leaflets, etc., on subjects of agricultural 

 interest and is also supposed to connect 

 the work of all the district associations. 

 Each district has nominally an agricul- 

 tural association and some have branch 

 associations in the taluks. Each district 

 association frames its own rules, ar- 

 ranges its own programme of work and 



