we would instance the invention of new or improved implements, or the introduction of new or improved varieties of crops as examples of the class of work which would constitute a claim to it. We think it desirable that officers in the public service should be declared to be ineligible to compete for the prize. We would suggest that claims to the award should be submitted to, and adjudicated by, a small committee constituted expressly for the purpose. The Chairman of the Council of Agricultural Research would be a suitable chairman of such a committee and it should, in our view, consist of an equal number of officials and non-officials. The Government of India scheme for such an award might advantageously be supplemented by similar provincial schemes. A valuable lead in this direction has been given by our late colleague, Sir Ganga Ram, who founded a prize which is to be awarded, at intervals of not less than three years, for a discovery of an invention or a new practical method which will tend to increase agricultural production in the Punjab on a paying basis.

SUMMARY OF CON- 151. The conclusions and recommendations in this chapter may be summarised as follows:

CLUSIONS AND RECOM

MENDATIONS.

(1) The discontinuance by the Board of Agriculture of its review of the methods of demonstration and propaganda adopted in the provinces is to be regretted (paragraph 129).

(2) The only hope of convincing the cultivating classes of the advantages of agricultural improvement lies in ocular demonstration (paragraph 130).

(3) The several methods of propaganda employed, their relative cost and the claim of each upon the time of the staff, should be frequently reviewed in the light of recorded results and any method proved ineffective should be abandoned (paragraph 130).

(4) Demonstration on the cultivator's own fields is preferable to that on a government demonstration farm (paragraph 131).

(5) It is doubtful whether the possibilities of capitalistic farming require demonstration on the scale adopted in the United Provinces (paragraph 131).

(6) The establishment of a farm in each district for the general purposes of the Agricultural Department, including demonstration, is desirable but the staff and funds available can, in present conditions, be much more usefully employed in demonstration on the cultivator's own fields (paragraph 131).

(7) The policy in regard to the establishment of demonstration farms in the United Provinces and the Punjab should be re-examined (paragraph 131).

(8) No more demonstration farms should be opened in Bengal until demonstration on the cultivator's own fields has expanded to a much larger extent (paragraph 131).

(9) There is no objection to the establishment of special demonstration farms for demonstrations which involve industrial as well as agricultural operations (paragraph 131).

(10) Experimental farms are unsuitable for demonstration work and should, therefore, be confined to the purpose for which they are intended (paragraph 132).

(11) Departmental seed farms can be used with advantage for demonstration work (paragraph 133).

(12) Demonstration farms, established to demonstrate the possibilities of capitalistic farming, should be run at a profit. Seed farms should be at least self-supporting. It is not essential that farms established for other purposes should work at a profit (paragraph 134).

(13) Short courses in particular subjects should form an important part of the work of demonstration and seed farms (paragraph 135). (14) The two systems of carrying out demonstrations on the cultivator's own fields, that under which a plot is hired and the cultivation is carried on throughout by the departmental staff and that under which the land is cultivated by the cultivator himself under departmental supervision, should be adopted in all provinces, and the results compared (paragraph 136).

(15) The policy of guaranteeing the cultivator against loss arising out of demonstration work on his land is one of doubtful expediency (paragraph 137).

(16) Peripatetic demonstrations of the use of improved implements should be given (paragraph 138).

(17) Suitable arrangements should be made by agricultural departments, or by manufacturers in consultation with them, for hiring out the more expensive implements and machinery (paragraph 138).

(18) Agricultural shows provide a useful means of following up the demonstration work of the agricultural departments (paragraph 139). (19) For exhibits of outstanding excellence at such shows medals might be given. Prizes for ordinary exhibits are better given in kind than in money (paragraph 139).

(20) A permanent agricultural stall should be established in the regulated markets, the establishment of which is recommended in Chapter XI (paragraph 139).

(21) The various publications issued by the agricultural departments serve a useful purpose in stimulating general interest in the work of the departments. The vernacular leaflets, which are issued in large numbers, are, however, of little value, unless they are issued in connection with a definite demonstration of their subject matter (paragraph 140).

(22) Other forms of propaganda such as lectures, the cinema and wireless are of little value, unless used in conjunction with actual demonstrations of results (paragraph 141).

(23) The agricultural departments should consider the advisability of undertaking the production of films (paragraph 141).

(24) The possibilities of a demonstration train as organised recently in Bengal and the Punjab should be considered in other provinces (paragraph 141).

(25) Agricultural associations hitherto have, for various reasons, proved failures in most provinces (paragraph 142).

(26) The agricultural departments have failed to exploit the possibilities offered by the co-operative movement for propaganda work (paragraph 143).

(27) The divisional boards and taluka development associations in the Bombay Presidency constitute an organisation for the co-ordination of the propaganda work of the agricultural and co-operative departments which is worthy of study by other provincial governments (paragraph 145).

(28) Agricultural assistants for propaganda work should be attached to the camps of district officers (paragraph 145).

