he aim of these colleges is not quite so visionary as one might
think. The Government realises that it will be long before the
influence of the college reaches the small farmer in his village. The
real point is that the soil of India is worn out through continued
cropping without manuring, and it now only yields a small percentage
of what it might produce, if properly treated. Farmyard manure, such
as the English farmer so largely depends upon for the enrichment of
his land, does not exist in India. This is partly because the cattle
are roaming about all day, and as a rule are only gathered into sheds
at night; partly because the coarse stalks of the native kinds of
grain are not suitable for stable litter like English straw; but
chiefly because the droppings from the cattle are made up into flat
cakes and dried in the sun, which are then used as fuel in conjunction
with a certain amount of wood. This custom is so rooted that it would
be hopeless to try and modify it. Nor indeed is there any other fuel
available. It is long before coal will find its way into common use
for cooking purposes.

The moral of this is, that the only solution of the problem is to be
found in the introduction of chemical manure. But this can only be
done effectually after prolonged experiments. In a country so vast and
so varied as India the varieties of soil are great, and the climatic
conditions manifold. All sorts of different crops are grown. Hence the
experiments necessary to find out how this variety is to be
successfully treated must be spread over a long period of time, and
results can only be arrived at gradually. Even in the process of
irrigation, which at one time appeared to be such a simple matter,
because where an ample supply of water could be secured the genial sun
seemed to do all the rest, the lapse of years is revealing the fact
that repeated irrigation produces certain deleterious chemical changes
in the soil, which might ultimately become disastrous to the
production of the crop. Hence experiments have to be made to determine
to what extent irrigation must be restricted, and how the adverse
chemical conditions can be counteracted.

When facts have been ascertained, their dissemination and acceptance
is another problem. To accomplish this a good deal of the pioneer
work, as with most progressive steps in India, must be done by
Englishmen. Indians, however well instructed, would not be listened to
in the first instance with