Miscellaneoua, 



536 



[Jone, 1910. 



saltpetre and bones as a manure for 

 paddy have been brought to' the notice 

 of cultivators in the plains of Eastern 

 Bengal. 



United Provinces.— In the United 

 Provinces the recent policy has been to 

 avoid the creation of agricultural asso- 

 ciations by official action but to assist in 

 every possible way associations spont- 

 aneously formed. A recently founded 

 association in Mainpuri has already done 

 good work in its first year in the 

 popularisation of improved implements 

 and several of its members (zamindars) 

 are opening small demonstration farms 

 of their own. 



Conclusions.— Taking a general view 

 of the whole question the utility of 

 agricultural associations may be said 

 to depend largely on the presence of a 

 body of men directly interested in 

 cultivation, on the personal touch of 

 the higher staff of the Agricultural 

 Department with the members, on the 

 definite engagement by the members to 

 do definite pieces of work, and on the 

 regularity of meetings, inspections and 

 reports. 



In other matters conditions will vary 

 with the district. It may be advisable 

 to have smaller associations than those 

 of a District in some instances. If such 

 small associations can be sufficiently 

 substantial and intelligent, they should 

 be encouraged. 



While it is not desirable to discourage 

 altogether associations of which the 

 members are non-cultivating landlords 

 as in Bengal, the primary object should 

 be to interest the actual cultivator him- 

 self in agricultural improvement. Such 

 associations can be but stepping stones 

 to this end. No association, large or 

 small, should be formed until (a) a spon- 

 taneous demand on the part of the 

 people themselves arises, (b) the Agri- 

 cultural Department is in a position to 

 advise and guide them in their work. 

 The number of associations should not 

 be greater than the available staff of 

 the department can conveniently keep 

 in touch with. 



III.— Local Demonstrations. 

 It must be recognised that local de- 

 monstration of any improvement it is 

 desired to introduce, is one of the most, 

 if not the most, effective method of 

 securing its adoption. Considerable suc- 

 cess has, indeed, been achieved along 

 these lines. In the case of this method, 

 however, very special adaptation to local 

 conditions is necessary and it is im- 

 possible to lay down any scheme which 

 will be of general application. Demons- 

 tration farms have in some cases had 



considerable success in Bombay and in 

 the Central Provinces, but as such they 

 have not been used to any large ex- 

 tent elsewhere. 



Central Provinces.— Considerable de- 

 velopment has been reached in the Cen- 

 tral Provinces where the methods em- 

 ployed are as under :— In the first place, 

 experiment is rigidly separated from 

 demonstration. Nothing is tried in a 

 demonstration farm, which, in the opiu- 

 ion of the officers of the Agricultural 

 Department, is not actually of proved 

 value for the tract in question, and 

 each demonstration farm has a definite 

 purpose in view. A varying amount 

 of land is taken, which should not be 

 greater than the particular purpose 

 demands and the assistant in charge 

 can efficiently manage : a small area 

 carefully cultivated is much better than 

 a large area inefficiently managed. The 

 occupation of the land is purely tem- 

 porary. It is lent to the Agricultural 

 Department by an annual arrangement 

 and the cultivator to whom the land 

 belongs is guaranteed against loss. He 

 is given also a large share or even the 

 whole of the profits. The land is se- 

 lected by one of the senior officers of 

 the department. No difficulty has hither- 

 to been found in inducing cultivators 

 to* lend suitable pieces of land. An 

 assistant is then placed in charge, 

 specially trained in the particular pro- 

 blem to be demonstrated. Local methods 

 are entirely adopted in working the 

 land, except as regards the particular 

 point to be illustrated. The demons- 

 tration plot is visited at frequent in- 

 tervals by the superintendent of the 

 experimental farm for that particular 

 tract, who has special interest in the 

 success of the demonstrations and, in 

 addition to this, the assistant in charge 

 sends iu a weekly diary of work done. 

 He visits the leading men of the villages 

 of his circle and discusses matters with 

 them pointing out the advantages of 

 the improved method and asking them 

 to adopt it in their own villages.- It 

 is generally possible to get a fair 

 number of cultivators to adopt the 

 method recommended in the same sea- 

 son as it is being demonstrated to them 

 so that the greater part of the 

 assistant's time is spent in touring 

 from village to village to guide and ad- 

 vise such cultivators. The assistant can 

 supervise the work in about eight 

 villages within a radius of four miles if 

 supplied with a pony. To take a concrete 

 case, in Chhattisgarh where the trans- 

 planting of rice is being introduced and 

 where the roads are almost impassable 

 during the rains, it is absolutely neces- 



