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CONDITION OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA. 



Some interesting information, prepared from the records 

 at the India Office, has recently been published relating 

 to the condition of agriculture in India before the recent 

 famine.* From this it appears that although in some tracts 

 of the country partial depression of agriculture has been felt, 

 still, in India as a whole, apart from the recent famine, the 

 condition of agriculture during the past ten years has been 

 flourishing. The breadth of land under cultivation has 

 extended ; the number of stock is larger ; the rental and 

 revenue from land have grown ; the exports of agricultural 

 produce have advanced ; and the prices of agricultural products 

 have not fallen. In support of these general statements,, 

 statistics are submitted showing the changes in the cultivated 

 area and the number of live stock in certain typical pro- 

 vinces. The estimated arable area in four large progressive 

 provinces in the north, south, and centre of India, viz., 

 the Panjab, Central Provinces, Madras, and Lower Burma, 

 which may be regarded as representative of the whole country,, 

 shows a rise in the acreage under the plough, including 

 current fallows, from an average of 72, 200,000 acres in 1886-88 

 to 81,000,000 acres in 1893-95. For the same periods the 

 estimated numbers of cattle of all kinds in three fairly repre- 

 sentative provinces — Panjab, North-west Provinces and 

 Oudh, and Bombay — show an increase of about 6,000,000 

 head, the average for 1886-88 being 41,222,000, and that 

 for 1893-95, 47,149,000 head. 



With reference to the signs of improvement contained in the 

 returns of rental and revenue from land, it is pointed out that 

 in some provinces, occupied by petty peasant proprietors. 



* Appendix to Final Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture. [C 8541.] 

 Price IS. 3d. 



