Scientific Agriculture* 



558 



[jtfNE 1908. 



(8) Some of the ryots object to the 

 use of this plough in dry lands intended 

 to be sown Avith gingelly, horsegram, 

 and the like, and they argue that, as 

 the soil is ploughed deeper rain water ac- 

 cumulates in it and results in making 

 the lands sour and the consequent decay 

 of the roots of the crops. 



(9) Another objection to the intro- 

 duction of the improved plough is that 

 it is unsuited for covering seed imme- 

 diately after sowing, for which purpose 

 the country plough is used at pre- 

 sent. 



(10) The initial cost is the chief objec- 

 tion to the introduction of the improved 

 plough. However, the ryots who have 

 actually used improved ploughs in their 

 lands and who have really seen the 

 better work turned out by it reject 

 all the above said objections as 

 frivolous. From the enquiries I made 

 of the several representative ryots who 

 are using the plough, I was struck with 

 the opinion expressed by them in favour 

 of the ploughs and by the manner in 

 which they appreciated its work. The 

 chief obstacle against the spreading of 

 this useful implement, in my opinion, 

 is the unfavourable opinion expressed 

 by village smith in every village 

 who are invariably consulted by 

 the ryots as to their adaptability. 

 The fear of the village smith is that if 

 the ryots come to know of the durability 

 and usefulness of the implements, they 

 would dispense with the services of the 

 local smith who at present ekes out his 

 livelihood by constant repairs effected to 

 the country plough. The smith gets a 

 fixed quantity of grain every harvest 

 from every ryot at so much for each 

 plough maintained for his services in 

 repairing the agricultural implements. 

 It is the wish of every village smith to 

 impress the ryot of his own importance 

 by making him wait upon the smith 

 every now and then for constant repairs 

 of the crude plough, and he naturally 

 fears that if the ryots come to know that 

 they could avoid the trouble of attend- 

 ing upon smiths by the purchase of an 

 improved plough and spare working 

 parts, they would belittle the import- 

 ance of the smith and treat him with 

 indifference) which would seriously 

 affect his pesent constant income^ in each 

 harvest season. This is the chief reason 

 why the smith always discourages the 

 use of improved plough by ryots, and 

 the ryots seem to have implicit confid- 

 ence in the smith. However, in course 

 of time there can be no doubt that the 

 eye of rural population would be opened 

 feo the superiority of the improved 

 plough, and that it would generally re-* 

 blace the ordinary plough itt due tji*tte, 



Single seedling system op Planting 

 Paody.— The attention of the Agricul- 

 tural population in the district has been 

 drawn to this subject more than once by 

 articles in the Madras Mail and in other 

 newspapers and journals in vernacular, 

 and also by a reprint of the article in the 

 form of a bulletin circulated by the 

 Ceutral Agricultural Committee to the 

 members of the Agricultural Associ- 

 ation, Tinnevelly. , The first trial of the 

 experiment was made by M. R. Ry. S. 

 Sankarauarayana Aiyar, Clerk, Govern- 

 ment Secretariat, on his fieMs at Serma- 

 devi, and by his brother Mr. Narasima 

 Aiyar at Srivaikuntam. Similar experi- 

 ments were also conducted by M. R. Ry. 

 A. Rama Row at Sivagiri Home farm, 

 and by Mr. Nilakauta Iyer of Gopalasa- 

 mudrum. Lectures in vernacular were 

 delivered at Sankaranayinarkoyil and 

 other olaces by Mr. Dharmaranga Raju 

 regarding the benefits of single planting. 

 This was actually experimented on a 

 large scale on about 8 acres of land at 

 Palamcottah by Mr. J. Chelvaranga 

 R^ju which attracted the attention of 

 several ryots who had opportunites of 

 going to Palamcottah during the culti- 

 vating season. This led to several indi- 

 vidual experiments being made in 

 villages like Puliyangulam, Kodaganal- 

 loor, Pappankulam, Aladiyur, etc. The 

 following statement shows the exteut 

 under single planting in the district as 

 far as could be ascertained by me : — 



Name of the Taluq. 



Extent. 







Acre. 



Cent, 



1. 



Tinnevelly 



10 



47 



2. 



Srivaikuntam 



7 



28 



3i 



Ambasamudram 



.. 1,237 



15 



4. 



JNauguneri 



20 



50 



5. 



Srlvilliputtfir 



.. ■ 2 





6. 



Sankaranayinarkoyil 1,033 



94 



7i 



Teukasi 



2 



80 





Total 



... 2,314 



14 



It would appear from the above state- 

 ments that the extent under single 

 planting is comparatively large in and 

 around Sivagiri. This is chiefly due to 

 the active efforts of Mr. A. Rama Row 

 (Home Farm Superintendent) who has 

 been instrumental in forming an Agri- 

 cultural Association there, consisting 

 of several intelligent and practical ryots 

 who had opportunities of observing the 

 condition of the crop at its various 

 stages and of noting the results person- 

 ally, which circumstance enabled them 

 to adopt the system on a large scale 

 without any fear as to its results, so 

 much so that nearly one-tenth of the 

 area uuder paddy near Sivagiri may be 

 *aid to be under single plantingi Another 

 place in which the system has beett 



