Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/773

749 AGRICULTURE.] INDIA 749 opportunity. The area under cotton increased enormously, and the growers managed to retain in their own hands a fair share of the profit. The principal cotton -growing tracts are the plains of Guzerat and Kat hia war, whence Indian cotton has received in the Liverpool market the historic name of Surat ; the highlands of the Deccan ; and the deep valleys of the Central Provinces and Berar. The best native varieties are found in the Central Provinces and Berar, passing under the trade names of Hingaiighat and Amraoti. These varieties have been successfully introduced into the Bombay district of Khandrsh. Experiments with seed from New Orleans have been conducted for several years past on the Government farms in many parts of India ; but it cannot be said that they have resulted in success except in the Bombay district of Dharwar, where exotic cotton has now generally supplanted the indigenous staple. In 1875-76 the total area under cotton in the Bombay presidency, including Sind and the native states, amounted to 4,536,587 acres, with a yield of 2,142,835 cwts. Of this total, 583,854 acres, or 13 per cent., were sown with exotic cotton, including that from the Central Provinces and also that from New Orleans, with a yield of 248,767 cwts. The average yield was about 53 lt&amp;gt; of cleaned cotton per acre, the highest being in Siiicl and Guzerat, and the lowest in the southern Marhatta country. In the same year the total exports were 3,887,808 cwts., valued at 10,673,761. In 1877-78 the area under cotton in the Central Provinces was 837,083 acres, or 5 per cent, of the total cultivated area, chiefly in the districts of Wardha, Nagpur, and Raipur. The average yield was about 59 lb per acre. The total exports to Bombay, including re-exports from Berar, were about 300,000 cwts., chiefly in compressed bales, valued at 672,000. In the same year the area under cotton in Berar was 2,078,273 acres, or 32 per cent, of the total cultivated area, chiefly in the two districts of Akola and Amraoti. The average yield was as high as 67 lt&amp;gt; of cleaned cotton per acre. The total export was valued at 2,354,946, almost entirely railway-borne. In Madras the average area under cotton is about 1,500,000 acres, chiefly in the upland districts of Bellary and Karniil, and the low plains of Kistna and Tinnevelli. The total exports in 1875-76 were 733,420 cwts., valued at 1,652,849. In Bengal the cultivation of cotton is on the decline. The local demand is satisfied by imports from the North- Western Provinces and from the bordering hill tracts, where a very short-stapled variety of cotton is extensively cultivated. The total area under cotton in Bengal is estimated at only 162,000 acres, yielding 138,000 cwts. of cleaned cotton. Of this, 31,000 acres were in Saran, 28,000 in the Chittagong hill tracts, and 20,000 in Cuttack. Throughout the North- Western Provinces, and also the Punjab, sufficient cotton is grown to meet the wants of the village weavers. The total exports of raw cotton from Indian ports in 1878-79 were 2,966,569 cwts., valued at 7, 914, 091, besides cotton twist and yarn to the value of 937,698, and cotton manu factures valued at 1,644,125. Jute ranks next after cotton as a fibre crop. The exten sion of its cultivation has been equally rapid, and it is yet more limited in its area, being confined to northern and eastern Bengal. In this tract, which extends from Pur- niah to Goalpara, north of the Ganges for the most part, and along both banks of the Brahmaputra, jute is grown on almost every variety of soil. The chief characteristic of the cultivation is that it remains entirely under the con trol of the cultivator. Practically a peasant proprietor, he increases or diminishes his cultivation according to the state of the market, and keeps the profits in his own hands. The demand fur jute in Europe has contributed more than any administrative reform to raise the average standard of com fort throughout eastern Bengal. In 1872, when specula tion was briskest, it is estimated that about 1 million acres were under jute, distributed over sixteen districts, which had a total cultivable area of 23 million acres. The total export from Calcutta in that year was about 7 million cwts., valued at 4,142,548. Both quantities and prices have since somewhat declined, but the business remains on a stable footing. In 1878-79 the total export of raw jute from India was 6,021,382 cwts., valued at 