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foreign and outlandish.' In Bengal the rich should learn to ride well and to shoot well, but boys of all classes could compete together for prizes in running, jumping, leaping, wrestling, and swimming. It would indeed be a pleasant variety, if instead of superintending the ever-recurring competition in book knowledge, I had now and then to award the prizes to the victor in the games.'

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Carlyle's views regarding the dignity of labour require to be diffused in India. Mr. Woodrow observes:

"There is some defect in our system of education, since educated Hindu gentlemen of good caste still continue to regard physical exertion as beneath their dignity. Because it never has been their custom to pull at ropes or bear burdens, they object to do so even on an emergency like the cyclone. Many had the knowledge to foresee the bad consequences of allowing trees to rot in the tanks, but few had the will to remedy it."+

The following directions about Fever, issued by the Madras Medical Department, will give some idea of what is meant by the lesson under this head:

"When a person is attacked with fever, he should not expose himself to the sun, the night air, or rain, but stay in the house, and take a dose of any simple purgative medicine, such as castor-oil.

2. When this has cleared out the bowels, he should take the vegetable medicine (quinine), which has been proved the best of all remedies for fever.

3. The mode of taking it is as follows:-For a grown-up person, put into a cup as much quinine as will lie on half a rupee, and having added some water, stir it well and drink the mixture. A similar quantity should be taken three times every day until the fever ceases. Thereafter, one dose daily for a week or so will be sufficient to`give strength to the body and prevent the return of the fever.

4. Children suffering from fever should also get a purgative and quinine. A child under five years of age may get as much quinine as will lie on a two-anna piece twice a day. A child of from six to twelve years of age as much as will lie on a four-anna piece twice a day.

5. Many persons leave off taking food when attacked with fever, but to do so is a bad custom, as it makes the fever stronger and may produce evil consequences. Persons ill with fever will find it beneficial to drink milk, congee, good pepper-water or soup, and as soon as possible should begin to take their ordinary food.

6. Persons recovering from fever should keep the body warm and never sleep outside the house at night.

7. During the feverish season of the year, people should wear warmer clothing than usual, and refrain from sleeping in the open air or in damp clothes."

* Bengal Public Instruction Report, 864-65, Ap. A., pp. 5, 6.

+ Ibid, p. 4.

The Kurnool Gazette gives some simple precautions to be adopted against cholera:—

"1. Keep house, clothes, person clean.

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4. Filter water for cooking and drinking.

5.

Be careful what you eat; avoid cold rice, jaggery, puttanee, unripe or overripe fruit.

6. Do not journey on empty stomach or sleep in the open air.”

The ravages of small-pox in India are well known, though they are gradually diminishing through the spread of vaccination. The writer once examined a school in a remote part of British Ajmere. He found out of about fourteen boys in the highest class nearly every one marked with the disease, and one or two had each lost an eye. The advantages of vaccination should be pointed out. Dr. Blanc, of Bombay, vaccinated from the sacred cow itself. This would be interesting to the Hindus, and tend powerfully to remove prejudice.

To aid in the preparation of such lessons, it is very desirable that the Sanitary Commissioner in each great division of India should obtain two or three papers from the most competent European and Native Medical men, noticing the prevailing sanitary errors which require to be corrected; and forward them with his own suggestions. The whole might be printed in the Records of the Government of India. While the errors differ to some extent in different parts of the country, if only two or three men wrote, they would probably omit some important points. Such a collection would be of great value in compiling the Health Manuals already noticed, as well as in drawing up lessons for School Books.

Agriculture and Manufactures.

India has very few mines; its manufactures have suffered greatly from European competition. Its agriculture is, therefore, of very great importance.

Native agriculture should not be unduly depreciated. The implements are rude; "custom" is the chief guide. Still, it is so far creditable that land which has been cultivated for many centuries continues to yield fair crops.

But it cannot be denied that native agriculture is susceptible of many improvements. Piddington says:

"There is not a native village in Lower Bengal in which heaps upon heaps of cowdung, ashes, and the earth from the cattle-sheds are not to be found obstructing the streets, and by the side of this too as many patches of waste land as would furnish the whole village with twenty

times the fruit and garden-stuff they daily buy at their markets, and still leave enough manure to double the crops of their fields."*

W. Robertson, Esq., Superintendent of the Madras Experimental Model Farms, in his interesting Report for 1871-72, refers to the usual practice of the ryots to allow paddy crops to stand until dead ripe. The half of a plot of land early harvested produced per acre 350 lbs. more of grain and 1,871 lbs. more of straw than the half allowed to stand until it was dead ripe.†

The Government of India has made some efforts for the improvement of agriculture. Cotton has received special attention for a number of years. The establishment of experimental farms will prove of great value. Much was expected at one time from Carolina paddy, and, under certain conditions, its cultivation may be highly advantageous. But Mr. Robertson has shown that it has a long deep root, while country paddy is a surface feeder. Tho latter may thrive where the former would starve.‡

It would occupy too much space to enter into details regarding the improvement of agriculture in India. Mr. Robertson's "Agricultural Experiments conducted on the Government Experimental Farm at Madras," may be consulted.

