THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[May  x,  1893. 
716 
without  much  labour.  This  view  is  certainly  to  be 
regretted,  because  out  of  25  million  acres  of  cultivated 
area  in  the  Presidency,  nearly  20  millions  are  dry 
lands.  The  extension  of  our  irrigation  system  will 
not  go  far  enough  to  slove  the  agricultural  problem 
of  the  day,  how  to  give  sufficient  food  for  the  ever 
increasing  population,  for  the  irrigable  provinces 
have  nearly  all  been  tapped.  Our  faith  and  hope 
must  therefore  be  centered  in  developing  the  resour- 
ces of  our  dry  lands,  which  depend  for  their  produc- 
tiveness on  the  seasonal  rains,  which  are  often 
precarious  and  irregular  in  their  distribution.  Bearing 
these  facts  in  mind,  let  us  see  how  far  the  ryots  of 
Chingleput  have  succeeded  in  managing  their  dry- 
lands. The  dry  lands  of  Chingleput  are,  no  doubt, 
poor.  They  belong  to  the  arenaceous  group  character- 
ised by  their  dryness  and  looseness  of  texture.  But 
they  readily  respond  to  good  cultivation  on  account 
of,  the  facilities  for  natural  drainage,  ploughing,  &c. 
In  Chingleput  we  have  very  nearly  2(50,000  acres 
uuder  dry  cultivation.  Among  the  dry  cereals  varagu 
occupies  a prominent  position.  More  than  43,000 
acres  are  annually  under  varagu,  a cereal  which  is 
classed  as  an  inferior  food-grain  but  which,  withal, 
is  a very  exhaustive  crop.  The  ryots  are  so  fully 
aware  of  the  exhaustive  nature  of  varagu  that  they 
leave  the  land  cultivated  with  that  crop  fallow 
sometimes  even  for  two  years.  This  practice  gave 
occasion  for  Mr.  Justice  Holloway  to  write  a very 
trenchant  judgment  in  a suit  brought  by  Govern- 
ment for  the  reoovery  of  rent  from  varagu  lands 
during  the  periods  of  fallow.  Mr.  Justice  Holloway 
characterised  the  practice  as  highly  detrimental  to 
the  cause  of  good  husbandry,  and  remarked  that  any 
mercy  shown  to  the  ryots  in  this  line  would  be  a pre- 
mium paid  to  bad  cultivation  and  idleness.  The  prac 
tice  of  growing  pulse  crops  such  as  horse  gram  either  for 
green-manuring,  for  fodder,  or  even  for  seed  on 
varagu  lands,  is  not  pretty  well  known.  Dr.  Voelcker 
mentions  it  and  Dewan  Bahadur  Streenivasa  itagava 
Aiyangar  has  made  capital  out  of  it,  that  the  exhaus- 
tive nature  of  Indian  farming  in  certain  lines  is 
compensated  for  by  the  cultivation  of  pulse  crops 
annually  over  large  areas.  The  Doctor’s  remarks  are 
academical,  but  carry  less  weight  when  seen  through 
the  light  of  statistics,  at  any  rate  with  regard  to  a 
District  like  Chingleput  which,  with  its  120,00  acres 
of  dry  cereals,  without  taking  into  account  the  land 
left  fallow,  has  only  about  5,800  acres,  or  less  than 
one-twentieth  of  the  area,  under  pulse  crops  1 Cer- 
tainly this  is  not  restorative  farming.  Cholum  ought 
to  receive  greater  attention  than  it  does  now.  There 
are  only  about  7,000  acres  under  this  crop,  and  this 
is  cultivated  chiefly  by  the  Telugu  ryots  on  Chingle- 
put,— the  Reddies  and  the  Kammavars.  Ragi  occupies 
a considerable  area,  nearly  62,000  acres.  The  area 
under  well  irrigation  is  not  large,  and  consequently 
the  yield  is  less,  as  ragi,  of  all  other  dry  cereals, 
requires  water,  and  the  rainfall  is  often  insufficient 
for  the  dry  lands  of  Chingleput. 
HOW  CHRISTIAN  COLONISTS  FARM. 
In  wliat  direction,  then,  should  we  work  so  as  to 
make  the  dry  lands  of  Chingleput  more  productive 
and  less  liable  to  the  effects  of  periodical  droughts  ? 
Certainly  by  deep  ploughing  and  good  manuring. 
These  are  no  doubt  very  trite  sayings,  but  they  ai'S 
nevertheless  true.  I will  not  ask  my  readers  to  go 
to  the  Saidapet  Farm  to  convince  themselves  of  the 
results  of  deep-ploughing,  for  I know  they  have  very 
little  faith  in  Robertson  and  his  followers  I shall 
ask  them  to  go  to  some  of  the  villages  in 
•hingleput  inhabited  by  a very  sturdy  class  of 
peasantry  who  carry  on  a system  of  husbandry  in 
which  the  principles  of  deep  ploughing,  thorough 
pulverisation  of  the  soil,  and  good  manuring,  have 
been  to  a certain  extent  recognised.  Their  history 
js  interesting.  More  than  a hundred  years  ago  a 
terrible  famine  swept  over  Guntur,  in  the  Kistna 
District,  and  many  families  migrated  to  neighbour- 
ing Districts.  A colony  of  Roman  Catholic  Chris- 
tians of  the  Kammavar  caste  came  all  the  way  down 
to  Chingleput.  Collector  Place  was  then  in  charge 
of  the  administration  of  the  District,  and  with  his 
characteristic  enthusiasm  for  agricultural  improve  - 
vw  • 
ments  encouraged  these  Christian  peasants  to  settle 
down  as  farmers.  They  occupied  the  poorer  uplands 
in  the  Conjeeveram  Taluq  They  had  brought  with 
them  the  talent  for  dry  land  cultivation  so  much 
in  vogue  in  the  Ceded  Districts  and  the  Northern 
Circars.  The  heavy  plough  for  stirring  the  soil  deep, 
the  guniaha,  or  grubber,  for  scarifying  the  surface 
soil,  the  goru  for  sowing,  and  the  Papatam  or  bul- 
lock-hoe for  interculturing  were  all  duly  introduced. 
