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department. Each class of soil is then subdivided into, some 

 3 and others 5, " sorts," with reference to their degrees of 

 fertility as ascertained by an examination of the constituents 

 of the surface soil and sub-soil, the total varieties of soils 

 dealt with being 66. All lands, whether irrigated or unirri- 

 gated, are classed under these 66 varieties of soil. But for 

 irrigated lands the classification is still more elaborate, be- 

 cause these lands are again divided into a number of groups 

 according to the nature and efficiency of thesources of irrigation 

 from which the lands derive their supply of water, and lands 

 falling under each of these groups are classified under the 66 

 '* sorts *' of soil already referred to. The second process is to 

 ascertain the grain outturn of the lands irrigated and unirri- 

 gated classified as above shown. For this purpose, certain 

 prevailing dry crops in the case of dry lands, and paddy in the 

 case of irrigated lands, are taken as standards, and the aver- 

 age outturn, in terms of these crops, of every variety of soil, 

 is to be ascertained by actual harvest experiments conducted 

 for a series of years. From the average outturn thus ascer- 

 tained a deduction of from 15 to 25 per cent, is made on 

 account of extraordinary vicissitudes of season and barren 

 patches unavoidably measured with fields. The third process 

 is to find the money value of the grain outturn. For this 

 purpose, the average of the market prices of standard crops 

 in the months in which the ryots sell their produce for a 

 number of years, generally twenty, is ascertained, and deduct- 

 ing from it 8 to 20 per cent, for cartage and merchant's 

 profit';, the remainder is taken to represent the ryot's prices 

 and adopted as the commutation rate ; and the grain outturn 

 is converted into money at this rate. The fourth process is 

 to ascertain by actual enquiries the expenses of cultivation 

 for each kind of soil. The difference between the money 

 value of the grain and the cultivation expenses is taken as 

 the net value of each kind of soil of which a moiety repre- 

 sents the land tax ; and a table of rates is accordingly framed. 

 To correct inequalities arising (1) from the adoption of a 

 single commutation rate for an entire district or other large 

 tract of country comprising a number of taluks, while the 

 prices of grain often differ from village to village according 

 to facilities of communication and proximity to markets, and 

 (2) from the adoption of the same grain values for similar 

 soils whose fertility may be affected by local circumstances, 

 such as, vicinity to the sea, rivers or hills, the villages are 

 grouped together into separate groups, and the money rates 

 applicable to the lands classified in each group are raised or 

 lowered according to circumstances. Minor differences in the 



