leaflets on such subjects as the castration of cattle by mulling, the illeffects of communal grazing and home made remedies against some common plant pests have had a circulation of 60,000 copies. In that province, 7,520 copies of a digest of the work done by the Agricultural Department are issued monthly both in English and in three principal vernaculars of the province, and the Villagers' Calendar, which is published by the department every year, is becoming increasingly popular. The other publications issued by the department include bulletins of a more comprehensive character than the leaflets. These bulletins are usually issued in English only, but, like the vernacular leaflets, deal with one specific point. A Year-Book on the research and experimental work of the department, and various text-books and notes, are also published.

Other provinces rely mainly on leaflets supplemented to some extent by bulletins. Burma has also a Villagers' Calendar. The Bengal Agricultural Department issues a journal in English and Bengali. The Punjab Agricultural Department publishes twice annually a departmental magazine entitled "Seasonal Notes" in English and the vernacular. The Agricultural Department of the United Provinces also publishes a vernacular journal. The Bombay Agricultural Department subsidises two monthly agricultural magazines, one in Marathi conducted by the Deccan Agricultural Association and one in Kanarese conducted by the Dharwar District Agricultural Association. The agricultural departments in most provinces supply regular material to the English and vernacular press. The efficacy of this form of propaganda must depend on the standard of literacy which has been reached and it is, doubtless, the fact that Madras stands high in this respect which has led to its adoption on such an extensive scale in that province. The spread of general education, to which we look forward with confidence, should enable the printed word to be used with increasing advantage. Meanwhile, we would point out that, whilst the other publications issued by the Madras Agricultural Department undoubtedly serve a valuable purpose in stimulating general interest in the work of the Agricultural Department and, on that account, are deserving of imitation elsewhere, the leaflets circulated in that presidency, as in other provinces, are of little real value, unless they are issued in connection with a definite demonstration of their subject matter. The results of leaflets advocating the single-seedling planting of paddy are likely to prove very disappointing, unless the cultivators to whom they are given are provided with ample opportunities of seeing for themselves the advantages arising from the adoption of this practice. Again, the advocacy, by the circulation of leaflets, of more humane methods of castration is bound to prove ineffective unless it is accompanied by a demonstration of those methods. We think that local interest in the work of the department would be aroused, if a brief and popular account of what it has done were issued annually for each tract. We need hardly point out how essential it is that leaflets should be written in a manner which will enable them to be readily understood by the cultivators. Where the leaflets are published in the vernacular,

we would suggest that agricultural or taluka development associations, where they exist, should be consulted as to the suitability of the language used.

PROPAGANDA.

141. The comments we have made on publications in the preceding OTHER FORMS OF paragraph apply equally to other forms of propaganda such as lectures, with or without the stimulating adjunct of lantern slides, and to the display of cinema films. A beginning has been made with the latter in the Punjab, and we have had opportunities of seeing films relating to the co-operative movement and to the campaign for village "uplift," which is being carried on in the Gurgaon district. These films have, for the most part, been prepared by the Co-operative Department and by the Railway Board. While we welcome this initiative, we think that the departments of agriculture should consider the advisability of themselves embarking upon this important branch of propaganda. As each film is produced, steps should be taken carefully to assess its instructional value by such means as discussion with villagers who have seen it on the screen. A film designed to appeal to an audience of cultivators must possess very special qualities and we are persuaded that even a skilled professional producer could not successfully undertake its preparation without a considerable knowledge of village life and of the mentality of the average villager. It will be necessary to select with the utmost care those officers who are to be responsible for this work. We look forward to an increasing use of wireless as a means of conveying useful information to the cultivating classes, but, here again, information conveyed in this way should always be accompanied by information as to where the cultivator can see things for himself. We would mention an interesting experiment which has been made in Bengal and the Punjab. Early in 1927, at the initiative of the Eastern Bengal State Railway, a demonstration train was arranged which made a tour of eastern Bengal lasting for about a month. The train was fitted up as a travelling exhibition by the Railway, Public Health, Agricultural, Industries, Co-operative and Veterinary departments and by the Indian Tea Cess Committee. Each department was allotted a bogey carriage which was appropriately fitted up with pictures, models and samples illustrating its activities. Open air lectures, accompanied by films and lantern slides, were given at each stop. A similar train was arranged by the Government of the Punjab in collaboration with the North-Western Railway in December last, and made an extensive tour throughout the province. The Government of the United Provinces have provided a demonstration carriage for the use Mrs. Fawkes, the Secretary of the United Provinces Poultry Association, to assist her in the work of popularising improved breeds of poultry. We would suggest that other provincial governments should obtain a report on the results of these experiments from the governments of Bengal, the Punjab and the United Provinces with a view to considering whether a similar experiment could not usefully be undertaken in their provinces. The method has been used in other countries with success. We have already referred, in paragraph 138, to the use of a travelling lorry for demonstrating improved implements. It is worth considering

