lO FODDER IN INDIA. 



of water, and incidentally plant food, manure, etc., on 

 the higher and drier tracts of land. By this method the 

 land is laid out in plots or pattis or gathas, which for 

 convenience in every way are usually rectangular : of 

 various sizes according to the level and irregularity of 

 the land to be dealt with, by means of small banks 

 (bands) and ditches of from 6" to ^' 6" in height or 

 depth, as a rule about i' o" is a convenient size, but the 

 manager must use his judgment, the more irregular or 

 steeper the land the bigger the bands and the smaller the 

 area enclosed. It will be found useful to gatha-band in fixed 

 areas, working in acres from ^ to 3 acres per plot on bad 

 land and 4 to 10 acres on good fairly level land. Bands 

 should meet the prevailing flow of water square on, not at an 

 angle, the ditch may be on either side or both, if only on one 

 side that which is facing the flow. Briefly it may be said 

 that the main object of banding or terracing land is to make 

 each plot or area enclosed deal with its own rainfall. 



CHAPTER V. 



There are more opinions than one on the question of 



^ . " manure and manuring," but we must 



Manurlns. ° 



all agree on the object of it which 

 is to provide plant life with food ; but, equally with human 

 beings and animals, various plants have their special re- 

 quirements, as the saying goes " one man's meat is another 

 man's poison" so what is food for grass is not " the " food for 

 rose trees and vice versa, bearing in mind of course that we 

 are always aiming at the best results. Ordinarily for grass 

 cultivation green or long manure is the article required, the 

 idea being to protect the surface soil and young shoots, and to 

 keep the soil " coarse " and open equally as much as to feed 

 the grass which on good land requires, once it is established, 

 but little nutriment apart from what it obtains from rain and 

 atmosphere and the chemical constituents of the soil. Grass 



