INDIAN AGRICULTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19148, 14 October 1925, Page 15

INDIAN AGRICULTURE.

DEVELOPMENT OF DAIRYING. TRAINING LANDOWNERS' SONS. STUDY OF DOMINION METHODS, There is a fine system of agricultural colleges throughout the provinces of India and the sons of native landowners are instructed iu the cultivation of their ancestral acres on the most modern lines. The work being done in the colleges was described yesterday by Dr. H. E. Annett. a member of the Indian Agricultural Service, who arrived from Sydney by the Maunganni Dr. Annett, who has held the post of principal in several of the institutions, will spend some months in New Zealand visiting the Government experimental farms and investigating agricultural methods. Every province in India had one of the colleges and they accepted as students only the sons of landowners as it was felt they were the only ones who would go back on tee land and make use of their instruction. They would not, for instance, take members of the writer class, who generally sought positions iu the Government service, or Brahmins, who, by reason of religion, would not engage m tilling of land. The colleges were finely equipped, and the laboratories were equal to anything in the colleges of Europe. The colleges had been responsible for putting out better varieties of seeds for the farmers and had introduced better farming implements. In a good many parts of the country the holdings averaged from 5 to 10 acres, although in some cases a man might have as much as 50 acres. Most <>f the farmers needed only a plough and a pair of bullocks, and their implements were generally of the more primitive kind. Ploughs and drills of a better type had been introduced, but there was a problem associated with this movement, for when the farmer got r» new plough he required better cattle and they in turn required bet ter lood. Jho natives, owing to their religions beliefs,_ would not slaughter the Old useless cattle and, as a result, the country was filled with old animals arhicb ate up much valuable food. Conditions in the colleges were changing, for some of them had already oeen turned into university colleges, Once that happened to a large number of colleges conditions would be very different, for the directors would not have the same free htand_ in choosing the students. In explaining the reason for the change, Dr. Annett said that in India very" great value was attached to the possession of a degree, as it gave the holder a much higher standing than was the case with the possessor of the diploma granted by the present colleges. For certain appointments the Government recognised the diploma as of equal value as "the degreebut the people did not have the same giow. Dairying is a specialty with the Indian agricultural colleges, and a lot is being done in this direction. Dr. Annett said there was urgent need for better methods as there was a dearth of good milk. It was remarkable that while other foodstuffs .were cheap in comparison with European prices, milk was considerably dearer, 2s to 2s 6d a gallon being a common price for pure milk. The native farmers did a certain amount of separating and turned the cream into ghee, a native butter, from which the water content was withdrawn, this being used for cooking. A Dane had established a butter-making business, taking mill; from native farmers, separating and returning the skimmed milk to the suppliers. He was now making large quantities of, the best butter obtainable in India and distributing if as a tinned product.