The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-19
GREAT COUNTRY 0F INDIA IS
 FACING BIG FARMING PROBLEM
Job to Be Tackled Resembles Educational One in South of United States-Many Demands on Govern
 ment Purse Expected After the War

! India is struggling with one of the greatest agricultural problems ever i thrust upon any nation.
 1 This huge country, with a farming | population almost twice the total
 number of people in the United States, presents many unique and seemingly | unsurmountable obstacles to speedy educational advancement for the tiller l of the soil, for here must be consider ed not only the matter of finance but widespread illitreacy and antequated Oriental customs.
 The minister of agriculture for In- l dia, c. H. A. Hill. told a correspond ent of The Associated Press something of the situation and spoke in the high est terms of the progress that has been made in the United States. In this connection he said:
 | "I understand a good many Ameri- cans are interested in the development of India. We are only too grateful for any assistance or suggestions. I be- lieve that some of your educational problems, especially in the South, have been similar to those which con- front us.
 'The population of India is about one-fifth of the whole world, and at the census of 1911, the population of British India (this does not include the native states) was 224,O00,000, of whom no fewer than 7,936,00O were engaged in one way or another on ag- riculture. The gross area under cul- tivation has risen, since 1895, from about 214,00O,0O0- acres to about 250,- O00,000. The net area, that is exclud- ing the double count areas which are cropped more than once, has risen from 89,0O0,00O acres to about 22O,- 0O0, ,OO0 acres. The acreage command ed by irrigation rose from about 26,- 737,OOO acres in 1895-96 to more than 46, 5000 acres in 1913-14. As re- gaNds the more important crops for export there were in 1913-14 over 25, 100000 acres under cotton, fur nishing 5,O00,000 bales; 28,500,000 acres under wheat producing eight and one-third million tons; 75,5O0,000 acres under rice, producing 570,00O,- 900 hundredweight in round figures; 3,OOO,000 acres under jute, producing 9,OO00O0 bales, and 610,000 acres un- der tea, producing 307,000,00O pounds. The aggregate value of these crops approached 400, 100000 pounds.
 These represent the principal crops in which the outside world is interested but it is necessary to re- member that over very large tracts of country the staple food is not wheat or rice, but some form of millet or pulse, usually denominated jawar or bajri. These two crops in. 1914-15 amounted to nearly 7,500,0O0 tons.
 s.An extraordinary variety of c1i- matic conditions are prevalent in diff ferent parts of India. The Madras presidency is the only province who'll ly tropical, while all the northern provinces, are .sub-tropical. Cendi- tions of soil vary as much as the climate and race.
 ssFor many years attempts to inn prove cultivation were sporadic and local. It was assumed for that novel methods were probably foreign to the genius of the people as well as il1-adapted to the soil and other conditions; and it is only recently that the government became alive to the enormous developments which are possible,
 'Prior to 1904, when Lord Curzon initiated a properly organized Agri- cultural Department, development depended much on the idiosyncracies of the local governments and such endeavors as were made to improve methods were far from being either scientific or consistent. In 1904, however, partly with the assistance of public spirited American citizen. Henry Phipps, of Chicago, Lord Cur zon was able to establish properly organized staff of agricultural off, cers with headquarters at Pusa in Bihar, and organize provincial agri- cultural establishments. At Pusa, where the Central Research Institute is. esta blished and where there is a large experimental farm, IT officers are employed and it was to the es- tablishment of this institution that the behefaction of MT. Phipps was devoted,
 The inadequacy of the present staff is fully realized and there is at present under consideration a scheme for an immediate increase. It in- tended we shall be able to place ev- cry major province in a condition of self-continence in regard to research matters and also considerably to strengthen their teaching side.
 "But for some period after the war there will be many demands upon the governments purse and the develop ment of the Agricultural Department is only one of the many directions in which progress will be demanded.
 "We rely at present upon two main methods, demonstration farms, and vernacular instruction in agricultural I am told that in America demon stration farms very largely consist of the farms of individual farmers lent for the purpose and farmed by the farmer himself under the general ad- vice and control of an agricultural ex- pert Here in India it IS not always easy to persuade farmer to modify his methods in accordance with the advice of the officers of the depart ment. We have, therefore, astab blish- ed demonstration farms at different centers which are controlled by the administrative staff of the Depart ment under the immediate manage ment of farm superintendent
 r'In the case of some crops very considerable improvement has result ed. When the Indian farmer is per suaded that practical advantage ra- suits from adopting new methods, he hy- m means backward ho