Education may aid the other measures of Government. The Report of the Committee of Council for 1851 contains the following:

"Some good elementary books on agriculture are much needed to put in the hands of children in village schools. Something which applies to their own daily life; the best method of gardening, of draining, of manuring; the habits and qualities of animals; the way to fatten beasts, poultry, &c. ; how to preserve meats, eggs, &c.; the application of horse power in tillage; the succession of crops; good methods of irrigation." Vol. I., p. 317.

Efforts have specially been made in this direction in Ireland. There is an "Agricultural Class Book," published by the Irish Commissioners. Parts of it might be written in a simpler way, but on the whole it is excellent. One picture shows Doran's cottage, with its front wall propped up; another picture points out how it was improved. A map is given of his farm, with its badly shaped fields; another follows showing the changes made.

Martin Doyle wrote excellent little "Village Lesson Books" for boys and girls. Besides much useful advice about farining, the "Minor care of stock, &c., he now and then gives a lesson on Morals:"

e. g.

"Many country boys often become almost as unmannerly and

* Scientific Principles of Agriculture, p. 18.

Report, page 33.

Ibid, p. 19.

brutish as pigs; can it be from being so much with them? They answer their betters rudely and in a grunting surly tone, and have no more notion of making a bow or taking off their hats or caps, when spoken to by a passing lady or gentleman, than the pigs have of turning up their snouts by way of civility."

It has been objected that "our present system of education tends to give the native youth a taste for a town, rather than a country life,"..." the very thing which ought not to be done."*

If simple lessons on agriculture did nothing more than explain the rationale of operations, a great end would be gained. The Report of the Education Commission in 1861 mentions Mr. Moseley' views:

"He thought that the labouring classes ought to be educated by teaching them to reason about and understand things connected with their ordinary pursuits.'... He appears to have thought that the scientific principles which lie at the root of most of the common operations of life should be so instilled into their minds as to enable them to understand the reason of these operations, and to take pleasure in studying, criticising, and improving them as they grew older." p. 117.

Improvements may also be suggested in the cultivation of the leading staples; new plants may be made known; new processes described; &c.

Emigration should be noticed. Some parts of Bengal are like a rabbit warren, while British Burmah, with a rich soil, has a very sparse population.† The advantages of emigration might be pointed out and the most promising fields mentioned.

In Town Schools, Manufactures and Commerce should receive more attention. Dr. Forbes Watson and others might prepare papers showing what might be done in this respect.

By means of notices in School Books, Government would be able in a short time to diffuse information all over the country regarding plants whose cultivation should be encouraged, or manufacturing processes which it is desirable to introduce. Judgment would, of course, be necessary, and the thing should not be overdone.

Social Economy.

While general principles applicable to all countries should be taught, it is of special importance to direct attention to prevailing errors in India. Some of them have already been mentioned; one or two others may be noticed.

The universal propensity to borrow is one of the chief causes of

*Piddington, p. 8.

† See recent articles in the Friend of India.

the poverty of the people of India. Many years ago the Quarterly Friend of India remarked:

66

Among other nations there exists in the great body of the people, a pride of independence, and a deep-rooted aversion to pecuniary obligations. The fruit of the disposition is manifest in the cleanliness and neatness of the domestic mansion, the nice adjustment of the annual expenditure to the annual income, the gradual accumulation of a resource for old age, the punctuality of all dealings, and the general cheerfulness of the family circle. . . . In Bengal the picture is reversed. There is no desire of independence, no horror of debt; and it is scarcely possible to assume a greater contrast than between the honest, upright, industrious English peasant, and the Hindu dragging out an inglorious existence between debt and disgrace, borrowing in one quarter to pay in another, and reluctant to pay in all cases, making no provision for old age, and sitting content beneath the burden of an endless prospect of embarrassment to the last hour of life."

The people of India may be divided into a small class of money-lenders and a large class of borrowers. There are comparatively few not included in one or the other. The evil effects of the system are perhaps specially felt by the agricultural population. The Journal already quoted observes:

"An independent husbandman, free from debt, and looking forward with delight to the whole of his little crop as his own, is almost a phenomenon in the country. Most of them, through the wretched system which now prevails among them, are in debt perhaps for the seed they sow, are supplied with food by their creditors during all the labors of the field, and look forward to the end of the harvest for the payment of a debt, to which at least forty per cent are added, and which through the way in which it is exacted, is often increased to fifty per cent."

It would be interesting to know what improvement has taken place during the last half century since the above was penned. In some districts there is probably little change; in others matters have unquestionably mended, though indebtedness may still be characterized as the normal condition of the Indian.

Two of the principal causes which lead the people into debt may be noticed.

1. Marriage Expenses. The love of show is a national failing. Marriage entertainments are its chief outlet. It has been remarked:

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"This grand era in his existence must not pass into oblivion without some demonstration of splendour; and however empty his purse, the applause of the rabble must be gained, and the appetites of an endless host of friends and relations regaled with a solid feast. To a man whose life is bound up in show, the plaudits of the giddy multitude and the congratulations of his own connections present an object

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