FODDER IN INDIA. 



trenching a greater depth than 9" at most, and this is the depth 



the writer advises for lasting and most satisfactory results ; 



but here again local conditions as to the quantity and quality 



of the manure available— a depth of 6" only will do very 



well perhaps, and anything less than 4" is hardly worth while. 



All grass lands are enormously benefited by occasional' 



very light ploughing and harrowing 



Necessity for Plough- during the winter months and before 

 Ing Grass Lands. "unng 



the monsoon, especially when the lands 



have been grazed after the harvest, but the lands must never 

 be left with furrows and clods. The reason of this benefit 

 is that perfect " capillary attraction " is maintained, and an 

 open soil with the consequent constant supply of moisture 

 evenly distributed and freedom for the grass roots, the neces- 

 sity for both of which conditions is most essential to satisfac- 

 tory farming, though a fact unfortunately very often lost 

 sight of. The soil requirements for crops and cereals other 

 than grass will be referred to later in the chapters concerned. 



CHAPTER IV. 

 A WET "cold" soil is an abomination, though it 



^ .., c „ ^ . ^v'J'i under certain conditions, produce 



Cold Soil Useless. i r ^ 



cereal crops of a sort ; for our purpose 

 and grass cultivation it is quite useless. To remedy this 

 state of things we must " till " the soil, and as this may not 

 always be sufficient then we must " drain." The reverse 

 circumstances are a "dry" soil, and again the remedy is 

 tillage, accompanied by "banding" in a greater or lesser 

 degree according to the ' lie ' and level of the land. 



Let us commence with drainage. On economical grounds 

 Drainage. managers of grass farms in India 



will generally have to be content with 

 what for which I have no better name we will call " natural 

 artificial " drainage— a paradox indeed, but the intention 

 is to distinguish between tile or pipe draining (pakka) 



