THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Sept. i, 1894. 
cultivation of the Japan paper mulberry tree in Bengal 
have hitherto led to bo little result. The fibre of this 
tree is much superior to lhabar, and, aa I stated in 
several of my annual reports some years ago, it can 
be most readily grown ia Bengal. There is still a 
■mail stock of the tree in the garden ready for it-sue 
to any applicant who may be forthcoming. 
THE RESOURCES OF BRITISH INDIA. 
The man of commerce who vanntetb himself an u 
is puffed up, or who in more modern language thinks 
be knows a thing or two, can always have a lesson 
in humility by dipping into the page i of Mr. O'Conor 
or of Dr. George Watt. He prides himself that be has 
pretty well scanned the commercial horizon, and that 
if a fortune was to be made, he would cot hav~ 
misssd it. But let him glance at any of Mr. O'Conor 
trade reports, and his wisdom is made naught. He 
learns that so many million railway tickets a r e ab 
eolutely necessary, and that not an inch of the re 
quisita oardbtarl is manufactured in India ; or the 
swelling importations of umbrellas are put before 
him with the rooainder that there is no reason why 
they should be imported at all; or he is told to 
consider matches, and think what a mine of wealth 
their manufaoture wou'd opeo np ; and so on. But 
the lesson is even more fully enforced by Dr. Watt 
in a little pamphlet he has drr.wo up in answer to a 
series of questions put by the Imperial Federation 
League. It is not quite accurate, we should think, 
to say that the fibre of the aloe is " not at all uti- 
lised " io as muoh as we have purchased door mata 
made therefrom* ; but doubtless Dr. Watt is right in 
insisting that its commercial uses have Dot been ade- 
quately realised. Then there i» the sida fibre, which 
has from time to time been urged on the attention of the 
textile world with comparatively little result. It is 
gratifying to learn, however, that "interest may be 
said to have been at last aroused in this most 
admirable fibre, and large supplies are being ac- 
cordingly collected for experimental purposes." Of 
rhea the world has heard a good deal, aod numerous 
invention* have been patented : but so far no fortunes 
have been made, though some liave been lost. Of 
Rajmahal-hemp we confess to have hitherto been 
ignorant, but according to Dr. Wa't it is far 
superior to rhea. " A line made of it broke when 
dry at 248 lb and when wet at 343 lb. against a 
similar line of the finest hemp, which broke at 158 
lb and 190 lb." Plainly tie Marsdenia tenacissima 
would make an excellent hangman's rope. This 
opens up one considerable market. But the fibres 
Dr. Watt mentions, of which the value has not been 
properly gauged, are too numerous to name sepa- 
rately, and he tells us he could give a similarly long 
list of dyes, tans, oils, medioines and even edible 
substanoes well worthy of cultivation. " It is in 
faot easy to mention many suoh examples of possible 
revenue from useless tracts of country or of wild 
produots, which, if experimentally grown, might in 
a few years rank among tbe reooSnised and valued 
crops of the country." It is certainly curious that 
while India has thus neglected her indigenous plants, 
ahe should have gorie to the pains to import so many 
exotics. Study tbe present crops of the Indian field 
and garden, and it is astonishing how many exotics we 
find many imported from America in comparatively 
reoe'nt times, and others at an earlier, though stilt his- 
toric date, from other parts of Asia or from Africa 
and Europe. Dr. Watt actually estimates that " from 
Calcutta to Lahore 50 per 06nt of the prevalent 
cultivated and wild vegetation has been imported by 
India within historic times." . 
