Miscellaneous. 802 • [May 1907. 



and there all the cultivation is carried on under what is termed "perennial" 

 irrigation ; that is, irrigation all the year round as opposed to "basin " irrigation, or 

 irrigation during the flood season only. And it is to the improvement in the 

 irrigation supplies of lower Egypt that the great extension of cotton cultivation 

 there has been due, for cotton is a summer crop in Egypt, as contrasted Avith the 

 clover, beans, wheat and barley of the winter, and the maize, rice or fallow of the 

 flood season. This crop is sown there from the end of February till the beginning of 

 April after the land has been watered, and it is watered again after sowing ; and 

 thereafter until the flood season comes round once in three weeks or so, whilst the 

 harvest lasts from some time in August until November. 



Thus in their hope that the Egyptian basin irrigation system would prove 

 of advantage to the Bellary cotton growing ryot, tne Madras Government may 

 perhaps be disappointed. Whether there is any more reason to hope for benefits 

 accruing from an adoption of that system for other crops is also extremely doubtful, 

 as it is being abandoned in Egypt wherever perennial irrigation is possible, and 

 is a most wasteful system with regard to the quantity of water used. In fact, the 

 "basin" system of irrigation is only possible under peculiar conditions of supply 

 when that cannot be regulated otherwise, for with the enormous flood rise of the 

 Nile it acts as a safety valve and enables large temporary storage to be made in a 

 manner very similar to the large shallow tanks of the Carnatic, and this temporary 

 storage leads to a great secondary benefit, in that the land receives a deposit of 

 fertilising silt from the river waters stored on it. In August and September the 

 basins are filling, and during the two following months they are discharging, those 

 highest up the valley being emptied first, as the Nile flood falls. During flood time 

 all field work is necessarily at a standstill, and if the flood is at all prolonged it 

 causes great damage, not only by seriously retarding the sowing season, but also 

 by waterlogging the land and thus increasing the injury done by excessive quantities 

 of soluble salts in the land. 



In Egyptian agricultural practice there is probably much to be learnt that 

 would be of value in Southern India ; but the idea that anyone who had no know, 

 ledge of the agricultural conditions of Southern India could in the course of a few 

 weeks glean the information that would be of value is absurd. The matter should 

 not be allowed to drop, but should be carried out in the manner suggested. It is 

 rather by study of agricultural practice in such countries as Egypt, Italy, Java, 

 Japan, etc., than in England or America, that lines for improvement on Indian 

 practice may be found, and whilst so much attention is being given to experimental 

 investigation in India, this line of investigation should not be neglected.— Indian 

 Agriculturist. 



CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT IN INDIA. 



From a financial point of view the progress of the Indian agriculturist may 

 be said to depend largely upon the elimination of the money lender. There is no 

 need of vilifying the usurer in order to arrive at this conclusion. On the contrary, 

 the fact must be recognised that as Indian rural society is now constituted, the small 

 capitalist who lends out his money is absolutely essential. In an imperfect way he 

 performs the functions of a banker, and, whatever may be his shortcomings, he 

 brings to his task qualifications from the lack of which the ordinary bank is com- 

 pelled to stand aside. But the money lender is undoubtedly an expensive boon, and, 

 as most persons are aware, the efforts of the local Governments have latterly been 

 directed towards providing an effective substitute in the form of co-operative 

 societies. It may be said in general terms that these organisations have been 

 remarkably successful. They have assisted their members at reasonable rates, and 