of

whether the use of motor lorries for other forms of propaganda might not also be advantageous.

142. We have pointed out that the area on which improvements introduced by the agricultural departments can be

AGRICULTURAL

ASSOCIATIONS.

seen in actual operation, is still but a small fraction of the total cultivated area of India. We anticipate that the district staff of the agricultural departments will expand rapidly in the near future but, even if the ideal which some agricultural departments have set before themselves, that of having one agricultural demonstrator with two fieldmen in each taluk or tehsil, is reached, it may be doubted whether the departments will be in a position to make their influence sufficiently felt upon the bulk of the cultivating classes. It is obvious, therefore, that the propaganda work of the departments requires to be supplemented by other agencies. This was recognised when the departments were reorganised and, in some provinces, it was hoped that the lever with which they could move the cultivator to an extent far beyond anything that could be achieved by their own unaided efforts would be found in agricultural associations, that is, in organised bodies which would act as agencies for the dissemination of knowledge of agricultural improvement. Several associations of this character were formed in the Central Provinces, Bengal, Bombay and Madras but the hopes formed of them have not been fulfilled. In Madras, they soon became extinct and, as early as 1911, the Board of Agriculture found that they showed few signs of life except in the Central Provinces. The reasons for their failure are not far to seek. The area from which the members of the associations were drawn was usually too large to permit of a concentration of activity sufficient to produce any positive results. The lack of a definite task often meant that nothing at all was done. The associations were often composed of men whose direct interest in the land was small. In some cases, too much depended on the enthusiasm of a single member, the loss of whose presence on the association for one reason or another resulted in the association lapsing into inanition. And, above all, the staff of the agricultural departments in those early days was so limited and its energies were so taken up with the work of research and experiment that it was unable to give the associations the close attention without which they could hardly have been expected to thrive. The result was that, whilst the associations lingered on in Bombay and the Central Provinces, they achieved but little until recent years when they were reorganised in the light of experience and converted into active bodies. There are now a large number of them in the Central Provinces, where they vary greatly in activity, some being very progressive and others almost moribund. Associations have been formed for districts, for tehsils and for the divisions of tehsils known as circles. As was to be anticipated from the previous history of the associations, it has been found that the tehsil associations are more effective than the district associations and that the circle associations are more effective than the tehsil associations. The tendency now is to develop the smaller unit, with the intention of building up the tehsil associations by the election of

representatives of the circle associations and the district associations in like manner from the tehsil associations. There are now eleven agricultural associations in the Punjab which are reported to be doing increasingly useful work. Agricultural improvement committees have been formed in five districts in Burma. In addition to advising Government in matters relating to the agricultural development of the district, the committees arrange for the holding of shows and exhibitions. It is, however, in Bombay that the most striking developments have occurred. These developments are of special interest and importance as they represent the most systematic attempt which has yet been made to co-ordinate the propaganda work of the agricultural and co-operative departments in respect of agricultural improvement. Before we pass on to describe the activities of the taluka development associations and the divisional boards of agriculture in some detail, it will be convenient to discuss the relation of the co-operative movement in general to the subject matter of this chapter.

THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN RELATION ΤΟ AGRICULTURAL PROPAGANDA.

