September, 1908.] 



271 



Miscellaneous. 



imitate the seed farms in giving more atten- 

 tion to the cultivation of the plot intended 

 for seed, to the spacing of the plants, to the 

 selection of the seed and to the ginning of 

 the cotton. They show, too, a preference 

 for certain strains of seed. In one case the 

 proprietor has taken into his regular employ 

 the assistant who was in charge of the seed 

 farm. After two or three years' careful 

 supervision it will be possible to withdraw 

 the agricultural assistants in charge of these 

 farms, and to leave the owners to manage 

 them as private seed farms. The department 

 will still continue to supply the owners with 

 selected seed for each years's sowing and to 

 give them the benefit of its advice. The 

 owners will be made to feel that they and the 

 department are working in co-operation for 

 the common weal. They will be requested 

 to inspect the experimental stations from 

 time to time and to see the whole scheme of 

 seed selection carried on at these centres, 

 while officers of the department will inspect 

 and advise them in the management of their 

 seed farms. In the com'se of a few years it 

 is not too much to expect that in these 

 Provinces there will be. several private seed 

 farms where pure and improved cotton seed 

 can be obtained, and where, too, the use of 

 new manures and new varieties of cotton 

 tested at the experiment stations can be 

 demonstrated to neighbouring cultivators. 



The agricultural stations themselves also 

 serve the purpose of demonstrating to the 

 ryots of the tract experimental work of 

 proved value, including the use of improved 

 agricultural machinery. The usefulness of a 

 station in this respect depends very largely 

 on the superintendent in charge. A practical 

 man, who shows tact and sympathy in 

 welcoming visitors, will induce many to come 

 to the station. A visitor generally comes 

 with the intention of seeing one particu- 

 lar experiment, or it may be one particular 

 machine in which he is interested. It is advi- 

 sable, therefore, to concentrate his attention 

 on the results of one or two experiments 

 in which he is specially interested, rather 

 than to confound him by attempting to 

 explain all the lines of work in progress. If, 

 as a member of one of the District Agriciil- 

 tural Associations, he has been entrusted 

 with one of the co-operative experiments 

 being carried out by his association, he is 

 anxious to compare the results of the station 

 with his own, and he will often declare with 

 some degree of pride that the crop at the 

 station falls short of his own. This depart- 

 ment always holds the meetings of the 

 District Agricultural Association at the 

 stations in the case of districts in which 

 stations have been established. In other 

 districts such meetings will be held at a 

 suitable demonstration or seed farm, when- 

 ever it is available. When the meetings are 

 held at the stations, arrangements are made 

 to work suitable foreign agricultural machi- 

 nery and implements. The members are also 



shown such of the experimental series as 

 are likely to be of some educational value 

 to them. At other times leading cultivators, 

 who have been paying special attention to 

 one particular crop or manure, are asked to 

 visit the station to compare their results 

 with those obtained there. By paying 

 attention to such points as these, much can 

 be done to make an agricultural station 

 popular, and to rouse the interest of the 

 better class of cultivators in its work. 



A Cattle-breeding Farm run up by the 

 Agricultural Department can also be made a 

 most useful object-lesson in the improvement 

 of a breed by selection. The cultivator re- 

 cognizes that the scheme for the improve- 

 ment of his animals is based on the same 

 principle as that for the improvement of his 

 seed, and that in each case the aim is to 

 produce the best of its kind. The work of 

 the Nagpur Cattle-breeding Farm is duly 

 appreciated, and the demand for the loan of 

 bulls far exceeds the supply available for 

 distribution, On the other hand, the 

 Hoshangabad Cattle-breeding Farm has not 

 been so successful, because the stock is 

 not of the best quality and of the exact 

 stamp desired by the cultivators. ' It was 

 started without sufficient inquiry into the 

 local conditions and without sufficient effort 

 to secure the right type of animal. Reli- 

 gious sentiment, combined with a knowledge 

 of the fact that his cattle are deteriorating 

 in quality, induces the ryot of the Central 

 Provinces to look with favour on any scheme 

 that makes for the improvement of his stock. 



The demand for agricultural assistants as 

 managers of Court of Wards estates effords 

 another opportunity of bringing the results 

 of the experimental work of the stations to 

 the notice of cultivators. But as in the case 

 of demonstration farms, it is essential to 

 frame a complete scheme for such work 

 which the manager should not be allowed to 

 exceed, to decide what improved methods of 

 tillage, what manures, what system of seed 

 selection and the like should be permitted 

 with due regard to the local conditions. 

 Here, again, the great difficulty is to secure 

 competent candidates for such posts. In 

 some cases the managers supplied for such 

 estates by this department have proved 

 unsatisfactory, being unpractical, lacking in 

 initiative and therefore incapable of per- 

 forming satisfactorily the duties of an inde- 

 pendent charge. Their one idea is generally 

 to imitate the experiment stations, particu- 

 larly in purchasing foreign agricultural 

 machinery at an extravagant cost. They 

 lack the money-making instinct of the true 

 farmer. In future this department will 

 supervise the work of all its assistants thus 

 employed, and advise them to follow the 

 teaching of the stations only as far as it is 

 applicable to estates run on commercial lines. 



By exhibiting agricultural machinery and 

 farm products at shows, fairs and exhibi- 



