own fields than on such farms. The district and tehsil farms can come later as staff expands and funds permit. We are, therefore, strongly of opinion that the programme of expansion in the Punjab should be examined with a view to ascertaining whether a large proportion, if not the whole, of the amount provided for district and tehsil farms should not be devoted to the expansion of demonstration work on the cultivator's own fields. This programme involves an expenditure on district farms of Rs. 17.65 lakhs, capital and recurring, during the next five years and a recurring expenditure thereafter of approximately one lakh of rupees; and on tehsil farms a corresponding expenditure of Rs. 12 lakhs and Rs. 74,000 respectively. We are, further, of opinion that no more farms solely for demonstration purposes should be opened in Bengal, until demonstration work on the cultivator's own fields has been expanded to a much larger extent. We make no recommendation in regard to the closure of the existing demonstration farms as the desirability of this step must depend upon the local conditions. We would add that we see no objection to the establishment of demonstration farms for a special purpose such, for example, as that of demonstrating the advantages of using a particular method of curing tobacco or of a small plant for making white sugar or high quality gur. In other words, we realise the necessity for special farms for demonstrations which involve industrial as well as agricultural operations. THE USE OF EXPERIMENTAL FARMS FOR DEMONSTRATION WORK. 132. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to explain that our strong preference for the demonstration plot over the demonstration farm does not imply any disapproval of farms established for the purpose of carrying out experiments such, for example, as the testing of new varieties before they are given out to the cultivator, or of farms established for the purpose of multiplying improved seed. We have considered the question whether the experimental farm should be utilised for demonstration work, thus enabling it to serve a dual purpose. We regard this combination of functions as undesirable. The conditions imposed by the experimental character of the work carried out on such farms are often of such a nature as to render the practices followed on them inapplicable to ordinary cultivators. The demands of demonstration work might also make undesirable inroads upon the time of the staff. We are, therefore, of opinion that experimental farms should be confined to the purpose for which they are intended. We make one reservation. There may be, on experimental farms, areas of land unsuitable for experiments or of land which is being held over for experimental work at a later season. In such circumstances, there would be no objection to demonstrations which did not interfere with experimental work. 133. The objections to the utilisation of experimental farms THE USE OF DEPARTMENTAL SEED FARMS FOR DEMONSTRATION WORK. for demonstration work do not apply to seed farms. In Chapter IV, we have described the organisations for the distribution of seed of improved varieties which have been built up in the various provinces. We have pointed out that, whilst the agricultural departments should be able to look, in increasing measure, to co-operative and other organisations for assistance in the distribution of seed, they must, for a long time to come, depend mainly on their own exertions for the development of this work. We have expressed the view that a considerable increase in the number of such farms, both departmental and private, is very desirable in all provinces and that such farms should be established as rapidly as funds permit. There is no branch of the activities of the agricultural departments which brings them in closer touch with the cultivator than the distribution of pure seed. This is work which is eminently calculated to induce in him a frame of mind which makes him ready to listen to suggestions that he should adopt other agricultural improvements. For this reason, we see no objection to the seed farm being used also as a demonstration farm, provided that its primary purpose is not detrimentally affected thereby. Indeed, there are positive advantages in its being so utilised. The seed farm affords special opportunities to the cultivator of seeing the extent to which the adoption of improved methods of cultivation or the use of manures can improve the outturn of the seed issued to him. The policy of using the seed farm for demonstration purposes has been specially successful in the Central Provinces and to it must be largely attributed the fact that the distribution of improved seed in that province is on a larger scale than it is elsewhere. FARMS. 134. The question whether departmental farms should pay their way FINANCIAL RETURN has been frequently discussed. Farms which have FROM DEPARTMENTAL been established solely for experimental work cannot be expected to do so. Receipts are an entirely secondary consideration in their case. In Chapter IV, we have stated our view that the work of seed distribution has reached a stage at which it may legitimately be expected to pay its way. We consider, therefore, that seed farms should, ordinarily, be expected to be at least self-supporting, so far as their seed work is concerned. Where a demonstration farm has been established to demonstrate the possibility of commercial farming, it is obviously failing in its purpose if it does not yield a substantial profit. Where district and tehsil farms exist to further what may be termed the general propagandist work of the department, we do not consider it essential that receipts should cover the whole expenditure which a commercial accountant would debit to it. Every visitor to a departmental farm should be told whether such farm is, or is not, expected to pay its way, and should be given the reasons for the policy adopted. A short printed statement should be prepared and handed to all who inspect the farm. SHORT COURSES ON GOVERNMENT FARMS. 