INDIA, AGRICULTURE OF. 



INDIA, AGRICULTURE OF. 



This leaves a residue of 2686 seers ; of this 

 government takes 10 per cent., and, after all 

 the drains have been satisfied, the grower is 

 left in possession of a residue of two thou- 

 sand seers of rice. (Buchanan's Mysore, vol. i. 

 p. 265.) 



Irrigation is practised in India, and in almost 

 all the hot countries of Asia, to an extent of 

 which the English farmer has little concep- 

 tion; for, as Mr. George Johnson remarks, 

 " In every district of Hindostan, as in all other 

 tropical climates, irrigation is the most effec- 

 tual mode of promoting fertility. In places 

 favoured by nature, whole plains are occasion- 

 ally flooded merely by the construction of a 

 dam across the outlet of some mountain stream, 

 or it is confined nearer to its source, so as to 

 form a reservoir, from which the water may 

 be obtained at the most desirable seasons. In 

 less favourable situations, the water frequently 

 has to be raised to a considerable height, in 

 order to attain an elevation level wilh, or 

 slightly above the cultivated land. This is 

 very generally effected by a scoop of matting 

 suspended between two ropes, the ends of 

 which are held by two men who bale it from 

 the reservoir into a hole some feet above it, 

 and from thence it is similarly baled by others, 

 . from hole to hole, until the desired height is 

 attained. Sometimes the scoop is suspended 

 between poles erected in the form of a gallows ; 

 at others, as in the Jaut wells, from which the 

 water is raised by cattle or by hand in some 

 districts. The extensive canals formed in the 

 neighbourhood of Delhi and in the Punjab are 

 no longer employed. The machinery, so gene- 

 ral in China, is nowhere used in India for 

 raising water. In 1798, Dr. Tennant relates, 

 that the practice of the natives then was, and 

 is still followed, after ploughing the fields in 

 the usual manner, but before sowing, to divide 

 them into regular small squares, like a chess- 

 board ; each square is surrounded with a shelv- 

 ing border about four inches high, capable 

 of preventing the escape of water. Between 

 these square enclosures, small dykes are 

 formed for conveying a rivulet over the whole 

 field; when the water has stood a sufficient time 

 in one square, it is let off into the surrounding 

 dyke, and conveyed to another, and so on in 

 succession through the whole field. The fer- 

 tility induced amply recompenses the labour, 

 and the neatness imparted to the country by 

 this husbandry is very striking." (Ind. Rech. 

 ii. 167.) In some places the water has to be 

 raised from deep wells, several of which are 

 in the most elevated parts of each field. The 

 work of drawing the water is performed by 

 two bullocks, not travelling round in a mill, 

 but pacing in a line direct from the well's 

 mouth. The various little trenches already 

 mentioned, all radiate from these wells. About 

 Patna the irrigation water is raised from the 

 wells by means of a bamboo lever, with its 

 fulcrum on a frame about 10 feet high, a weight 

 at the opposite end being employed to assist 

 the workmen in ccmnterpoising the leather bag 

 of water ; this plan is only resorted to when 

 the wells are shallow, and the water near the 

 surface of the earth, and then not bags but 

 buckets are used, sometimes of leather, but 

 83 



more frequently of iron. Four bullocks and 

 three labourers are engaged nine days in irri- 

 gating one acre of land thoroughly. The im- 

 portance of this branch of agriculture is evi- 

 denced by the great number of wells, which 

 even these most indolent people sink in dis- 

 tricts deficient in streams. Near Madras, at 

 Saymbrumbacum, a reservoir more than 7 

 miles long and 3 broad, for the purposes of irri- 

 gation, has been formed by merely raising a 

 bank across a natural ravine. In the Tamul 

 language a reservoir of this kind is called an 

 Eray. This supplies 32 villages containing 

 5000 persons employed in agriculture (should 

 the rains fail) for 18 months. Sluices lined 

 with bricks pass under the banks to supply 

 the fields ; the inner opening of the sluice is 

 covered by a flat stone, in which is cut a cir- 

 cular hole, through which the water is allowed 

 to pass as required, by means of a plug fixed 

 to a bamboo, and secured from escape by 

 means of stone pillars and cross-bars. When 

 bullocks are employed to raise water from 

 wells, a leathern bucket is used which holds 

 45 gallons; this two bullocks will raise every 

 minute and a half from a well 44 feet deep, 

 and they work eight hours per day. 



To the insoluble matter of the water em- 

 ployed in irrigation, must be attributed a con- 

 siderable portion of its value. These vary at 

 different seasons. That of the Ganges, which 

 is extensively employed in irrigation, was ex- 

 amined by Mr. Everett. He found in it of in- 

 soluble matters 



In a wine quart - 1 



- 10 



- 58-10 



- 26 



- 17 



- 8 



- 6 



July 3. 



23! - 

 Aug. 1-8. - 



Sept. 6.' - 



24. - 



Oct. 8. - 



This insoluble or mechanically-suspended 

 matter was analysed by Mr. Piddington : he 

 found in 200 parts from the banks of the 

 Ganges, at Mohulpore 



PirK 



Vegetable matter ------- 5t 



Saline matters, chiefly muriate of potass - 



Carbonate of lime ------- 16t 



Phosphate of lime ------ 1 



Oxide of iron 12 



Silex - - - 139 



Alumina 14} 



Water 2 



Loss 81 



200 



As these rich, purely divided matters, are 

 depositing on the lower grounds within reach 

 of the flood waters, it follows as a natural con- 

 sequence that "the higher soils are generally 

 and rapidly impoverishing, and this to a de- 

 gree of which few, who have not made the 

 subject one of attention, are aware." 



The rapid effects produced by a copious ar- 

 tificial watering of grass lands under the burn- 

 ing sun of India, may be judged by the follow- 

 ing report made in 1841, by Sir Edward Burnes 

 to Lord Auckland, upon the artificial grasses 

 of Cabool. 



" There are three kinds of grasses cultivated 

 in Cabool 'rishku/ or lucern, ' shuftul,' a kind 

 of trefoil, and ' si barga,' or clover. The first 



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