bEC. 1, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRtCULtURiSt. 
393 
THE VANNI Dl&TRICT :— PADDY (RICE) 
CtTLTIVATION THEREIN. 
Rice being the chiff artiqlj of food of the people 
of the District, it is not surprising to fiud that the 
cultivation of paddy is their chief occupation. Out 
ot 10,315 acr^B under cultivatioa in lf*8) it was es- 
tinaated that 6,610 acre* were cultivated with paddy. (fi) 
Tljere are three haivests, of which the 01. ly con- 
siderable one is the Kalapoknm" "or r gular crop" 
sowQ in September or October when the raina of the 
I'lorth-East Monsoon be^in, and reaped in February 
or March. The other two are " /rfoijO/wAraw " "middle 
cr p " sown in February or March and " Chirupokam' 
"liitle crop" sown in Ap il. The three crops are 
only possible whera there are tmks to irrigate the 
fields. Where the cultivation depends entir ly upoQ 
raia as ia most parts of the maritime pattus there 
is as a rule only one cnp, Kala2)okam.{l)) 
Idaippokam and Chirupokam tie of very uncertain 
occurrence depending entirely on the quaality of 
wa"er ava lable at the time in the particular tanks 
under which the fi Ids 1 e. 
As regards the means of irrigation as has already 
baen hinted there are three different kinds of Unds: — 
1. Tank lands. 
2. Matiavari (c) lands, which depend entirely upon 
rain ; and 
3. Lands irrigated by spring, {Chitnaittarai). 
Most of the fields in the maritime pattus are 
Manaiari lauds, but there are two villages, wh^re 
lands of the third tlescnption are tj be found, vi::., 
MulUzavalii and Xaunijuttu. Ia tbe" inland pattui 
where the soil is clayey it becomei to) liitd af;er 
some months' exposure to the burning sun to allow 
ot the sh iwe's softe- ing it sufficiently for ploujjhing 
Which is the msin reason why manavari cultivation 
ij not practised in these divisions. 
Paddy cultivation in the Vanai ia of two kinds. 
(1) "I'uluti" or pulverized soil, and (2) "Chettu" 
or mud cultivation. 
Therd are two methods of puluti cultivation, accord- 
ing ag the seed is sawn before or after the rains 
ef the North-Enst Monsoon. 
The former or Kachchuppuluti vitaippu (^t\xy puluti 
sowing) is chiefly carried oa in manavari la ids. 
The laads are plou^bed as soon after harvest as 
there is a shower of rain which is generally in July 
and the soil is then kept soft by tue snowers until 
it ia sown in August and the early pact of September. 
Later tban August this modj of cultivation is not 
custjmary. One advantage resulting from it is that 
the heat of tbe s il keeps the seads dry for a time, 
and tbey consequently germinate well, »ud when this 
is f . Uowed by a .lundanoe of rain the plants root well 
and grow luxuiiantly. 
The latter or irajypulnti vllaippu (" wet puluti 
sowi"g"j requi. 63 sandy soil and tnerefore ia usually 
practised in manavari lands though occasioually sis j 
in tank Imda if the toil is 1 ght and sandy. The 
fields are sown after the rain) rf ttie North-East 
Monsoon. Wneo tli; soil has b en tutticiently s-vftened 
by the rain or by water from the tauk it is plough:d ('0 
•nd tben aowo, and a^ain on the 3rd or oth day 
reploughed. The sowing t ikes place in October and 
JiJovember. This is an ineHicieut and lazy method 
a Tbr primary objeot of the people ia cultivating 
is to obtain food by the shortest road and as the direct 
result of their labours, and not to make a profit in 
money by trading with the produce. No amount of 
arguing therefore that they ought to cultivate o-her 
and more paying products can have any effect in 
altering the existing conditions which lead to the 
resalts stated above, 
b In some villages such as Malliyavalai and 
Tanniyuttu where there are natural springs there 
is alsj Vhinipokam cultivation. 
c Manavari is said to bo a corruption of vaiui ri 
(" sky water "), It is not given by Winslow, 
d It ia not always sown bsforo pbughiug. A'' 
paddy will not grow; and it ia ueccsaary that i' 
should be alio we i tody .ii(«it«a.piug m<\ ])<i Piopetly 
seemed Um £Wb, Occ, *^ " 
?9 
of cultivation and is much favoured by farmers who 
have ex'ens've lands to cnl ivate. It fosters the 
growth of weeds, while the foil eventually is not 
sufficiently paive.-ize 1 when the seed is sown to allow 
of the paddy plants rjotin? properly. If there is 
constant rain germinated seeds are ^own. 