135. It is generally agreed that the provision of short courses in particular subjects on government farms is an admirable method of popularising desirable agricultural practices. The objections to demonstration work on experimental farms apply equally to their use for this purpose. If short courses are held on them, special care must be taken, on the one hand, to ensure that the success of the experiments is not endangered and, on the other hand, that the cultivator should not be misled by the experimental THE TION PLOT. DEMONSTRA character of the work on these farms. Whilst we do not consider that there would be any justification for establishing demonstration farms to promote this form of educational activity, we concur in the view that short courses for cultivators given on demonstration or seed farms provide an excellent opportunity for the establishment of closer touch between the agricultural departments and the cultivator. Where these courses are given, they should be assigned as a definite duty to a particular member of the staff of the farm. They should not be regarded as work which can be carried out in such time as the farm superintendent can spare from his other duties. We mention this point as we found, in one province, that the work had hitherto been carried out in a somewhat haphazard manner, though steps were being taken to rectify this. It may be desirable to attract cultivators to such courses by the payment of a small stipend as is done in Burma or to erect quarters for them as is proposed in the United Provinces, but these are matters which can best be determined in the light of the local demand. As in the case of short courses given at the agricultural colleges, we consider that the courses given on the farms should ordinarily terminate in a formal test which should, so far as the nature of the subject permits, be of a practical character. 136. The methods adopted in carrying out demonstrations on the cultivator's own fields are not the same in all provinces. Broadly speaking, one of two systems is adopted. Under the system which is favoured in Bengal, Bombay, Madras and the Punjab, the cultivation is carried on by the cultivator himself from start to finish under the close supervision of the agricultural demonstrator. Where new implements are being tried, these are lent without charge. Where the advantages of improved seeds or manures are being demonstrated, these are usually given free in the first instance. A cultivation sheet, in which all expenditure is noted, is kept not only for the demonstration plot but also for an adjacent plot of equal size on which cultivation is carried out by the local methods. The cultivator himself supplies the data for the profit and loss account thus maintained which, at the end of the demonstration, shows the exact monetary gain which has been secured by the adoption of the improvement. Under the other system, which is that favoured in the Central Provinces and the United Provinces, the Agricultural Department hires the land on which the demonstration is carried out. In the United Provinces, the area taken up varies from half an acre to an acre in extent. In the Central Provinces, the area of the plot is approximately that which the local cultivator would normally cultivate. The plots in the United Provinces are retained for a year. The demonstrator is provided with bullocks, improved ploughs and all the necessary tools for cultivation in order that there may be as little interference as possible with the ordinary routine of the village. Labour is supplied by the part-time work of a few intelligent village youths, who ultimately become fieldmen and propagandists themselves. In the Central Provinces, work on the same plot is carried on for five years and is then closed down. During that period, the plot is farmed by the departmental staff in the way than on the establishment and maintenance of permanent demonstration farms. The main argument in favour of demonstration farms which was adduced in the United Provinces was that the zamindar, who is contemplating capitalistic farming, is more influenced by a well run demonstration farm than by anything else. From this point of view, it would seem that the demonstration farms in the United Provinces have served a useful purpose. We were informed that, twenty years ago, no large zamindar in the province had a farm of his own. There are now over 600 privately owned farms which are managed with the assistance of the Agricultural Department. None the less, we are inclined to doubt whether the establishment of demonstration farms on the scale on which they have been established in the United Provinces, where there are now eighteen of them, has not involved some sacrifice of the interests of the smaller landholder to those of the large zamindar. The policy is that such farms should pay their way but, even where they have done so, they have meant the locking up of staff, the activities