And  above  all,  splendid  stocks  of  Nellore  bulls  were 
worked  on  the  poor  soil.  At  the  village  of  Kelacheri, 
near  Streeperambudur.  there  is  an  important  settle- 
ment of  these  Christian  farmers.  The  village  is 
situated  on  a low  laterite  eminence  indicative  of 
extreme  barrenness.  On  the  waste  lands  not  even  a 
dried  up  blade  of  grass  can  be  seen  in  the  dry 
weather.  The  District  was,  when  I was  last  at 
Kelacheri  passing  through  a severe  drought.  And 
yet,  I was  astonished  to  find  splendid  crops  of 
cholum,  horse-gram,  cumlm  and  paddy  growing  on 
those  poor  lands,  while  in  the  village  of  Ooovum, 
under  the  Coovum  tank,  the  paddy  crops  cultivated 
by  the  Tamulians  were  withering.  That  the  success 
of  the  cultivation  of  the  poorer  lands  by  the  Christians 
was  due  to  better  ploughing,  better  manuring,  and 
better  cattle,  will  be  found  in  the  following  short 
account  of  the  management  of  a farm  by  one  of 
the  Christian  settlers. 
A.  has  70  cawnies,  or  about  93  acres,  under  culti- 
vation, of  which  30  cawnies  are  wet  and  40  cawnies 
dry.  He  keeps  7 pairs  of  working  cattle,  each  pair 
costing  on  an  average  R150,  besides  20  cows  and 
2 buffaloes.  The  whole  of  the  straw,  both  paddy 
and  cholum,  ana  the  horse-gram  produced  in  the 
farm  are  consumed  by  his  stock.  There  are,  in 
addition,  15  acres  of  grazing  ground.  The  working 
cattle  are  given  cake  and  paddy  bran  in  addition, 
which  cost  him  about  R150  per  annum.  The  dead 
stock  consists  of  7 ploughs  (much  bigger  than  the 
ordinary  plough).  5 guntalcas  or  grubbers,  7 papaddms 
or  bullock-hoes,  4 seed-drills,  6 carts,  6 mamoties, 
&c.  The  carts  are  engaged  in  bringing  tank-mud 
and  other  manures  from  distant  places,  and  carting 
the  produce  to  the  farmstead.  The  preparation  of 
the  land  both  for  the  dry  and  wet  is  somewhat 
similar ; for  these  Christians  generally  carry  on  the 
dry  system  of  paddy-cultivation  recommended  by  me 
in  my  last  article.  With  the  early  showers  of  rain, 
the  heavy  plough  is  worked  in  the  land  deep  about 
four  times  ; then  the  land  is  grubbed  by  means  of 
the  goru  twice,  and  then  the  gun-taka  is  worked  twice. 
When  the  time  for  sowing  comes,  the  goru.  is  again 
worked,  and  seeds  sown  in  regular  liues  by  means 
of  the  goru  which  is  convertible  into  a seed-drill. 
After  sowing  the  gunlaka  is  worked  to  consolidate 
the  soil  and  level  the  field.  During  the  growth  of 
the  crop  the  bullock-hoe  is  worked  between  the  rows 
of  plants.  Thus  at  the  very  outset  of  life  the  young 
plants  get  all  opportunities  of  striking  their  roots 
deep  into  the  soil  so  as  to  get  nourishment  from 
the  moist  sub-soil.  The  plants  are  thus  able  to 
withstand  drought  and  bear  good  crops. 
Now,  this  system  is  certainly  in  advance  of  the 
usual  practice  in  Chingleput  and  elsewhere.  The 
Christian  cultivators  have  not  grown  poorer  by  in- 
vesting more  money  in  cattle  and  implements.  On 
the  contrary,  they  are  comparatively  richer.  The 
I fine  crops  of  cholum  and  paddy  raised  year  after 
I year  on  very  pool'  soils  have  not  taught  a lesson 
| to  the  neighbouring  ryots.  For  more  than  one 
I hundred  years  these  Christians  have  been  carrying 
| on  a system  of  high  farming  which  has  no  parallel 
] elsewhere  jn  Chingleput,  Though  they  differ  from 
their  neighbours  in  religion  they  fire  of  the  ryot 
class;  share  the  same  prejudices  and  superstitions) 
1 and  yet  with  more  than  100  years  contract  have 
not  been  able  to  produce  any  impression  in  the 
minds  of  the  Tamil  population  regarding  their  system 
of  cultivation.  It  is  confidently  asserted  by  many 
that  our  ryots  8 re  thoroughly  alive  to  their  own 
interests  ; that  all  that  is  needed  for  their  improve- 
ment is  to  show  them  practically  that  the  adoption 
of  a certain  system  will  pay  them,  and  they  will 
I readily  take  to  it,  What  answer  will  these  apologists 
1 given  pi9  when  I show  them  that  the  ryots  of  Peiam- 
