FAKM-YAKD MANUEE 97 



Another important factor is this. As a result of short 

 and badly distributed rainfall, the average outturn in 

 such tracts is not large. In many years the crop is 

 so scanty that it will not do anything appreciable to 

 exhaust the soil, while it is not uncommon for the 

 crop to fail completely for lack of moisture. In such 

 a year the land remains practically fallow and is able 

 to recuperate ; and if a year of good rainfall should 

 follow a year of famine, the crops will show how 

 much the soil has benefited from the fallow of the 

 year before. 



So much for the theory of the cultivators with 

 regard to manure in various tracts. As regards prac- 

 tice we will again turn to the black soils of the Dharwar 

 Taluka. Here, though the value of manure is fully 

 admitted by all, it is probable that at least half of the 

 fields receive no manure for long periods. On the 

 remainder a dressing of 2^ tons of farm-yard manure, 

 given every alternate year to the jowari crop, is re- 

 garded as sufficient to maintain fair fertility for a 

 rotation of cotton and jowari ; 5 tons every alternate 

 year is regarded as good practice, and some of the 

 richer men occasionally give very heavy dressings. A 

 large number, however, have to be content with some- 

 thing like 1 ton every alternate year. In the case of 

 the cultivator the difference between his theory and 

 his practice is due to the fact that farm-yard manure 

 sufficient to meet his requirements simply does not 

 exist under present conditions. With a view to test 



the exact value of farm-yard manure to cotton and 



7 



