41 
INDIAN AGRICULTURE IN ITS 
PHYSICAL ASPECTS. 
To anyone interested in agriculture a tour in another countiy 
than his own cannot fail to be of much profit, and when that 
embraces a special and definite study of the agriculture of a 
distant part of the great British Empire, it is surrounded with 
peculiar interest. Already the growth of an export trade in 
agricultural produce from India has exercised a considerable 
bearing upon England itself, and the condition of that vast 
country with its teeming masses, the greater number by far 
engaged in the pursuit of agriculture, cannot fail to be a matter 
of deep concern. Looked at purely from the point of view of 
an agricultural observer and inquirer, 'I can hardly imagine 
any field so fertile in rewarding a careful study as India offers ; 
and when one is privileged, as I have been, to pursue an 
investigation under auspices so favourable, and with advantages 
so great as were afforded to myself, he can scarcely fail to return 
deeply impressed with the general excellence of the native agri- 
cultui'e of India, and with the truly wonderful administration 
of that great and important Empire. 
The object of my mission — one to which I was deputed by 
Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India — was to endeavour, 
after inquiry made on the spot, to offer such suggestions to the 
Government of India as might tend to the improvement of the 
agriculture of the country, and more particularly that which 
might result from the teachings of science. 
In view of the fact that, although my main conclusions and 
recommendations have been already submitted to Government, 
my entire report is not yet issued, I am precluded from entering 
here into any debateable points as to what the duty of Govern- 
ment should be in the way of fostering agricultural improvement ; 
but it may be of interest to generally review the external 
conditions of the agriculture of India, and briefly to indicate 
the principal respects in which its systems differ from our own. 
This will be my puqiose in the present paper. 
My i-esidence in India extended over fourteen months, during 
which I was enabled to travel freely over the six leading provinces 
of the empire, the remaining two, viz. Burmah and Assam, not 
being comprised in the scope of my inquiry. I was thus enabled 
to see as great variations of agricultural practice and conditions 
as was possible, and to study them during each of the agricultui'al 
seasons of the year. That such a review was not only desirable, 
but absolutely necessary, before any sound conclusions could be 
