52 Dr Christie on the Agriculture, 4"C. nfthe 



grains. It had therefore gained 212.8 grains, or about 8 per 

 cent 



In the hot season, the regur or cotton-ground is traversed in 

 all directions by very deep fissures. In the rainy season it is in 

 the form of a very tenacious clay. Almost all the crops that 

 are cultivated upon it are sown towards the end of the rainy 

 season, and therefore receive, during their growth, compara- 

 tively little rain, and often, indeed, the only moisture which 

 they receive for a length of time is that of the heavy dews. 



The mussub, or mussaree soil, does not form extensive 

 plains like the cotton ground ; but is generally found at the foot 

 of hills, or in the bottom of small valleys. At the bases of the 

 sandstone- hills, it consists of little else than loose sand. On the 

 sides of the hills, that contain beds of quartz, it is very gravel- 

 ly. TJie soil which covers the laterite, and which has origi- 

 nated from the disintegration of that rock, is, in general, not 

 very pitoductrve, and is apt to become extremely hard in dry 

 weather; but in the bottom of many of the small valleys in the 

 western parts of the district, large deposites of it, which have 

 been more perfectly disintegrated and mixed with other sub- 

 stances, are met with, and form productive soils. The soils in 

 the valleys, between the clay-slate hills, are also in many places 

 very good. 



There are three different seasons of sowing in this part of 

 India. The first is in the end of May and beginning of June, 

 after a few of the first annual showers have fallen. The second 

 is in the end of June or beginning of July, after the monsoon 

 has fairlv conmiencod. The third is in September and Octo- 

 ber, towards the end of the rainy season. During each of these 

 periods, certain crops only are sown ; and, therefore, in giving 

 an account cf the different articles of cultivation, I shall arrange 

 them according to their eeed-times. 



I. Articles of cultivation *, jchich are sown in the end of 

 May and beginning- of June. These are sown, when the ground 



^ In the following part of this paper, I will give the Dukhuny and Eng. 

 lish names, as well as the botanical names of the diiferent articles of cultiva- 

 tion, trees. &c. I thought of adding their Malabar and Canarese names, but 



