55 



may thus, if recent investigations be correct, possibly derive 

 their nitrogen from the atmosphere." Dr. Voelcker has given 

 high praise to the native methods of cultivation which he 

 considers are excellent, the problem . of improving native agri- 

 culture being a more difficult one than the problem of improving 

 English agriculture. The "garden" cultivation, /.<?., cultiva- 

 tion with the aid of wells, presents, in his opinion, " some of 

 the most splendid features of careful and high class cultiva- 

 tion that one can possibly see in any part of the world." 

 "Garden" cultivation has, as already remarked, greatly in- 

 creased in this Presidency. To take one district, Coimbatore. 

 The number of irrigation wells in good order, which were 

 22,000 in number in 180], increased to 28,719 in 1821, to 

 31,507 in 1852, to 58,385 in 1882, and to 60,283 in 1888-89.^^ 

 This means on about 15 per cent, of the area under cultivation, 

 the outturn was quadrupled or even quintupled. It was 

 owing to the existence of these wells that Coimbatore, though 

 one of the driest districts in the Presidency, suffered so little 

 from the famine of 1876-78 ; since the famine, cultivation by 

 means of wells has been extending in other districts also. 

 Dr. Brandis, who travelled through the several districts of the 

 Presidency in 1880, writes in his report on Forest manage- 

 ment, " I was much gratified to see in Bellary, Salem and 

 other districts the large number of new wells made since the 

 famine, and old wells deepened ; and it seemed to me that the 

 people fully recognize the value of wells for irrigation. Many 

 of the wells in the dry inland districts are large and beauti- 

 fully built, 30 feet square and 25 feet deep or more, and such 

 wells cost from Es. 500 to Es. 1,000." The Board's report '' on 

 the Eevenue Settlement of the Presidency for the year ending 

 30th June 1890 shows that 3,176 wells were excavated in 

 that year by Government ryots at a cost of Es. 2,63,677 ; and 

 of this number, three-fourths were in Salem, Coimbatore and 

 Chingleput. The same report shows that in seven districts, 

 from which alone returns had been received, the number of 

 wells in use for supplementing irrigation from Government 

 works was no less than 48,220, showing beyond doubt that the 

 policy recently adopted by Government of doing away with 

 the last remnant of restrictive regulations calculated to impede 

 the extension of well irrigation used for the purpose of supple- 



'^ I examined the accotints of 10 villages in the Coimbatore taluk and found that the 

 number of wells had increased from 208 in 1860 to 315 in 1890. 



^" Recent official reports show that about 20,000 wells were excavated during the last 

 two years of drought by means of advances, amoimting to upwards of 30 lakhs of rupees 

 granted 1^ Government, and it was found on inspection by the Commissioner of Revenue 

 Settlement and Agriculture that the wells were in proper order. The 900 wells constructed 

 in the Ponnerj taluk have since been found to be mud wells estimated to last for from, 

 10 to 15 years, but excavated on hard soil. 



