Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/775

751 AGRICULTURE.] I -W D 1 A imate Area in Acres occupied by tlu, Principal Crops in some Indian Provinces in 1877-1878. 751 Madras. Bombay (cxclud.Siiul). Slnd. Punjab. Central Provinces. British Hannah. Mysore. Berar. Ri cc 4,600,000 1,195,000 512,000 400,000 4,550,000 2,555,000 540,000 31,000 &quot;Wheat 16,000 561,000 354,000 7,000,000 3,600,000 11,000 525,000 Millets UK! inferior grains 10,600,000 5,800,000 934,000 6,000,000 ( 2,760,000 1,600,000 830,000 115,000 3,200,000 5,140,000 1 180,000 800,000 628,000 180,000 800,000 1,360,000 15,000 130,000 460,000 Cotton 1,000,000 1,350,000 70,000 660,000 840,000 10,000 15,000 2,080,000 60,000 35,000 6,000 80,000 48,000 17,000 19,000 17,000 120,000 14,000 10,000 110,000 700 Sugar-cane 21,000 50,000 4,000 380,000 100,000 4,000 13,000 5,000 The introduction of the quinine-yielding cinchona into India is a remarkable example of success rewarding the indefatigable exertions of a single man. When Mr Clements Markham undertook the task of transporting the seedlings from South America in 1860, cinchona had never before been reared artificially. But the novel experi ment in arboriculture has not only been successfully con ducted, but has proved remunerative from a pecuniary point of view. A cheap febrifuge has been provided, in the form of the mixed cinchona alkaloids, for the fever-stricken population of the Indian plains, while the surplus bark sold in Europe more than repays interest upon the capital expended. These results have been pro duced from an expenditure of about 100,000. The head quarters of cinchona cultivation are on the Nilgiri hills, where Government owns several plantations covering an aggregate of about 1000 acres, with about 570,000 full- grown plants. From the Government plantations cin chona seeds and plants are annually distributed to the public in large quantities ; and there are now several private plantations rivalling the Government estates in area, and understood to be very valuable properties. The varieties of cinchona most commonly cultivated are C. qfficinalis and C. succirubra ; but experiments are being con ducted with C. Calisaya, C. pubescens, C. lanceolate^ and C. pitayensis. When the success of the enterprise was secure, Government somewhat curtailed the extent of its own operations. No fresh land was taken up, but the plantations were kept free from weeds. The quino- logist s department was abolished, and the bark sold in its raw state. From the central establishment on the Nilgiris cinchona has been introduced into the Palni hills in Madura district, into the Wainad, and into the state of Travancore. Plantations have also been success fully opened by Government near Merkara in Coorg, on the BAba Budan hills in Mysore, and in Sitang district in British Burmah. Failure has attended the experiments made at Mahabaleshwar in the Bombay presidency, and at Nongklao in the KhAsf. hills, Assam. But the success of the Government plantation at DArjiling, in northern Bengal, rivals that of the original plantation on the Nilgiris. The area has been gradually extended to more than 2000 acres, and the bark is mamifactured into quinine on the spot by a Government quinologist. The species mostly grown is C. succirubra, which supplies a red-coloured bark, rich in its total yield of alkaloids but comparatively poor in quinine proper. Efforts are being made to increase the cultivation of C. Calisaya, which yields the more valuable bark, but is difficult to propagate. The following are the financial results of the two Government plantations in 1877-78. On the Nilgiris the crop was 138,808 Ib, of which 132,951 Ib were shipped to England, and the rest supplied to the Madras and Bombay medical departments. The total receipts were 35,875, and the total expenditure 6977, thus showing a net profit of 28,898. At Ddrjiling the crop amounted to 344,225 lt&amp;gt; of bark, which was all handed over to the quinologist, and yielded 5162 Ib of the febrifuge. The total receipts were 9707, of which 6188 represents the amount debited to Government departments for the sale of febrifuge and bark, while 3519 was derived from sales to the public. The total expenditure was 8554, of which 5790 was expended upon the plantation, and 2764 on the quino- logist s department. The net profit, therefore, was 1153, which is expected shortly to rise to 4000 a year, as more of the young plants come into bearing. Silk. Sericulture in India is a stationary, if not a declin ing, industry. The large production in China, Japan, and gilk. the Mediterranean countries controls the European markets, and on an average of years the imports of raw silk into India now exceed the exports. The East India Company from the first took great pains to foster the production of silk. As early as 1767, two years after the grant of the financial administration of Bengal had been conferred upon the Company, we find the governor, Mr Verelst, personally urging the zammddrs, gathered at Murshidabad for the ceremony of the punyd, &quot; to give all possible encourage ment to the cultivation of mulberry.&quot; In 1769 a colony of reelers was brought from Italy to teach the system followed in the filatures at Novi. The first silk prepared in the Italian method reached England in 1772, and Bengal silk soon became an important article of export. Similar efforts started at Madras in 1793 were abandoned after a trial of five years. Sericulture is said to have been intro duced into Mysore by Tipu SultAn, and for many years continued to prosper. But recently the worms have been afflicted by a mysterious epidemic ; and despite the enter prise of an Italian gentleman who imported fresh broods from Japan, the business has dwindled to insignificance. Bengal has always been the chief seat of mulberry cultiva tion. When the trading operations of the Company ceased in 1833, they owned eleven head factories in that province, each supplied by numerous filatures to which the culti vators brought in their cocoons. The annual export of raw silk from Calcutta was then about 1 million Ib. But in those days the weaving of silk formed a large portion of the business of the factories. In 1779 Rennel wrote that at Kasimbazar (Cossimbazar) alone about 400,000 ft were consumed in the several European factories. In 1802 Lord Valentia describes Jangipur as &quot;the greatest silk station of the Company, with 600 furnaces, and giving employment to 3000 persons.&quot; When the Company abandoned trade on its own account, sericulture was forthwith taken up by private enterprise, and it still clings to its old headquarters. At the present time the cultivation of the mulberry is mainly confined to the Rajshahi and BardwAn divisions of Lower Bengal. That branch of agriculture, together with the rearing of the silk-worms, is conducted by the peasantry themselves, who are free to follow or abandon the business. The destina tion of the cocoons is twofold. They may either be sent to small native filatures, where the silk is roughly wound before being consumed in the hand-looms of the country ; or they may be brought to the great European factories, which generally use steam machinery and consign their produce direct to Europe. The cultivation of the mulberry is chiefly carried on in the districts of Rajshahi, BogrA, Maldah, Murshidabad, Birbhum, BardwAn, and Midnapur. No accurate statis tics are available, but in RAjshAhi alone the area under mulberry is estimated at 80,000 acres. The variety