KUMARI CULTIVATION. 141 



before clearances are made, permission should first be obtained 

 from the Eevenue authorities in communication with this depart- 

 ment, the locality and extent of the clearance being defined. 



(A.) Extract of a Letter from Captain W. C. Anderson, Supt. 

 Eevenue Survey, Mahratta Country, 26th July 1859. 



" I do not think Kumari is absolutely necessary to the people 

 except near the ghats — say within eight or ten miles at farthest, 

 where the fall of rain is so heavy as to interdict ordinary dry 

 crop cultivation on the same land for several successive years. 

 Where permitted, you will find the people resort to it very ex- 

 tensively, more so than to any other description of cultivation, 

 for several reasons. It requires no stock or agricultural capital. 

 It requires less labour than any other description of cultivation : 

 a month in May or June, in felling, burning, and sowing, and a 

 fortnight for reaping, after the rains, affords a subsistence, such 

 as it is.'' 



(B.) From P. Grant, Esq., Collector of Malabar, 5th July 1859. 



" 1. I beg to inform you that Punam and Kumari cultivation 

 are the same. 



" 2. Punam cultivation is carried on extensively along the 

 slopes on the W. Ghats, and on many of the other lower ranges 

 of hills ; but as they are mostly private property, I do not think 

 that anything can be done by Government to put a stop to it. 



" 3. Once a jungle has been felled and burned, and the land 

 cropped, a period of eight or twelve years is allowed to elapse ere 

 another crop is taken off the same land. 



" 4. The Punam crop is generally a heavy one, and remunerative 

 to the grower. Say a piece of land yields 100 parahs of paddy, 

 40 go towards the expenses of cultivation, leaving 60, of which 



