Miscellaneous. 



544 



[June, 1910. 



eulty of getting people to leave their 

 own district is, however, in India always 

 great and so the application of this 

 method is decidedly limited. But in- 

 stances of successful colonisation of 

 backward tracts in this manner have 

 occurred, some of them of very far- 

 reaching effect. 



Punjab.— The colonisation of the 

 Ohenab Colony in the Punjabis the most 

 outstanding example of how agricul- 

 tural improvement can be effected by 

 the force of example. A large propor- 

 tion of the land colonised was allotted 

 to the nomads who originally grazed 

 their herds over the whole tract. The 

 re?- 1 of the colonists included men from 

 the best agricultural district in the 

 province. The success of the nomad 

 who had no previous knowledge of agri- 

 culture, in assimilating the best practices 

 of his neighbours, has been phenomenal. 

 The whole colony is now a tract as well 

 cultivated from an economic point of 

 view as almost any part of India. 



At the instance of Sir Edward Buck 

 poudrette farmers were transferred 

 from Farrukhabad to Oawnpore in the 

 United Provinces. Again the Central 

 Provinces Department of Agriculture at 

 a later date imported kachis from Oawn- 

 pore to show the cultivators of the pro- 

 vince how to use night-soil as a manure, 

 and to some extent their system of culti- 

 vation has been adopted by local men. 



XIII.— Utilisation of Individual 

 Expert Cultivators for the 

 Introduction of Improved Methods 

 in New Districts. 



While it is only rarely possible to 

 colonise a backward area with large 

 numbers of better cultivators, it is fre- 

 quently comparatively easy to induce 

 single men to go to a new tract as 

 employees of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment to show the people the methods in 

 which they are experts. 



Central Provinces.— The successful 

 case in which this has been recently 

 done has been already referred to in 

 connection with the introduction of the 

 system of transplanting rice in Chhattis- 

 garh in the Central Provinces. So 

 successful have been the men who were 

 introduced to show the transplanting of 

 rice that some of them are>being retained 

 as village kamdars by the malguzars of 

 the villages in which they have been 

 employed. 



Madras.— Another case in which a 

 slightly different method was adopted 

 may be quoted from Madras. With a 

 view to securing the general adoption of 

 the drill system of cotton cultivation 

 used in the Bellary district, cultivators 



from Bellary were in the first place 

 taken to the experimental stations 

 belonging to the department and were 

 there used to train the farm coolies in 

 the new system. After the latter were 

 able to carry out the method, they were 

 sent out to villages to train the people. 



Bombay. — In Bombay similar methods 

 have been adopted. Expert cultivators 

 from Gujarat have been employed to 

 demonstrate their improved methods 

 elsewhere, and expert sugar boilers from 

 near Poonahave been sent with excellent 

 lesultsto almost every district in the 

 Presidency where cane is grown to 

 prepare gur by their superior system. 

 It may be added that the gang of sugar 

 boilers employed by the department is 

 in constant demand. 



Burma. — Another case is the employ- 

 ment of Augami Nagas to teach the 

 people of Chin Hills in Burma their 

 methods of terrace rice cultivation. 



On the whole there is little doubt of 

 the utility of this method when well 

 considered and well organised. 



XIV.— Training the Sons of 

 Cultivators. 



Central Provinces — An important 

 departure was made some years ago by 

 starting at the Nagpur Agricultural 

 School a one year's course in practical 

 agriculture for training the sons of 

 farmers. The teaching is given in verna- 

 cular and consists almost wholly of 

 practical work on the farm with a 

 minimum of lectures and book work. 

 At the outset it was found very difficult 

 to attract the right stamp of students, 

 although scholarships were freely given 

 by the District Councils. A few sons of 

 cultivators were however attracted 

 with a real desire to learn something 

 connected with their protession. That 

 some measure of success has been secured 

 in these cases has been shown by 

 enquiries into the work they have been 

 doing in the villages after leaving the 

 college. It is found to be very desirable 

 to keep in touch with the students after 

 they have finished their course, to 

 encourage them to write and explain 

 what they are trying, to advise them 

 upon any difficulties that they experi- 

 ence, and to visit them in their home 

 when occasion offers. Some of the 

 passed students are the keenest members 

 of the district agricultural associations. 



Bombay. — In Bombay, too, but to a 

 very limited extent, the sons of ryots 

 are taken for two years' training on 

 some of the experimental farms. This is 

 rendered possible by the provision of 

 funds by a Bombay gentleman for the 

 purpose. 



