PAET I 



THE PRELIMINARIES TO AGRICULTURE 



CHAPTER I 

 LAND AND SOIL 



LAND in the tropics may be of many types, but the two 

 chief kinds are forest and grass lands, and it is as a rule only 

 on the former (or what has been so) that there is much agri- 

 culture. Speaking broadly, the greater part of the land near 

 to the sea is, or has been (as apparently in India), covered with 

 forest, which in general marks the districts of good and well- 

 distributed rainfall. In the interior of tropical Africa, and in 

 parts of South America, what the Americans term savannahs, 

 i.e. open park-like grass lands, with patches of forest here and 

 there, prevail. 



Forest land is preferred for agriculture, not only on account 

 of its (usually) better rainfall, but also on account of its richer 

 soil, due to the humus, or decaying organic matter, contained 

 in it. The forest is felled, and burnt off in the drier weather 

 of the year. As a rule the timber does not pay to work, and is 

 completely burnt, enough only being kept for houses, factories, 

 etc. The crops are put out among the stumps, which in a few 

 years are completely removed by decay and white ants. 



A very favourite method of cultivation, among natives in 

 the east at any rate, is what is called in Ceylon chena, in 

 Malaya ladang, in India jhuming, etc. The forest, or rather 

 the trees in it below a certain girth, is felled and burnt, and 



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