43 
Indian AgncuUure in Us Physical AsjpecU. 
rainfall over tlie northern plains is the result. Over the lofty 
Himalayas too it cannot pass, but sweeping along gives an ex- 
tremely heavy rainfall all along their base, and so on over the 
whole of Bengal, Assam, and Burmah, which consequently are 
the most wet and damp parts of the empire; here failure of 
rain is never known. 
In these regions and along the Western Ghats the agriculture 
as a consequence shows a marked difference from that of other 
parts ; it is here and under these conditions that the rice crop 
flourishes — for rice is not, as is too often supposed, the most 
general crop grown in India. In like manner, when in October 
the reverse current sets in and the north-east monsoon blows 
across the Bay of Bengal, it strikes on the eastern coast of South- 
ern India, the part alone exposed to it. It passes, however, 
over the low range of the Eastern Ghats, which are not sufii- 
ciently high to impede it, and deposits its moisture as rainfall in 
those districts which, owing to the intervention of the lofty Western 
Ghats, received none from the south-west monsoon. In this 
way, in a favourable year, each portion of India receives to a greater 
or less extent its rainfall at one time or another ; according to 
it the agricultural practice will be determined, the crops grown 
will vary, and, just as the force of the monsoons varies, so will 
there be the difference between abundance and scarcity, while, 
should one or the other fail in any part, the dreaded famine may 
stare the country in the face. 
It is to guard against this latter that the efforts of Govern- 
ment have been and are still being most actively put forward in 
the supply of water through a system of irrigation by canals, in 
encouraging the making of wells and storage reservoirs, and 
lastly in the rapid extension of the railway system throughout 
the length and breadth of the country — measures which must 
have the hearty support of all who in any way understand the 
peculiar conditions of Indian agriculture. It has been necessary 
for me to explain at some length the action of the monsoons, 
for without it any understanding of the agriculture is im- 
■oossible. 
Whilst over a great part of India tliere are thus two clearly 
defined seasons, a cold and a rainy season, with their respective 
crops, in the southern part and in the Madras Presidency gene- 
rally there is a more steady warmth throughout the entire j'ear, 
and consequently there are not the regular rahi and kharif 
crops, but only early and late sowings of the same crops. 
Wheat, as a result, has no place in this more tropical climate, 
and though rice is largely grown, it is not by means of tlie 
rainfall alone, as in the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies, but 