Even more important, however, than his suggestions 
regarding the exploitation of fresh fields in the plant 
world i» Dr. Watt's empliatio plea for the necessity 
of improvement in the quality of existing crops. For 
years baok we ourselves have been hammering away 
at he oaae of wheat. It has been proved over and over 
* While there is a regular trade from Mauritius 
thout any sign of its being specially profitable— 
. T.A. 
again that Indian wheat can be cleaned far above the 
limit of refraction fixed by tbe exporter*, bat the Utter 
persist in tbe ficMon that the European buyers want 
dirty wlif at. Thousands of ton* of extraneous matter 
are annually shipped to Europe, the trade ia dis- 
credited, prices nre lowered acd the demand i» cur- 
tailed. Tlie story of the Indian cotton trade a» told 
by Dr. Watt is very similar. The Director* of tbe 
East India Company recognised • oectury ago tbe 
great possibilities of the trade, and they spent large 
sums of money in etdeavouring to acclimatise 'he 
more highly prized forms of the American plant. This 
money Dr. Watt thinks would better have been spent 
in an endeavour to improve indigenous staple*. How- 
ever this mav be, New Orleans cotton — a (tap'e of far 
superior quslitv to the Indian — was ultimately grown 
successfully in Dharwar, and very high price" were 
obtained, especially when the Civil War in tbe United 
Sta'es broke out. Instead, however, of using tbe 
occasion to establish a high standard all rcund, 
exporters took to adulteration. An attempt was 
made to check thi - by legislation, the Cotton Fraud* 
Aot being paused in 1863 ; but the Aet failed to effect 
its objpot, and was eventually repealed. The subse- 
quent Metory of the Indian cotton trade i* one of 
progressive deterioration. " The reputation of India for 
its once famous indigenous cottons had been completely 
destroyed, and its American crop having fallen into dis- 
favour rapidly degenerated in qua'itv, un'il at the pre- 
sent day it might almost be described as inferior to 
many of the indigenous eottona." Io tbe last 
twenty years the exports have made no progress 
either in quantity or value ; aod the attempt to 
supply the English mills has pratically bad to be 
abandoned, 82 per cent of the exports going to 
the Continent and onlv 12 per cent to England. 
Not only so, but tbe Indian mills themselves are 
forced to look for their present and future supplies 
of superior staples to foreign countries. "It might 
almost be said," writes Dr. Watt, " tbat progression 
is deliberately stultified, the labours of oenturies 
ruthlessly thrown away, and a large and import ant 
industry practically cornered or restricted io its 
possible development by interested parties, who ad- 
vance the plausible axiom tbat demand is the con- 
trolling power of production." There is not a shadow 
of doubt that the Indian staple* oonld be improved 
indefinitely by the careful selection of seed and the 
cultivation of specially selected plants for the pro- 
duction of seed ; but if tbe trader refuse eneouraege- 
ment, the cultivator cannot be expected to move of 
his own accord. It is quite certain, however, that 
until reform takes place in the direction indicated 
by Dr. Wat*-, the cotton production 'of the country 
must deteriorate in quality and it is not likely to 
expand in quantity. 
Admitting, however, to the full that ther is much 
room for the cultivation of hitherto Deglectedpruodncts 
and for the improvement of most important staples, 
such as wheat, cotton acd wool. Dr. Watt's suvey 
of the prospects of Indian agriculture as a whole 
seems to be somewhat optimistic. He points out 
that there are at least 100 million acres — probably 
120 million acres — of land still awaiting the plough; 
that 76 million acres, of which 43 are aotually culti- 
vated, _ still await irrigation, though they could 
be irrigated with advantage; that with the ex- 
tension of irrigation there has always been a marked 
increase in the double-cropped area ; and be quo'es 
with approval a Resolution of the Agricu'tural De- 
partment, which, in drawing attention to this " ver- 
tical " expansion of produce, suggests the possibility 
of an increase of 50* per cent in the produce of the 
country independently of the extenfion of tbe cnl'i- 
vated area. In tbis way we are led onwards to the 
conclusion, that " few countries in the world can be 
said to poss°ss so brilliant an agricultural prospect, 
if judged of by intunsic value and extent of unde- 
velop ed resources." This account of tbe matter, how- 
ever, has to be considerably qualified before it can 
be accepted as a safe representation of agricultural 
India as it is aLd aa it may be. No meatiou is niado 
of a possihle deorease in the fertility of the soil. 
There are, we are awtse, specialists: saoh as Professor 
