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sales for the three years ending 1882-83 averaged about 12|- 

 lakhs per annum, or less than one-fourth of the transactions, 

 and about one-fiftieth of the capital value. In 1882-83 the 

 total of land transactions was 24,765, of which mortgages 

 were 11,400 or 46'2 per cent., and sales 10,610 or 43 per cent. 

 The ratio of all transactions to the kinds of land has not been 

 ascertained, but in 1880-83 sales averaged as follows : wet 

 lands 1,567 acres or -V of the total occupied area ; dry lands 

 35,726 acres or about -V of the total occupied dry area exclud- 

 ing gardens; and gardens 3,462 acres or about -j-f-g- of the 

 nominal garden area of 408,326 acres and yV of the area 

 (251,275 acres) actually irrigated. Of the prices realized, 

 nearly ^t ^^^ credited to the small area of wet land ; if to 

 dry land ; and ^\- to gardens. Acre for acre, wet lands as 

 sold were worth Rs. 255 or 13^ times as much as dry land 

 and 5^ times as much as gardens, while gardens were worth 

 Rs. 46 or 2^ times as much as dry land, which averaged Rs. 19 

 per acre. The low garden rate is due to the fact that much 

 nominal garden in a given field is only dry land, a 6-acre field 

 having probably only 3 to 4 acres of actual garden, the total 

 area actually irrigated being only 251,275 acres out of a field 

 area of 408,326 acres; hence the actually irrigated area is 

 probably worth about Rs. 60 per acre. The average value of 

 the dry lands (Rs. 19) must not be taken as a gauge of the 

 value of poor lands, such as VII 4, 5 and VIII 3, 4, 5 ; a 

 vast area has little or no sale valae, being so unproductive; 

 an examination of the tables from 1878 to 1883 shows that 

 sales are much larger where the generality of dry lands are 

 most valuable ; in Pollachi, where the soil is generally rich and 

 the south-west monsoon abundant, and in Udamalpet, with its 

 high-priced black cotton lands, the sales averaged in five years 

 almost yV^hs of the total district sales, though the occupied 

 area of these two taluks, including poliputs, is two-twelfths 

 of the district occupied area. The number of professional 

 money-lenders in these taluks possibly accounts for the large 

 sales and the value of the lands for the money-lenders. 

 Since, therefore, the average price of Rs. 19 has been struck 

 upon the sale of an unduly large proportion of the valuable 

 lands of the district, a lower rate (Rs. 12) has been taken in 

 roughly estimating the capital value of the total occupied dry 

 lands. The sales of garden lands in the Palladam taluk, 

 including Avandshi, were very heavy, totalling 8,563 acres 

 out of 16,448 acres sold from 1878 to 1883 or above one-half, 

 whereas the garden area of the taluk is above two-elevenths 

 of the district garden area, and the dry sales were only about 

 one-eleventh of the total dry sales." Information is not 