(29) The agricultural departments should make far greater use of co-operative credit societies in their propaganda work (paragraph 146).

(30) Demonstration and propaganda work should be concentrated, both in regard to the area in which operations are carried on and the subjects selected for demonstration (paragraph 147).

(31) Better-Farming societies should have the first claim on the services of such of the district staff of the agricultural departments as is allotted for demonstration work in the areas in which they are established (paragraph 147).

(32) The appointment to the office of the Director of Agriculture of an officer, whose sole duty would be to organise and systematise propaganda work throughout the province, is desirable (paragraph 148).

(33) The propaganda work of departments concerned with rural development, other than the agricultural and veterinary departments, is best carried on through associations organised for general purposes and through co-operative bodies (paragraph 149).

(34) A valuable stimulus to agricultural development in India would be given if the Government of India were to award an annual prize for the most striking agricultural improvement of the year (paragraph 150).

SCOPE OF THE CHAPTER.

CHAPTER VII

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

152. In this chapter, we deal with the numbers, management, uses and improvement of livestock, by far the most important of which, from the point of view of the cattle. Incidental reference only is made to diseases control and treatment of disease are discussed in

cultivator, are of animals; the Chapter IX.

TOTAL NUMBERS OF LIVESTOCK IN INDIA.

153. In the Central Provinces and Burma, a livestock census is taken yearly. In other provinces, livestock are enumerated at intervals of five years. The year in which the quinquennial census is taken is not the same in all provinces ; but this does not affect the value of the figures for our purpose. The latest statistics available are those given in Volume I of "Agricultural Statistics of India, 1924-25." It is to these that the references in this chapter are made.

The numbers, in millions, of the different groups of livestock in British India are as follows:

In those Indian States for which statistics are available,* there were, in 1924-25, over 36 million cattle and buffaloes, 25 million sheep and goats, one million horses, donkeys and mules, and 262,000 camels.

RELATIVE IMPOR

154. In comparing figures for cattle and sheep, it is usual in western countries to allow from six to seven sheep as the The cattle and sheep size that a suitable

OF

THE equivalent of one cattle unit.

TANCE
DIFFERENT CLASSES

OF LIVESTOCK.

only be determined yet been made. If,

of India vary so greatly in factor for this country could after careful enquiry, and no such enquiry has however, for the purposes of a rough estimate, the figure seven were adopted, it would follow that, from the point of view of their size and the total quantity of food required for their maintenance, cattle and buffaloes occupy a place in Indian agriculture nearly seventeen times as great as that occupied by sheep and goats. In the actual life of the people and in the rural economy of the country, the relative

* Statistics are available from 51 States, having an area of 252 million acres and a population of 46 millions. The total area of Indian States is 461 million acres, and the total population is 72 millions.

importance of bovine animals is indeed, much more marked than the above figure would suggest.

In any classification of the countries of the world from an agricultural point of view, India would appear as essentially a crop-growing country. Its jute, rice, wheat, cotton and oil-seeds occupy a large place in world markets; while, with but rare exceptions, its livestock are never seen beyond its shores. For a time there was a limited export of dairy products to eastern markets; but of such products India has none to spare, and indeed imports them to supplement the home. supplies.

The only livestock products in which a modest external trade is carried on are hides and bones. Of these two commodities India has an abun dant supply, but the export is not of appreciable advantage to the owners of stock.

Although the exports of cattle and cattle products are very small in comparison with those of such nations as the Argentine, Australia or the United States of America, in none of those noted stock-rearing countries are cattle of more importance to the home population than they are in India. In most parts of the world, they are valued for food and for milk; in India, their primary purpose is draught for the plough or the cart. The religious veneration accorded to the cow by the Hindu is widely known. To at least half of the population of India, the slaughter of the cow is prohibited, and this outstanding fact governs the whole problem of the improvement of cattle in this country. It is necessary to recognise the obligation under which the country stands to the cow and to her offspring, the trusty ox. Without the ox, no cultivation would be possible; without the ox, no produce could be transported. This statement is almost universally true, for other animals, such as the camel, the horse and the donkey, and mechanical vehicles are rarely used.

The total number of sheep and goats is considerable, but they are very unevenly distributed, and, as a rule, they are not so much the characteristic stock of the ordinary cultivator as of nomadic flock-owners or of the landless villager in districts where scrub jungle abounds. A horse or a mule is rarely seen at work on the land and, except in the hills, these animals are almost as rarely employed for transporting produce. In some localities, donkeys are utilised in carrying agricultural produce, but nowhere are these animals used to the extent that they are in Egyptian agriculture. In arid tracts in the north and north-west, the camel occupies a leading place as a transport animal.

SHEEP AND GOATS.

Sheep and Goats

155. Since, in India, of all domestic animals, cattle are incomparably DISTRIBUTION OF the most important, we propose to discuss cattle problems at some length; but before doing so it will be convenient to refer briefly to one other minor class of livestock, namely, sheep and goats.