CH. XXVII. 



Agricdlture. 



464 MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



MONOGRAPH ON AGRICULTURE. 



(Major- General Morgan's Paper.) 



(a) Soils. 



Black soil. — Brown soil. — Yellow and red soils. 



Soils. 



The soils on these hills may be roughly set down as four in 

 number, viz., the black, brown, yellow, and red, sometimes running- 

 into each other. 



—Black soil. These generally face the north, and very frequently overlie a 

 rich retentive clay subsoil. Occasionally the soil is of a dense 

 black and peaty nature. Such soil, until well worked and limed, is 

 unproductive ; but the true black soil of the Hills with a good sub- 

 soil is undoubtedly the most productive of all the soils. It may 

 be called a rich loam, 



—Brown soil. This is the soil next in value. It faces north-east or north-west, 

 and is found even due east and west according to the shelter which 

 the ground possesses. It is a fair soil for most crops, but rather 

 stiff er than the black soil to work — a clay loam. 



—Yellow soil. This soil may be called a stiff clay, poor until heavily manured. 

 It requires under- draining even on steep hill-sides. It faces due 

 south, south-west, south-east, and, having been exposed to the 

 beat of the monsoon for ages, it has gathered no fertilizing matter, 

 and is ruinous to cultivate except as grass-land.^ 



— ?ied soil. This soil is not so stiff' as the yellow, but as far as productive- 



ness is concerned is equally poor, and, facing ordinarily the same 

 way, is exposed to the same disadvantages — the beat of the 

 monsoon and a fierce southern sun. Except when sheltered, it 

 is a hungry soil and ruinous to cultivate. It may be said of 

 the soils on these Hills that there are two good soils and two bad 

 soils, interspersed here and there with intennediate ones partaking 

 more or less of the good or bad qualities of the one or the other. 

 It may be laid down, as a rule, that all the soils require lime in 

 large doses, the stiff soils to make them light, the peaty and 

 black soils to sweeten them and render the vegetable matter in 

 the ground suitable for the food of plants. 



' I cannot conciir with General Morgan in this view. When well worked 

 and manured, these red and even the yellow soils become productive. Eucalyptus, 

 acacia and other exotics grow tolerably well in them. They are very retentive 

 of moisture which gives them an advantage in the hot and dry months. Mr. 

 Robertson remarks : " When deeply ploughed, regularly worked, and adequately 

 manured, they will yield well, especially when in the manure applied there is a fair 

 proportion of lime. It is not that these soils are deiicient in the elements of 

 plant-food, lime excepted, but their physical condition is such that this food 

 remains latent and useless until by deep cultivation the soils are brought fully 

 under the influence of atmosjjheric agencies." — Ed. 



