( 8 ) 



In the districts known as the Bundelkhand portion of the prov- 

 ince the same depressing state of affairs exists on a very large 

 scale. Attempts have been made by Government for some years 

 to dam up the ravines but it is impossible to keep pace with the 

 damage and there is no doubt that within a few generations large 

 tracts will go out of cultivation altogether. The work of protect- 

 ing and reclaiming eroded land in these districts is in the hands 

 of the Irrigation department. 



There are two ways of dealing with serious erosion : (1) the 

 artificial way of the engineer ; (2) the more natural way of the 

 forester. Mr. Moreland, c s.i., O.I.E., I.G.S., in his notes on the 

 agricultural conditions and problems of the United Provinces 

 describes both these methods. " To minimize the extensions (of 

 erosion) the essential is to reduce to the lowest possible amount 

 the run-off from the land lying above the ravines and draining 

 above them. This result is obtained by the field embankments 

 of Bundelkhand, and their continued construction is most desirable 

 on these grounds alone. In the rest of the provinces the land just 

 above the ravine is, as a rule, unirrigable, and in accordance with 

 the custom of the country is sown with a kharij rather than with 

 a rabi crop. Naturally when the rainfall is heavy (and here is 

 the danger of the artificial method) either the field boundaries 

 break or the cultivators cut them to save their crops and most 

 of the flood passes direct into the ravines, a large proportion of 

 the extension is thus directly traceable to the effects of sudden 

 heavy rainfall. 



"It is highly probable thab if the border fields were sufficiently 

 embanked to retain the moisture and left uncropped during the 

 rains they would be used for rabi crops even without irrigation ; 

 but it is at least doubtful if the rabi yield so obtained would be 

 greater than the Uliarif that would be sacrificed and very doubtful 

 if it would pay the cost of embanking. Experiments on this point 

 are however desirable. 



"An alternative method of reducing runoff is to. use the land 

 above the ravines as a fuel and fodder reserve and there is reason- 

 able prospect that this will pay the landholder, provided he is 

 within easy reach of a market for babul bark, and provided he can 

 wait for a cash return until the period when the first crop of babul 

 matures." 



The drying-up of the country is a most serious matter which 

 may be temporarily relieved by the expenditure of lakhs of rupees 

 on irrigation, but if the erosion of the country continues at the 

 present rate, irrigation projects will be hampered and eventually 

 become impossible. The Etawah district was once covered with 



