Fibres. 



210 



[September, 1909. 



of disinfection is carefully carried out, 

 and the directions given herewith are 

 observed, there ought to be no ill-effects 

 from it, but rather well marked benefits 

 ought to be realised. 



THE INTRODUCTION OF DRILL-SOWING 

 AND INTER-CULTIVATION : 

 On to the Black Cotton Soils op Tinne- 

 velly, Madras Presidency. 



By H. C. Sampson, b.a. 



(From the Agricultural Journal of India, 

 Vol. IV., Part II., April, 1909.) 



In 1907-8, the Government of Madras 

 gave an allotment of Rs. 5,000 for the 

 improvement of cotton cultivation, and 

 it was decided that a part of this sum 

 should be utilised in introducing the 

 practice of drill cultivation for cotton 

 into the Tinnevelly District. 



To some extent, the way had been 



Prepared. This method of cultivation 

 ad been introduced on to the Koilpatty 

 Agricultural Station, and in the 1906-7 

 season, after this station had been en- 

 larged, there were 51*85 acres of cotton, 

 all sown with the drill. The crops which 

 were much superior to those outside the 

 farm began to attract attention in the 

 neighbourhood. In March, 1^07, when 

 the cotton-picking was at its height, Mr. 

 Couchman, Director of Agriculture, and 

 Mr. Wood, Deputy Director of Agri- 

 culture, who then had charge of this 

 division, when inspecting this station, 

 assembled the neighbouring ryots. The 

 methods of cultivation were explained 

 to them, the farm crops were compared 

 with those outside, and the implements 

 were shown at work and even handled 

 by the ryots. Several of them there and 

 then promised to try this method of 

 cultivation if assistance were given 

 them. The very roughness in the work- 

 manship of the implements pleased them, 

 as such work could easily be turned out 

 by their own carpenters and blacksmiths. 

 But a promise given when a crop is ripe 

 for picking is a very different thing to 

 its fulfilment at the next sowing time, 

 and there were many obstacles to be 

 overcome before such a revolutionary 

 change in the methods of cultivation 

 could be brought about. A brief descrip- 

 tion, therefore, of the people and the 

 local conditions, and the method of culti- 

 vation which it was wished to introduce, 

 seems necessary. The black cotton soil 

 cultivators of this district are both 

 delugus, who, it is said, came south 

 Nuring the time of the Vizianagar and 

 Taick dynasties and settled in the 

 district, and Tamils. The Telugu is 



noted throughout the Presidency for his 

 love of the black cotton soil, and through- 

 out the whole of the Tamil country 

 Telugu villages are to be found wherever 

 there is any extent of black cotton soil. 



In two of the three Taluks which ad- 

 join the Koilpatty Agricultural Station, 

 viz., Ottapidarum and Satur, the verna- 

 cular of one-fifth and one-third, respec- 

 tively, of the total inhabitants is Telugu, 

 and when one bears in mind that this 

 race is almost entirely confined to the 

 black soil areas, the proportion who 

 cultivate cotton must be much greater. 

 The chief Tamil castes are the Vellalas, 

 Pallars, Maravars and Shanars. The 

 first two are both good cultivating castes. 

 The Maravars also cultivate, but depend 

 also on dacoity and cattle-lifting, and 

 are, therefore, not so thrifty. The 

 Shanars are the toddy-drawing caste 

 and are excellent petty cultivators, 

 growing irrigated garden and cereal 

 crops under wells. Thus, the introduc- 

 tion of any improvement has to be 

 repeated in almost every village, for it 

 by no means follows that if one village 

 adopts an improvement, the next village, 

 if of a different caste, will follow its 

 example. And besides the natural con- 

 servatism of the ryot, superstition and 

 fear of offending the deities have also to 

 be overcome. As an example of this : in 

 November, 1907, a very heavy rain of 

 more than 7 inches fell on one day and 

 breached several tanks, besides doing 

 considerable damage to the standing 

 crops on the black soil. As a result, some 

 ryots refused to work the bullock-hoes 

 in their drill-sown crops, as they said 

 that this rain was a signal of divine 

 wrath. One man actually ploughed up 

 his crop. 



The present agricultural practice on 

 the black soil was dealt with in detail in 

 the Scientific Report of the Koilpatty 

 Agricultural Station, 1907-8. From this 

 it will be seen that the Tinnevelly black 

 soil ryot is an excellent cultivator. 

 Suffice it to say here that instead of 

 sowing cotton broad-cast, covering with 

 the plough and doing the after-cultiva- 

 tion with hand-hoes, we wished to in- 

 troduce the practice of sowing in rows 

 with the bamboo seed-drill, covering the 

 seed with the blade cultivator and doing 

 the after-cultivation with the small 

 blade bullock-hoes. All these imple- 

 ments, though common in the Northern 

 Districts and in other parts of India, are 

 unknowu in the South of Madras. 



When it was decided to take steps to 

 introduce this system of cultivation, 

 there were only two coolies in the 

 district who knew how to work these 

 implements, and these* were only local 



