1849.] 



m the Madras Presidency. 



mi 



293 garce imported from Dharwar. The ordinary bazar price is 

 Eupees 165^ per garce, or about Eupees 1-1-2 per bushel, allow- 

 ing 9,256 1^ lbs. to the garce, and 60 lbs, to the bushel. The coat of 

 transport to Madras is on the average Eupees 145 per garce. 



The greater part of the land of the Bellary Collectorate 

 cultivated with wheat is black soil mixed with saline ingre- 

 dients, or black soil of a loamy description. Ploughing is not 

 required, but the land is harrowed from 4 to 8 times accord- 

 ing to the ability of the cultivator, and the seed (with the 

 husk) sown by means of the " gorray" which drops it in driUs. 

 The remainder (370 acres) is black and mixed soils irrigated 

 by wells : ploughing always required, and the sowing is broad 

 cast. The season for sowing is in September or October ; and in 

 90 days from the time of sprouting (which is in 6 or 7 days) the 

 produce is harvested. The height of crop varies from 18 to 

 24 inches. Lands in the beds of tanks yield the most remunera- 

 tive produce, having the advantage of rain water remaining in 

 them. Irrigated lands entail a far greater amount of labour, and 

 expense of time and capital. The cost of conveying a garce of 

 wheat to Madras by bandies would be Eupees 170, and on bul- 

 locks Eupees 120. 



Cuddapah produces three different qualities of wheat. The tirst 

 sort in dry black lands ; the second in dry lands and in the bedss 

 of tanks, and the third in wet lands. The quantity of land under 

 cultivation for wheat is 2,800 acres, producing about 341 garce. 

 The average price at which these three sorts have been sold within 

 the last five years is respectively Eupees 233 — 204, and 175, — or 

 Eupees 1-8-2, — 1-5-2 and 1-2-2 per bushel. The cost for con- 

 veyance of a garce to Madras varies from Eupees 96 to 120. The 

 district is not generally favorable to the growth of wheat, but its 

 culture might be greatly improved and extended in the Js^orthern 

 Talooks, in the rich black soils, which already produce wheat of a 

 fair quality, were suificient inducement held out to the ryots to cul- 

 tivate this grain in preference to other descriptions of produce ; 

 but in the absence of roads to facilitate the transport it holds out 

 no prospect of its becoming an article of export to England. 



In Kurnool the poverty and want of enterprise of the people 

 is an obstacle to the extension of wheat cultivationj as also the ex- 



