July i, 1891.] 
IHE TfiOPICAL AQRICULTURISt. 
27 
a Bketoh of what may ba seen, ia not true by any 
meana of all parta generally: for I may as well 
say at the oulaot that there is harilly a atatement 
that oan ba made about Indian agrioullare, aa 
deduced from any one diatriet, whioh cannot be 
met by a preoiaely oppoaite statement taken from 
the exporienoa of another. It has been well said 
that there is no such thing aa one country India, 
or one Indian people. It ia a coalinent tiflecn times 
the extent of the whole british IbIob, and made 
up of many countries and many peoples, all totally 
diverse. So also is it with regard to the agriculture: 
and iu this consiateJ the very dilHeulty 1 had to 
meet — the impossibility of suggesting any general 
improvement which m ght bo applicable to many 
parts alike. Kaoh port on of the country must bo 
taken by itself, and in relation to its particular 
surroundings and eiraumstanu''s. What those were, it 
was my duly to ascertain au now briefly to describe. 
With the above caution I would lay generally 
that the egrioulturo of India is, in my opinion, 
excellent; and how to improve it iaa problem whioh 
is, I do not hesitate to say, a harder one than bow 
to improve Eng ish agriculture. More than this, 
I have seen numerous instances of as fino and oare- 
ful cultivation, combined with fertility of resource 
on the part of the raiyat, or cultivating tenant, 
as is to be met with in the boat parts of our own 
country. The determining factor with the Indian 
cultivator ia the facilities to whioh be has aoooss. 
The excellence of his cultivation is b u idod not by 
tbe use he makes ‘of the facilities; indeed, it is 
wonderful how ho does utilise wbat he lias. Nor ia 
it bounded by his want of knowledge, but by tbe 
exisleuos or uou-exiotenoe of the essential requisites 
to sucoesa. I, ihsrtfore, iiiihesitalingly dispose of 
the ideas whioh hava been erroneously e.ntertaiiisd 
that the raiyat’s cultivation is primitive and baok- 
ward, and say that neatly all the a’ ( mpts m.a(le 
in the past to teaoh him have failed, because ho 
understands far better than his would be teachers 
the particular ciroumstanooa under whioh he has 
to pursue his calling. 
To take first the psopla, or rather the peoples. 
Agriculture is, as 1 have said, the main oooupation 
of the oountry, and it is estimated that fully 90 per 
cent, of tho rural population ia directly engaged 
in its pursuit. Of the 20.5 millions that inha'-it 
India, there are about 14:5 million Hindus, and 
among these, generally, tho best cultivators are 
found. The 15 million Mahommedana ate scattered 
among tho Hindus, prepond!r,vting in soma districts 
ani being lewor in others. They are a meat-eating 
race, as distinguished from tho Iliu lus, who, as a 
’’tie, are not. L irga herds and flockj are therefore in 
the oare of Mahomrasdans mainly, and they are also 
file butohers ; among the Hindus, however, are several 
tribes and oaatoa whoso associations are with 
cattle, though for the most part with milkiug and 
breeding herds. Along the river sides the Mahom- 
medans predominate, andjthither and into the forest 
tho plough and the milking cattle are driven in tbe 
height of the hot season. . * • 
Along with the rainfall, tho soil must be taken 
as determinieg also to a largo extent the nature 
of tbe crops grown. Broadly apeakiug, India may 
bo considered as diviled into throe distinct geolugioal 
series; the first or northern p:trtion, which is one 
vast alluvial^ area and comprisss the great Indo- 
Vvaugetio plain ; the acoond, a oenlral xone tpreading 
over part of Bombay, Oentral India and tho Uentral 
Irovinces, the Boil_ being known as tho black 
cotton-soil ; and, thirdly, a rooky area comprising 
Madras and Southern India generally. Each division 
has its minor local distinotio ,j ; but while of tbe 
northern it may be said that it is a rich alluvium, 
quiokly drying and needing replenishment by rain 
9t irrigation from well or canal, the black cotton- 
soil is very retentive and holds ample moisture 
from the annual rainfall, to enab !e the sowing of 
winter croiis in November, so that artificial irr'ga’ on 
is hardly, it at all, required. In the th'rd or reeky z .ne 
the only way to provide water is by storage tanka 
or by ohanno’a ltd from rivers or streams, irrigation 
from weiis being difficult. Thus, in the norm may 
be seen regularly on the same bolding tbe orops 
of both seasons, the one growing by the aid of well 
or oauai irrigation, (bo other by mea 'S of tbe rain- 
fall and the powerful heat. In the Central Provinces, 
on the contrary, are great stri tohes of oultivatiou, 
of one an.l the same kind, in sumo districts the cold 
season wheat and linseed, in others tbe rainy seasjn 
cotton and millets ; whilst in Nouthora India, as 
explained, the crops go on much the same all 
tho ycir rou.id, and are distinguished mainly by 
early and late sowings. 