143. The Co-operative Credit Societies Act of 1904, which limited the activities of societies to the supply of funds to their members, was repealed in 1912. The Co-operative Societies Act of that year removed the restrictions which had been imposed by its predecessor, and permitted the formation of societies for the promotion in any direction of the economic interests of their members. The passing of the new Act resulted in the immediate utilisation of co-operative societies for the dissemination of agricultural improvement. The beginnings which were made were so promising that the most optimistic anticipations of the possibilities of this new method of propaganda were entertained by the Board of Agriculture of 1913. These anticipations have unfortunately not been realised. We have mentioned in Chapter IV that the sum total of the efforts of co-operative agencies in regard to the distribution of improved seed has so far been disappointing. This, with certain striking exceptions, is equally true of their agricultural activities in other directions. There would, primâ facie, appear to be no organisations better fitted to further the propagandist work of the agricultural departments than co-operative unions and societies for the joint purchase of the requirements of their members, for production and sale, either singly or in combination, for the sale and hire of implements and similar objects. But the history of such societies is, on the whole, melancholy reading. What can be accomplished in this direction is shown by the success which has been achieved by the co-operative cotton sale societies in Bombay, the value of cotton sold by which amounted in 1925-26 to Rs. 62 lakhs, and by the commission sale shops in the Punjab and the co-operative jute sale societies of Bengal which, in the same year, sold produce for their members to the value of Rs. 25 lakhs and 20 lakhs respectively. But these are very exceptional cases, and, in general, it has to be admitted that societies of this character have done. little to advance agricultural improvement. Much more hopeful are the societies for the consolidation of fragmented holdings and the BetterFarming societies of the Punjab. The former. the work of which we have

described in the preceding chapter, are rather a means to the end of securing better cultivation; the influence of the latter in bringing it about is more direct. There are now over one hundred Better-Farming societies in the Punjab, with 2,400 members controlling 42,000 acres. These members pledge themselves to follow the advice of the Agricultural Department in cultivating their own land; if the area under control of a society is, or is likely soon to be, 2,000 acres or more, a trained fieldman (mukaddam) is allotted to assist. Valuable propaganda is carried on and useful work is being done. Improved ploughs, harrows and chaffcutters, selected seed of wheat and cotton and setts of Coimbatore cane are in general use, whilst, in selected areas, new vegetables and fruits are being tried. The Co-operative Department accepts the function of making the knowledge of the agricultural expert productive by organising the people to adopt it. In five more societies, there are tenants in charge of small areas of thirty acres each, and an agricultural assistant has been placed on special duty to instruct them. Government are also giving grants to societies of the latter type to pay for trained fieldmen for three years.

The co-operative organisations so far discussed in this chapter have been organisations formed for definite purposes connected with agricultural improvement. Some use has also been made by the agricultural departments of the ordinary co-operative credit societies in the work of spreading improved seeds, improved implements and artificial fertilisers, but sufficient has perhaps been said to show that the departments have failed to exploit the possibilities offered by the co-operative movement. While this failure has been largely due to the fact that the co-operative movement in several provinces in India has not yet reached a stage at which it can undertake any activities other than credit on an extensive scale, there can be no doubt that the lack of sufficiently close touch between the agricultural and the co-operative departments has been a contributory cause. We, therefore, proceed to describe the methods of overcoming this obstacle which are being adopted in Bombay.

LOPMENT

THE TALUKA DEVEASSOCIATIONS AND DIVISIONAL BOARDS IN BOMBAY.

144. The taluka development associations in Bombay have been constituted under a Resolution issued by the Government of Bombay in 1922. As soon after the constitution of an association as possible, a survey of the taluka is to be carried out by the Agricultural and Co-operative departments. Where such associations exist, they have taken over the work formerly done in the taluka by agricultural associations, co-operative development committees and similar bodies. Membership of an association is open both to co-operative societies and to individuals who are willing to pay a small subscription. The associations are mainly deliberative bodies which meet two or three times a year to appoint office bearers, sanction the budget and approve the programme of work. The execution of the programme is entrusted to the secretary and a small working committee of which two members are representatives of co-operative societies in the taluka. The main object of the associations is the demonstration of improved implements, improved