200 SUBDIVISION OF HOLDINGS 



4 acres of waingan rice and 2 acres of sugar-cane. In the 

 absence of a water channel this water runs down to a low 

 part of the field and is lifted once and in some cases twice 

 on to the sugar-cane land. 



It is obvious that the following improvements were 

 needed : — 



1. The tank required clearing of silt or to have the bund 

 raised. 



2. The water channel needed repair so that the water could 

 be taken to any part of the field by gravity. 



3. Some embankments against flood water from the river 

 were needed. 



4. The land needed proper fencing against wild animals 

 from the adjoining jungle, which do much damage. Having 

 the river on two sides, it needed fencing on only two sides. 



5. The whole needed to be properly laid off into level plots 

 of reasonable size, so as to admit of easy cultivation, instead 

 of being divided into very small and irregular shaped plots, 

 with bands in between, which occupied an excessive amount 

 of space. 



On account of the excessive subdivision and fragmenta- 

 tion of the land it is hopeless to contemplate the possibility 

 of any such improvements. 



CASE No. II. 



(Survey Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13 and 26 of Shirgaon, taluka Ratnagiri, 



district Ratnagiri.) 



Case No. I. refers to an area which is held almost entirely 

 by cultivators. In some parts of the Konkan the bulk of 

 the rice land is in the hands of non-cultivating landlords. 

 Naturally in such cases the holdings tend to be larger, and 

 the fragmentation less, but this case which occurs at Shirgaon, 

 where the Government Farm is situated, gives an instructive 

 example of the way in which such holdings are becoming 

 subdivided and fragmented. The area consists of a block 



