Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-10-02
INDIA NEEDS MORE FOOD
COUNTRY NEAR NORMAL LIMIT
OF POPULATION.

SSSl vi Its'tiS tt@i(dSCo--1ON~stf
ment Has Not Much Money for Eek
periments.
Methods of increasing the food sup
ply of India are now engaging the
attention of the British Government
to a very large extent, and one Of the
recent visitors to Washington, Sir
Frederick Nicholson, on his way back
to England via the United States.
comes here to see what this country
has been doing in the line of agricul-
ture, fish culture and irrigation, with
view to making use of anything
valuable that this country may have
developed along these lines, writes
the Washington ID. CD correspondent
of the Boston Transcript. This was
one of the problems in which me
GaekWar of Baroda was particularly
interested during his stay in Wash
ington, and he actually took back with
him one of the experts of the Fish
Commission to help in the practical
work of fish propagation. Sir Fred
erick's visit is more in the line of in
vestigation, and he will collect data
from the Fish Commission, the De-
partment of Agriculture and the Geo
logical Survey bearing on the prob
lem, particularly as applicable Madras
presidency, of which he was till re-
Gently one of the board of revenue.
In talking of the matter to a reporter
he said that one of the chief difficult
ties that India had to contend with
was the poverty of the country. The
land throughout India is held by the
Government, and tax levied on the
land forms the chief source of rev.
enue The whole of the land tax OF
Madras presidency last year was less
than the appropriation for the sup
port of the United States Department
of Agriculture alone, though the popu-
lation of the presidency is now about
40,000,000. Thus the funds available
for experimental and agricultural
work are limited, and the Government
has to do the best it can with rather
meagre funds.
The fishing industry is important
as source of food supply, but fish
culture as it is practiced in this coun-
try is unknown. 1t is possible that
the Indian Government may be able
to do something in this line, but one
of the most important problems is
that of getting the fish from the sea
fisheries to the market without their
spelling. The boats and gear used
at present are not on large enough
scale to permit keeping the fish alive
and any method of curing them as
they are taken from the water of
course precludes the possibility of
having them fresh on the table. The
question of ice of course has been
country the price of ice is all the
higher since there is the more need
for it. This question of fish preserva-
ton is one that the Government
wants to solve The sea fisheries are
very rich if they can only be made
more thoroughly available. AS it is
now, much of the fish product has TO
GO into fertilizer, and while this is
important it is not so important as
the food supply. The irrigation works
of India are among the models or
the world, but Sir Frederick says
can methods of handling the irriga-
ton problem and wants to compare
them with the methods in India The
question of water storage is the great
est one in the Indian works, the riv-
ers being in heavy flood once year,
and saved if a large area is to be
cultivated.
He says that India is rapidly reach
ing the normal limit of population,
and that if larger population is to
be supported on the same area some
method must be found of increasing
the productivity per acre. Popula-
ton heretofore has increased enor-
mously through the habit of early
marriage, and while it is not possible
to prohibit the custom of infant mar
riages, the Government has done
good deal by raising the age limit at
which the couples may live together.
This has created a great deal of dis
satisfaction among the natives, but is
regarded as essential for the well-be-
ing of the country.
While the price of everything has
almost doubled in India within recent
years. wages are still exceedingly
low, and the unskilled laborer is well
paid in Madras at six cents per day.
Considering the methods of crop rails
ing and the cheapness of han dlabor,
Sir Frederick Nicholson does not
think that there is much chance for
the introduction of American agricul-
tural machinery The holdings are
small, the average in Madras presi-
dency being only fourteen acres, while
eighty per cent. of the farms are az
small as three or four acres. There
is some call for pumping machinery
and for cheap gasolene engines, but
even that is limited, and with such
small land holdings the introduction
of farm machinery among the very
poor population is almost out of the
question
uS SCdSOnS ctIC NClS olteiA kiN hC-
fined and nearly all of the harvesting
has to be done at the same time, SO
there is not even a chance for trac-
ton engines and moving harvesting
machinery over any large district
The supply of hand labor is not great
" in excess of the demand, and while
the natives are as a rule tough and
why and industrious, they are not
of the physique for heavy labor, and
in that connection he says that they
would be of little use for importation
to Panama in spite of the small
wages at which they Will work The
Government has a number of good
agricultural colleges in the country
and some experiment stations, bas
more work is to be done both in
plant breeding and in the manage
ment of experimental farms, so that
Sir Frederick hopes to get a number
of valuable hints from the Depart
ment of Agriculture, where that work