(2) Chettu vitaippu is the m de of cultivation 
adopted in all landt where the soil is other than eandy. 
The land is p oughed twice — af er the first plough- 
ing it is Itft abne for from 3 to 7 ('ays nnt'l the 
mud and water become ' sour" {pulippu) and the 
we(ds and gi-ass are decayed, whej it is reploughed. 
After ^his it is smoothed with a board (palakai) about 
8 leet long drawn by a pair of buffaloes. The man 
who drives the buff iloes stands on the plank and 
ho ds on by a rope. This smoothing ii called palakai 
adippii. (iarminated seei is then sown. It has been 
ptevionsly kept for o days to germin^te, being 
immersed for oni3 night in water. 
When sown the seeds sink int 1 the mud atid water 
acd 12 hours afte wards the water is let out. This 
mode of cultivation ia much superior to tae other 
two, but requires more water, aid if there is in- 
sufficient water tbe plan's dio sooner than in the 
other methods. 
The sowing takej place at any time from October to 
January wlienever the e ia enough water in the tanks. 
As to the soil I take the following classitioation 
from Mr. Dyke's Diary of 2na November 1818. 
There are four kitdi of soil in the Vanni, ijjj.- — 
1. Kalittarai "clay soil." If cultivated yearly the 
produce will continue to be same for 50 year*, the 
ra-.e of pro luce beiog about 20 fold, and alter 
the above period it would begin to decrease at the 
ra^e of | Ifss for a spac3 of 20 yea's, and of ^ lers 
for 10 year and } less for another 10 year,'. The 
last rite will continue without any variation. To 
remedy thii the ground is usually left uncultivated 
lor 3 or 4 3-ears andwhe.ithe cultivation is resumed 
the produce would rise to 10 fold and not more. 
^. Irupadduttarai, i.e„ " Soil of two qualities " 
(padti). This is a mixture of clay and sand. The 
produce continues the same for the space of 30 years, 
the rate of produce, 15 fjld; in other respects the 
sime as No. 1. 
3. Manattarai (sandy soil), prodaca the same for 
20 years, rate 10 fold. 
4. Uvattarai (soil containing salt) the produce con- 
tinues the same for 10 years, the rata 0 fold. 
In the Yanni Pattus very often ploughing is not 
commenced until the tani is full and it is thus 
sometimes begun too late. An udaiyar in 1864 (a) 
gave it as his opinion that " if preparations for paddy 
cultivation were commenced at the saun time as the 
people begin to clear chenas, and in substitution 
of that business there ■^ould never be a failure of 
paddy crops. Such failures usually result from paddy 
cultivation not being commenced until after com- 
pletion ot the clearing of chenas." 
Transplant ng is not practised. Tbe pupils at the 
Agricultural School were taught it in lb8a, and I 
find that one of them has smoo practisej it with 
advantage. 
At the same time experiments were made with tha 
■' Indian Kyut " plough aud those belongiug to the 
two Kachcheris bave occasionally been ueed since 
being lent to applicints desirous of trying them. Iii 
Vavuuiya, the Vludaliyar, by using the Kachchori 
plough in 1884 got a raturn mearly double the rata 
of that of the rest of tbe field, Comp aiut, however 
was that the buft'a oe.i who worked it could do no 
more work for the rest of the .season, and that it 
can only be used in saudy s il. It seems that buffaloes 
require tr liniug for its use. It would be too h6a\ y 
foi tlie bullocks geuerjlly Used in ploughing sandy goil. 
The ploughinjf moreover is often done iu a p»r- 
functoiy way, " In many cases they do not plough 
before sowing, but simply cut away tlie thorny weeda 
with which the fields are generally overgrown, burn 
the rubbish, sow the paddy and plough it iu afterwards. 
The roots themselves are not removed aud they 
grow up with tha yoiiug piddy which couseiiueutly 
