TILLAGE 93 



fact that for dry cultivation in many tracts light 

 tillage is all that is essential on heavy black soils 

 which crack freely when dry, and in this way (as the 

 saying is) " plough themselves ". Speaking generally, 

 however, the preparatory tillage is very defective, 

 even from the local standpoint, and there are very 

 large areas everywhere, and particularly in the east 

 Deccan, which remain permanently infested with 

 deep-rooted weeds, mainly creeping grasses, and 

 which never receive the tillage essential to clean them 

 for effective crop production. The necessity for clean- 

 ing the land is so obvious that the state of these fields 

 cannot be attributed to lack of knowledge. Nor can 

 it be attributed, in the main, to want of equipment ; 

 for it must be admitted that there are comparatively 

 few cases where a resolute man could not clean his 

 land effectively with a pick-axe in the course of a few 

 years, and keep it clean by the exercise of a little 

 care. The root cause of all this derelict land must 

 be looked for in other chapters, but the facts can 

 hardly be ignored when considering the technique of 

 the cultivator. 



In the matter of after-cultivation the practices of 

 the best cultivators are admirable. Good cultivators 

 in Gujarat interculture their cotton crops repeatedly 

 with a curved blade-harrow during the breaks in the 

 rains, thus removing the weeds and making a fine 

 mulch to conserve the soil moisture. In Khandesh 

 the practice in this respect has greatly improved of 

 recent years, but over much of the Deccan such 



