Page:Bulandshahr- Or, Sketches of an Indian District- Social, Historical and Architectural.djvu/41

 the whole burden must fall on the State; but, by a simplification of the machinery, the cost and labour may be rendered much less than at present and the outturn much larger and of a more durable quality.

A notable stimulus has been given to the indigenous industries of the district by a local Show, which was started by a former Collector, Mr. Willock, in 1873. It is supported by voluntary subscriptions, which amount every year to upwards of Rs. 4,000. As a horse fair, it has succeeded so well, that it now receives an annual Government grant of Rs. 1,250 for prizes, and attracts remount officers from all parts of India. As regards agricultural produce, greater care is taken than before in the selection of grain for seed, so that Bulandshahr wheat is very largely exported and is quoted at high prices in the London market. Attention to the subject of cattle breeding is encouraged by a special Government grant of Rs. 100, but no improvement has yet been effected. As fodder becomes every year scarcer and dearer, the people must gradually reduce the extravagant number of miserable half-starved animals that they are now in the habit of keeping. With a smaller stock, of better quality, the compulsory reservation of grazing ground in every village will be most beneficial; but if it is started immediately, before the small farmers have fully realized how impossible it is for them, under the altered circumstances of the country, to support a large herd in good condition, the effect will probably be only to intensify the present evil. Until the breed of cattle has been improved, it is premature to attempt any improvement in the native plough. The arts and manufactures represented at the district show were, till lately, ludicrous and puerile. This department has now made great bounds: the Sikandarabad muslins, the Jewar durries and rugs, the Khurja pottery, the Jahangirabad cotton-prints and the Bulandshahr wood-carving are revivals or developments which are achieving a more than local reputation. The specimens exhibited in the Calcutta Exhibition of 1884 were awarded three prizes, including a gold medal and first class certificate.

In every kind of district work my experience is that the normal Government grants are extremely liberal and quite ample for the purpose. But the expenditure is so hampered and embarrassed by departmental