Indian Agriculture.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2444, 10 March 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

Indian Agriculture.

Till; latest agricultural statistics for India give the cultivated aroa as 181,815,64-t acres, and the ceroal crop as follows: Rice, 'Jo,o(Jj,B!H acres; wheat, 30,225,350 acres; millets and other cereals, 79,523,386 aeros — t-it-il, 155.315,031 acres. It would thus appear that S7 pel' oeut. of tho orops grown are oereals, leavin<r only 13 per cent, of the cropped area, to be divided among? cotton, oilseeds, indigo, pulse, sugar cane, &c. A correspondent in the North British Agriculturist writes as follows oil this subject : — And I too am of opinion, writing as nn agriculturist of many years' experience both here and in India, that they do the best they can with the poor menus at their disposal. Rut though wo can do little working on English lines, we can do much to remedy tho greatest agricultural evils in ludia—tho want, of manure and of fond for stock ; and it, is very satisfactory to find that this had been at last ofiioially recognised by the writer of chapter V, of tho recently published Statistical Atlas of India, which (p. 21) has f-onie admirable remarks on the subject. Tho cattle are half starved, and their manure is used for fuel. Supply food for cattle, then, and wood for fuel, and the agricultural di/liculties of India will bo solved, so far as wc can Solve thorn, because you will not only add to tho mammal resonrco and tho strength of 1 the plonehinsr oattle, but will avert tho ( enormous loss that often occurs amongst j ( tho cattle from starvation, For want of ' t

food they are li.'ible to dio by tliousnndg, " and oven million-*," says tlio writer, who points in evidence to the fact Hint, in a ningle rlistriet, in 1877, about 2o<),000 dind out of ,')00,000- " The only remedy.' ho adds, " is firstly to establish phntatioTis of fodder trees, tho roots of which draw on Iho unde> ground IYi>h-v.-at,er sea for their moisture, ;n:<l protected by which irrass and fodder hu.shes will prow ; and secondly, to secure tho grazing lands from destruction by fjoiifs." Woodhind reserves, then, ."hould h<; formed wherever land suitable for the purpose exists in the neighbourhood of a village, and such rcsorvos would not only supply fuel and augment tho manurial and ploughing rnsfjurnos, but would also ameliorate the climate, andbolh increase and conserve the rainfall. Oilier things of course may ho done to aid the agriculturist—introducing improved soeds, and instructing them how to uso such mineral manures as may be within their renoh ; bur as long as the main agricultural problem—the fact that, the oatllo are half starved, and that their manure is used for fuel—is left untouched, Indian agriculture must ever remain almost exactly where it is.