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IMPROVEMENT IN METHODS OF CULTIVATION
Finally, we come to the last test of agricultural pro-
gress, namely, improvement in methods of cultivation.
Under this head we found from personal inspection sup-
plemented by local information that some Kaliparaj, Koli
and high class Hindu farmers did show some progress as
indicated below :
(i) Two wells have been sunk by Koli farmers during
the last ten years.
(ii) Much better tilling and manuring than before are
done by a minority of farmers.
(iii) Some of these have exhibited a sense of enterprise
by introducing new varieties of crops like cotton and
wheat.
(iv) Some have increased of late the number of mango
trees of the Alphonzo species.
(v) Some have carved out new rice-beds in Jarayat
fields.
The fact that these improvements have been made
only by a few, who are sufficiently well off to try them,
does not show a tendency towards general progress.
Thus an examination of the general economic conditions
of the people of this agricultural community by the appli-
cation of the tests usually employed by economists and
Settlement Officers to gauge the progress of rural areas,
shows that, if anything, the people of the village have
remained in a stationary economic condition during the
last decade or more.
Having thus examined in a general way the economic
condition of the people, we shall now undertake in the fol-
lowing chapters a detailed discussion of the economic
condition of the people as a whole and as divided into
important groups, with the help of statistics we have
collected.