Mohave County miner., 1916-12-30
From Sundays rany MincrJ


 struggling with one of the greatest agricultural problems ever thrust upon any nation.
 This huge country, with a farming population almost twice the total num- Der of people in the United States, presents many unique and seemingly Iunsurmountable obstacles to speedy educational advancement for the tiller of the soil, for here must be .consid- cred not only the matter of finance but widespread illiteracy and antequated Oriental customs.
 The minister of agriculture for In- dia, c. H. A. Hill, today told a cor respondent of the Associated Press something of the situation and spoke in the highest terms of the progress that has been made in the United States. In this connection he said:
 q understand a good many Amer jeans are interested in the develop ment of India. We are only too grate- ful for any assistance or suggestion. I believe that some of your educational especially in the South, have been similar to those which confront us.
 "The population of India is about one-ffth of the whole world, and at the census of 1911 the population of British India (this does not include the native states) was 244,0O0,OO0, of whom no fewer than 177,936,000 were in one way or another on agriculture. The gross area under has risen since 1895 from about 214,O0O,O00 acres to about 250,- 100000. The net area, that from 189,- 100000 acres to about 220,000,000 acres. The acreage commanded by ir- rigation rose from about 26,737, ,000 acres in 1895-96 to more than 46,836,- poo acres in 1913-14. AS regards the more important crops for export, thereI were in 1913-14 over 25,OO0,000 acres lnder cotton, furnishing 5,OO0,0O0 bales; 28,5OO,OOO acres under wheat, producing 8,333,OOO tons; 75,5OO,OOO | acres under rice, producing 575,000,- ! poo hundredweight in round figures; 3,OOO,OOO ocres under jute, producing ,,OOO,OOO bales, and 61O,OOO acres un- Ter tea, producing 3O7,OOO,OOO pounds. The aggregate value of these crops approach 40O,OOO,OOO pounds.
 'These represent the principal crops : n which the outside world is interest d, but it is necessary to remember hat over every large tracts of coun- ry the staple food is not wheat or ice, but some form of millet or pulse, sually denominated jawar or bajriI 'hese two crops in 1914-15 amounted o nearly 7,5OO,OOO tons. T
 "An extraordinary variety of cli- latic conditions are prevalent in diff erent parts of India. The Madras is the only province wholly ropical, while all the northern prov lces are sub-tropical. Conditions of oil vary as much as the climate and ace. For many years attempts to i'm , rove cultivation were sporadic and : ,cal. It was assumed for that novel iethods were probably foreign to the enius of the people as well as ill., | dapted to the soil and other condi- 1; ons; and it is only recently that the l; Overnment became alive to the enor- < ous developments which are pos T. ble. ~ ''Prior to 1904, when Lord Curzon i, itiated a properly organized agricul- IT ral department, development de- .nded much on the idiosyncracies of h e local governments and such en- o .avors as were made to improve f, ethods were far from being either n, ientifc or consistent. In 1904, how ri -er, partly with the assistance of a si Iblic spirited American citizen, enry Phipps of Chicago, Lord Curzon in IS able to establish a properly or to mixed staff of agricultural officers r th headquarters at Pusa in Bihar, tE d organize provincial agricultural Ii. tablishments. At Pusa, where the m .ntral Research Institute is estab- ST he'd and where there is a large ex- ra rimental farm, r officers are em- Ii, Dyed and it was to the establishment +b this institution that the benefaction in Mir. Phipp was devoted. TT ''The inadequacy of the present staff sy fully realized and there is at pres co t under consideration a scheme for tn
 immediate increase. It is hoped hs , shall be able to place every major hs IHRMHm RnnFnPFInF