470 



JIAN'CAL OF TRE N'ir,AOIRI DISTRICT. 



CK. XXVI 1. The implements used by the hill peoj)lo in agriculture are — 

 Agricultuke. 



Implements. 



The Plough 

 Harrow 

 Bill-hook. 

 Sickle. 



Weeding adze. 



Axe. 



Momati. 



Cattle. 



Rotation of 

 crops. 



Terracing and 

 fencing. 



Reaping, 



thrashing, 



storing. 



Prices of 

 cattle. 



Land for 

 pasturage. 



Fodder. 



Cows. 



Number of ploughs in the district ... ... 3,496 



Do. of ploughing cattle ... ... ]0,156 



One plough suffices to work about 10 acres. 



There is some slight attempt near the villages to cultivate land 

 by rotation of crops — such as onions after wheat or garlic, peas 

 and potatoes after wheat or barley — but only on manured land.^ 



Terracing on freshly-cleared land is also carried on where 

 stones are abundant with manifest advantage. Fencing is 

 confined to the fields immediately adjacent to the village. 



Women generally reap. A small reaping hook is used. Grain 

 is thrashed out in the primitive fashion by the village bullocks 

 muzzled. A post is set in the centre of the threshing-floor, which 

 has been carefully plastered with cow-dung. The animals are 

 fastened neck to neck some ten deep and driven round the circle. 

 Of course the straw is rendered quite unfit for thatching, even 

 if sufficient silica was in it for thatching straw. The grain is 

 stored in huge conical baskets plastered inside and out with 

 cow-dung. The small proboscis beetle is very destructive to many 

 kinds of grain in store, such as wheat and barley. The oats and 

 raggi are not attacked by it. It may be observed that raggi 

 stored in pits in the ground of an oblong shape improves by 

 keeping, and when seven years old is liiglily esteemed. The pits 

 are called gows or cows ; hence a man is called Timma Gowda 

 or Timma of the pit-place. Hence to be a Gowda amongst 

 Kanarese is to be a man of caste. 



Badaga cattle may be valued at about 25 rupees a head for 

 stout oxen. 



It takes at least 4 acres of natural grass land to keep a bullock 

 all through the year."^ 



No artificial fodder is ever given, and trees are not even 

 pollarded, as in the low country, during dry weather.^ 



The yield of milk of a cow is about half a quart in the morning 

 and a quart in the evening. About ten quarts would yield a 

 pound of butter. The price of a good milk cow is Rupees 30 to 35. 



1 The abrogation of the " shifting " system will probably necessitate the 

 introduction of a rough rotation system. — Ed. 



2 A hill buffalo probably requires 7 or 8 acres. 



" A description of wild flax which grows in the sholas is much used as 

 fodder in dry sousoua. The catlle also eat the korali and other straw.— Ed. 



