Miscellaneous. 



388 



[June 1907. 



lot being about one eighth of an acre. The tools and appliances used are primitive 

 in character, but the Japanese farmer fertilizes and cultivates in thorough-going 

 fashion, thus securing an abundant harvest, besides often raising two or more 

 crops a year on the same field. In the warmer latitudes barley, indigo, beans and 

 rape are grown successively on one plot of ground within the space of one year. 

 The other agricultural products include rice, rye, wheat, mulberries, sweet and 

 other potatoes, millet, buck-wheat, tea, tobacco, cotton and hemp. Stock-raising 

 is in its infancy and poultry-farming is inadequately developed, eggs being imported 

 from China to the value of £100,000 a year. On the other hand, the Japanese farmer 

 generally follows some subsidiary occupation, such as rearing silkworms, reeling 

 silk, or spining. Alternatively he may work for wages in the intervals of his own 

 farm work. 



Such are the normal conditions of Japanese agriculture on which the organi- 

 sation scheme fostered by the Government is being developed. That scheme would 

 seem to be mainly of a three-fold character— legislative, educational, and financial. 

 Under the first head are comprised laws respecting irrigation, the protection of 

 forests, the control of rivers in the interests of the farmers, the re-arrangement of 

 farm boundaries, and the formation of Farmers' Guilds. Under the second head 

 the Government aids the local treasuries to maintain six agricultural schools fo r 

 the instruction of farmers' sons in the general principles of agriculture, surveying, 

 veterinary science, and kindred subjects. The Government also conducts an ex- 

 perimental tea farm on which is a curing workshop, a laboratory for investigating 

 the diseases of cattle and poultry, a cattle-breeding pasture for improving the 

 native breeds of cattle for meat and dairy purposes, and two horse-breeding 

 pastures for promoting the introduction of better horses. As regards Farmers' 

 Guilds or Agricultural Associations, we learn that they are formed by the farmers 

 (under the auspices of the Government) " for the promotion of their common 

 interest"; but when organised in conformity with the prescribed conditions, they 

 are further permitted to borrow money from the State hypothec Banks under 

 conditions much more favourable than could be secured by farmers acting inde- 

 pendently. The Guilds also undertake works for the common benefit, and especially 

 those that relate to controlling the course or the volume of rivers, irrigation and 

 draining systems, road-building, reclamation of uncultivated land, measures for 

 protection against insect pests, and similar enterprises. 



So it would seem that Japan, following in the footsteps of other countries, 

 and eager to benefit by their experiences, has readily adopted and put into practice 

 the conviction that, if agriculture is to prosper, it must be by means of effective 

 organisation, conducted along lines suited to local conditions and requirements, and 

 founded primarily on a happy combination of State and active self-help. 



Now, the question arises, what can India do to put herself to some extent into 

 line with other countries of the world in this respect ? There are some critics who 

 declare roundly that Indian ryots, owing to their apathy, ignorance, and conser- 

 vatism, will never combine and organise, and that even if they form Agricultural 

 Associttions the latter will be merely exotics which may flourish feebly for a time 

 but are bound sooner or later to decline and disappear. There is some truth, no 

 doubt, in these premises ; but such critics ignore other premises which form strong 

 foundations for a belief that Agricultural Associations are more suited for growth 

 in India than in many other countries. For one thing, agriculture is the industry 

 of India, hugely preponderating over all others. It is regarded as the most 

 honourable of all industries. To possess land is to possess status. It is in land that 

 practically every native of India who has money to spare, prefers to invest that 

 money,— from the prosperous Vakil and pensioned public servant to the returned 