of which could have covered a much larger area, if it had been employed in supervising demonstration plots rather than in running demonstration farms. It is open to question whether the possibilities of capitalistic farming require demonstration on the scale adopted in the United Provinces. The existence of two or three farms for this special purpose would seem sufficient. The zamindar, who is in a position to take up commercial farming, should not require to be convinced of its possibilities by the establishment of a farm at his door. Distance does not present the same obstacle to him as it does to the small cultivator and he is intelligent enough to appreciate the force of arguments based on balance sheets. We, therefore, recommend that the policy adopted in the United Provinces in regard to the establishment of demonstration farms. should be re-examined from this point of view. A somewhat different argument in favour of the demonstration farm was adduced in the Punjab. There, we were informed that the establishment of such farms was desirable as they constituted definite centres to which landholders could go for supplies of implements and seeds. The staff of the Agricultural Department could also carry out on them demonstrations of work, which could not be easily done on the cultivator's fields at times and seasons which were convenient to them and to him. We agree that there is considerable force in this argument. There is much to be said for the establishment of a small farm with inexpensive buildings in each district, and later on in each tehsil or taluk, as a focus for the propagandist activities of the agricultural department in the tract. Such a farm, in addition to serving as a centre for the distribution of improved implements and seeds and for demonstration work which could not be conveniently carried out on the cultivator's own fields, would be the natural centre for the short courses for cultivators which we regard as a most valuable means of propaganda. But, in present conditions, we cannot but regard farms of this character as somewhat of a luxury. We would repeat that, in our view, the staff and funds available can be much more usefully employed in demonstration on the cultivator's own fields than on such farms. The district and tehsil farms can come later as staff expands and funds permit. We are, therefore, strongly of opinion that the programme of expansion in the Punjab should be examined with a view to ascertaining whether a large proportion, if not the whole, of the amount provided for district and tehsil farms should not be devoted to the expansion of demonstration work on the cultivator's own fields. This programme involves an expenditure on district farms of Rs. 17.65 lakhs, capital and recurring, during the next five years and a recurring expenditure thereafter of approximately one lakh of rupees; and on tehsil farms a corresponding expenditure of Rs. 12 lakhs and Rs. 74,000 respectively. We are, further, of opinion that no more farms solely for demonstration purposes should be opened in Bengal, until demonstration work on the cultivator's own fields has been expanded to a much larger extent. We make no recommendation in regard to the closure of the existing demonstration farms as the desirability of this step must depend upon the local conditions. We would add that we see no objection to the establishment of demonstration farms for a special purpose such, for example, as that of demonstrating the advantages of using a particular method of curing tobacco or of a small plant for making white sugar or high quality gur. In other words, we realise the necessity for special farms for demonstrations which involve industrial as well as agricultural operations. THE USE OF EXPERI MENTAL FARMS FOR DEMONSTRATION WORK. We 132. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to explain that our strong preference for the demonstration plot over the demonstration farm does not imply any disapproval of farms established for the purpose of carrying out experiments such, for example, as the testing of new varieties before they are given out to the cultivator, or of farms established for the purpose of multiplying improved seed. We have considered the question whether the experimental farm should be utilised for demonstration work, thus enabling it to serve a dual purpose. regard this combination of functions as undesirable. The conditions imposed by the experimental character of the work carried out on such farms are often of such a nature as to render the practices followed on them inapplicable to ordinary cultivators. The demands of demonstration work might also make undesirable inroads upon the time of the staff. We are, therefore, of opinion that experimental farms should be confined to the purpose for which they are intended. We make one reservation. There may be, on experimental farms, areas of land unsuitable for experiments or of land which is being held over for experimental work at a later season. In such circumstances, there would be no objection to demonstrations which did not interfere with experimental work. 133. The objections to the utilisation of experimental farms THE USE OF DEPARTMENTAL SEED FARMS FOR DEMONSTRATION WORK. for demonstration work do not apply to seed farms. In Chapter IV, we have described the organisations for the distribution of seed of improved varieties which have been built up in the various provinces. We have pointed out that, whilst the agricultural departments should be |