over iudivii'ual areas, again, there will be enor- 
mous variations in tu-i amount of ran fall,eaon having 
its correspoudenoo In tbe crops grown and cho 
method of cultivation pursued. Thus, crops whieu 
depend on heavy rainfall a-id a d nop dim ite liouriah 
only in certain pacts — Aasam, tor instanoo, with 
its rainlall of from 00 to lOd inches and more, 
pccducea tea luxuriantly; Bjhac gives the indigo 
cultivation; and noe belongs to Burma, Eastern 
Bengal und tbe western coasts of Bombay. Other 
crops, bUsh as wheat, r quire a drier climate, though 
water may in sums oases have to be given arti- 
ficially ; otber-s again, such as the pulse orops, gram 
(Cicer arieiimun) or arhar (Cajanm indicue), can, 
wiion once gunninaled, do without dependence on 
w.aler, and are suite t to a hot, dry olimstc. The 
indigo plant, again, is favoured in the development 
ot leat (tue poiiiDU used for miking tho well-known 
dyt) by tua t- imp i-i miio tt B. .isr and Bcngd; 
but the pcuuuu luu ut tliiierd go, .i o. much b, tier 
111 ths drier cli.naie ut ilie I'l.'ijii and the Kurtli- 
VVest I’tovinjoo; aud 'j it la Ui.i . mu two ouiiiiatioas 
arc oarried on in quito distinct parts ol tUo uoun’.ry. 
Nor is tho infiuaaco of varying ohmsts seen alone 
in the crops, but it ia marked in the oalt.e and even 
in ths people themselves. On ths dry plains, of 
the Bunjih especially, and also in the North-West 
Provinces, ths bullocks are fine, 1 .rge a. d-etrong; 
but when wo come to the dumper regioi.a of Ben- 
gal they are found to bo dimiiiutiva and miserable 
looking. Buffaloes, however, r j uco in a wet or damp 
climate, and they ficurisb in many parts of Bengal 
aud along the We.stern Gha.e, taking frequently 
the ptaoe of bullocks us plough cattle. Tbe Bengali, 
clever as he is iulellectua ly, is a pour spociuien 
physically, when put by the side of a Stku from 
ths Punjab, or even a North West raiyat. 
The bearing of an unoertain rainfall on tho 
possibility of famine, and the determining of means 
to prevent it, are most imporlmt points. It ia 
neither in the wettest nor, singular as it may 
appear, in the driest tracts, that there ia the 
greatest danger of famine. In the f inner, as also 
on the moielure-holdiiig blaek ooituu-.oil, there ia 
always oorUnuy of rufficiont wato.-; in the driest 
tracts, again, the raigal will never venture on 
growing a orop unless no is certain of h.iving water 
enough. But tne really precarious districts are 
those in whioh there is just tlia ohanoe of enough 
rain oomiog to induce tha ouitivator to venmre on 
sowing a crop; for, should the rain not come or 
not oontiouc, there will be a total failure of tha 
orop, aud scarcity will result. H th s bs followed 
by a second failure, what is known as famine will 
sjt iu. Happily, tho Oovernm mt have wisely foro- 
aoen that it is the,o precarious tracts whioh moat 
uoad the extousiou to hem of rnaana of irrigation; 
and happily, too, tho i xpausion of the railway system 
enables the quick trausmissiun of stores of grain 