3,800,426, besides jute manufactures to the value of 1,098,434. Indigo, though relatively of less importance than formerly, is still the foremost staple grown by European capital. In Bengal Proper its cultivation has greatly declined since the early years of this century. English planters have aban doned the districts of Hiigli (Hooghly),the Twenty-four Par- ganas, Dacca, Farklpur, Rangpur, and Pabna, which are dotted with the sites of ruined factories. In Nadiya, Jessor, Murshidabild, and Maldah, the industry is still carried on, but it has not recovered from the depression caused by the indigo riots of 1860, and the emancipa tion of the peasantry by the Land Act of 1859. Dye of superior quality is manufactured in Midnapur, along the frontier of the hill tracts. But indigo cultivation on the old scale still flourishes in North Behar, from which is derived one-half of the total exports from Calcutta. No accurate statistics of area are available ; but in Tirhut alone there are fifty-six principal concerns, with seventy outworks, producing annually about 20,000 maunds of dye ; in Saran, thirty principal concerns and twenty-five out works, producing about 12,000 maunJs ; m Champaran, seven large concerns, producing also 12,000 maimds. 1 It has been estimated that the total amount of money annu ally distributed by the planters of North Behar cannot be less than 1 million sterling. Across the border, in the North-Western Provinces, indigo is grown and manu factured to a considerable extent by native cultivators. In the Punjab, also, indigo is an important crop, especially in die districts of Multan, Muzaffargarh, and Derd Ghazl Khan. In Madras, where it is grown and manufactured entirely by the natives, the total area under indigo is about 300,000 acres, chiefly in the north-east of the presidency, extending along the coast from Kistna to South Arcot, and inland to Karnul and Cuddapah. The exports of indigo from all India in 1878-79 amounted to 105,051 cwts., of the value of 2,960,463. The opium of commerce is grown and manufactured in Opium. two special tracts, (1) the valley of the Ganges round Patna and Benares, and (2) a fertile table-land in Central India, corresponding to the old kingdom of Malwa, for the most part still under the rule of native chiefs, among whom Sindhia and Holkar rank first. In the latter of these two regions the cultivation of poppy is free, and the duty is levied as the opium passes through the British presidency of Bombay; in the former, the cultivation is a strict Govern ment monopoly. Opium is also grown for local consumption throughout Rajputana, and to a very limited extent in the Punjab and the Central Provinces. Throughout the rest of India it is absolutely prohibited. In the Ganges valley, the cultivation is supervised from two agencies, with their headquarters at Patna and Ghazipur, at which two towns alone the manufacture is conducted. In 1872 the total area under poppy was 560,000 acres ; the number of chests of opium sold was 42,675 ; and the sum realized was 6,067,701, giving a net revenue of 4,259,376. The whole of this was exported from Calcutta to China and the Straits Settlements. The amount of opium grown in native states and exported from Bombay is about equal, thus raising the average exports of opium to about 12 millions sterling, of which about 7^ millions represent net profit to Government. In 1878-79^91,200 chests of opium were ex ported, of the value of 12,993,985, of which 7,700,000 represented the net profit to Government. Under the Bengal system annual engagements are entered into Bengal by the cultivators to sow a certain quantity of land with poppy ; system, and it is a fundamental principle that they may agree or refuse to engage as they please. As with most other Indian industries, a pecuniary advance is made to the cultivator before he commences operations, which is balanced when he delivers over the opium at the subordinate agencies. He is compelled to deliver his whole produce, being paid at a fixed rate according to quality. In the beginning of April the cultivators bring in their opium to the subordinate Government agencies, where it is examined and weighed, and the accounts are settled. The final process of pre paring the drug in balls for the Chinese market is conducted at the two central Government agencies at Patna and Ghazi pur. This generally lasts until the end of July, but the balls are not dry enough to be packed in chests until October. 1 The factory maund of indigo weighs &quot;4 ft&amp;gt; 10 or,.