28 
THE TROPICAL AQRiOULTURISr 
[July i, i89i* 
What, however, ia still to fear, ia, first, that a 
famine may come in any part before even the 
authoritiea are aware of it, fur they are so few 
and BO 's^'^d€ly soatlered, while the people themBelves 
will never complain, but bear their misfortunes 
in silence ; secondly, the simultaneous occurrence 
of famine in ditt'event regions, for, there being 
no stored reserves of gtuin in the country, it is 
only possible to irangine how direful in its effects 
Bucu a onlamity muso of necessity be. 
Next to people ana climate, a word more must 
be said about the soil than has already been included. 
But little is known about it beyond what the 
cultivator himselt' knows practically. The main 
geological typf'S are few, but the local sub- 
divisions are many, and for each of these the raiyat 
has his particular name, and the knowledge of 
what it will best produce. There are no peaty soils, 
nor anything akin to our gravels, cohta or chalk 
soils, nor jet to our heavy clays, but there are 
the vast plains of alluvium already referred to, 
the singular black cotton soil, and subsoils com 
pos^d of a concretionary kind of lim stone known 
as l-aukar. Classification of the soil according to 
its capabilities is the system on which assessi.ient 
of the la.nd revenue (for the Government is pracli- 
cally in the position of landlord) is baeed, and 
this IS modified according to the various local 
circumstances, the facilities for irrigation, etc. 
In a country where irrigation plays bo important 
a part, the relation of soil to moisture is 
necessarily one of the greatest moment. It is true 
that in some parts the superfluous water has to 
be h-d off the land, but this is done by carrying 
it in channels or by a system of embBnkm nts 
which prevent the lush of water over the sur- 
face, and the cousec^U' ni, washing aw^y o£ the 
top soil ; it is not donb by any f ubsoU draiasge 
system, so famiiiai- to us in this country. 
But the main problem in ii.dia is mA how to 
remove the water, but how to bring it to the soil, 
and then how to keep it there. Indian soils are 
norma ly dry, English soils wet. 
The mention of this naturally leads one to consider 
whether the native system of ehallow-plougbing, 
or rather scratcMny the ground, is so very wrong 
as would be improvers have made it out to be. 
The action of the native plough resembles that 
of a pointed stick runoiiig just below the surface 
cf the ground, some ?;} to 3 i' ches deep, and stirring 
the soil whilst it tears out and brings to the sur- 
face any infesting weed. Though there may be 
instances where deep-ploughing would be effectual, 
I believe that in the great majority of cases the 
native system of ploughing is the one beet adapted 
to the conditions, and that, were a furrow-turning 
plough used, the result would be to lose a gr?at 
deal of the precious moisture. Again, if the soil 
be at all stiff, the slice turned up by an English 
plough would speedily bee me baked in the hot sun 
and remain a briok rather thun soil. The native 
ploughing, on the contrary, pulverise the soil, 
and repeated going over (he land, while it costs 
the cultivator more (for the bullocks and 
tho labour are his own), enables him to get that 
fine tilth which is eseential to him, and thereby 
he does r,'. lose tho moif-ture. Frequently with a 
furrow-i.iinirig plough it would happen that weeds, 
instead of b'ring torn out as they woulrl be by the 
digging eclion of the native plough, would be buried, 
and there aro many of the o in India which would 
speedily spring up again and form a dense matting.* 
* There ib furoiy a mcdiniii l.'Otween luvuin« up stiff 
Lubscil and niero fciiitcliing of the surface. I'lougbs 
whicli, wbile not U\ni\ng up tho Fiibsoi', would stir 
it to at lf)«Bt ^ix iiiolies below the euiface would surely 
be bentiicittl. — Ed, T, A, 
Of the soil constituentp it may be said tha 
while phosphorie aoid, potash and lime are present 
in greiter abundance in most Indian soils than 
in English ones, there is a marked deficiency both 
of vegetable matter and of nitrogen. Black cotton- 
soil has been referred to as a special feature, and 
it is popularly EuppoBed to be of inexhaustible 
fertility. Other tracts there are which every year 
leceive a fresh renewal of silt from livers and 
mountain streams, and these in the Punjab 
constitute the rich wheat-growing areas which 
need no other manuring than what the silt affords. 
But there ate other not so desirable effects of 
river and flood, and often much land is cut up 
with ravines and rendered unoulturabie. Lastly 
there is the singular appearance of a saline 
efflorescence known as re.h, a mixture of various 
soda-salts, principally the carbonate and Bulphate. 
In the Nortb-Wcst Provinces alone, between four 
and five thousand square miles are thus affected 
and rendered unproductive, .^uoh land ia termed 
usar. The singular point is that amid these areas 
there are patches not only cuUurable, but on which 
some of the richest crops are grown. The problem 
overcoming xiuu- has long engaged the attention 
f the Agricultural Departments. Canals are charged 
V7 iih bringing it, but it is clear that it is a saline 
deposit existing below the surface, which, under 
the combined influence of water and a strong 
evaporating force like the sun, is first dissolved 
and then brought to the surface, where salt 
crystallise out and remain as a white incrustation. 
A most interesting question, but one to whioh 
at this stage, no definite reply can be given, arises, 
as to whether the soil of India is, under th» system 
of agriculture pursued, undergoing exhausti n or 
not. The average yield of wheat, for examp e, may 
be set at about 12 bushels p?r acre over tiie whcle 
country, as against the 30 bushels of England, 
A ItiVge proportion of thisg 'es for export, and the 
increasing area under wheat shown in the agri- 
cultural returns denotes that this export is OBe 
that is likely to continue. The possibility of soil 
exhaustion going on can only be determioed by a 
careful study of what is removed from the li nd, 
and how far this is replaced either by the forces 
of nature or by the artificial repl-^nishment of 
manuring. I have mentioned the deficiency of 
nitrogen which I obperved in the case of several 
Indian soils, but it is worthy of note, too, how 
very large a proportion of the crops anpug,lly grown, 
also of the trees and shrubs, and even of the weeds, 
are legumnous in character, and may thu?, if recent 
investigatons be correct, possibly derive their nitro- 
gen d rect from the atmosphere. ♦ * * 
The next point of striking importance in the 
external surroundings of sgn'culture is the supply 
of wood for timber and fuel, and the provision 
of grazing by means of those forests which still 
remain to tho country. There can be little doubt 
that India in the past has suffered great detriment 
boih as regards il;s climate and its agriculture 
by the reckless devastation of wood and forests 
whioh has until within recent years been allowed 
to go on unchecked. It is, therefore, a matter of 
much satigfaotion that now, late though it be, 
the charge of the forests has been put under a 
responsible DepBrtment, and that they are being 
preserved for the benefit of the State and the wel- 
fare of the people. Not that the work is complete, 
nor that reservation of forest land has been effected 
without oonsiderable friction from an increasing 
population whioh presses its cultivation up to the 
limits of the forest urea in the endeavour to fiud 
room for itself. But it is equally certain that the 
Native, if left to himself, would as speedily ex- 
terminate what remains as he has done ia the past 
