63 



cotton in the Tinnevelly district submitted to the Madras 

 Agricultural Department by an Agricultural Inspector, it is 

 stated, " cotton soils of the best quality sell for Es. 1,000 

 a sanghili (3*64 acres) ; ordinary "soils for Rs. 500, while 

 inferior soils sell below Es. 200. In fertile soils and under 

 good treatment 1,000 lb. seed cotton per acre is no unusual 

 outturn ; an ordinary good yield of cotton may be taken to 

 vary from 750 lb. to 900 lb. of seed cotton, while 500 lb. 

 may be taken as a fair average of yield taking all soils 

 into consideration. These figures have been arrived at from 

 the statements of diflPerent classes of ryots and include the first 

 and second courses of pickings. It is assumed by dealers that 

 6 pedis (of about 328 lb. each) of seed cotton are required to 

 produce 500 lb. of lint, and therefore the average outturn of 

 an acre is 125 lb. of lint. In the United States, the average 

 outturn of cotton is about 567 lb. seed cotton or 189 lb. 

 lint per acre." In ^^ 1862 the average outturn of Tinnevelly 

 cotton was reported to be 300 lb. of seed cotton or 75 lb. 

 of lint. The Agricultural Inspector adds " that the outturn 

 in Tinnevelly is somewhat greater than formerly is admitted 

 by the ryots, and unless this were a well known fact they 

 would make no such admission. The explanation may be 

 found in the fact that the system of adding all kinds of earthy 

 matter to the manure heaps, by which the quantity is not 

 only largely increased but is also better decomposed, is only 

 a recent practice. Moreover all soils are now kept much 

 cleaner than before owing to closer and better tillage." The 

 allegation regarding the diminished outturn of lands is based 

 to a great extent upon the a jyriori reasoning that when the 

 ingredients forming plant food abstracted from the soil by 

 continuous cropping are not restored to it by artificial ma- 

 nuring, it must necessarily deteriorate. Eecent enquiries 

 made into agricultural practices in this country by scientific 

 agricultural experts have, however, resulted in showing that 

 the injurious effects attributed to native methods of agri- 

 culture are grossly exaggerated. Professor Wallace in his 

 India in 1887 emphatically denies that the fertility of the 



^^ Mr. Nicholson in his valuable " Preliminarj' Note" printed in the Report of the 

 Madras Ayricultural Committee remarks: "Forty jears ago the yield of cotton in 

 Bellary, Cuddapah, Coimbatore and Tinnevelly was 90, 50, 50 and 80 lb. per acre respec- 

 tively (Collector's reports in Wheeler's Hand-book) while the present average even on 

 good black cotton soil in those districts is not above 62^ lb. per acre." The statement 

 appended to Wheeler's Hand-book, however, shows that the outturn of clean cotton per 

 acre wan estimated at only 46, 50, 27 and 75 lb. respectively. The average outturn is 

 not less now. Sir Thomas Munro in 1806 estimated the average outturn in the Ceded 

 districts at less than 20 lb. per acre. Mr. Rundall, Commercial Eesident in the Ceded 

 districtSj'writing in 1819, states that the native produce of cotton is not more than 30 lb. 

 (clean cotton) per acre, 



