104 A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
CHAPTER dung. If tnese soils have been cultivated with horse-gram^ the 
Ragy will not grow in them without a large quantity of manure. 
May 20, &c. Two or three years rest are said by some to improve the ground for 
one crop of Ragy ; after which it returns to its usual state. But the 
advantages of this fallow are too inconsiderable to induce the 
farmers to practise it commonly , and most of them are altogether 
insensible of the benefit to be derived from this part of agriculture. 
next most considerable dry crop. It is the Holcus Sor- 
ghum. ghum of Linjiams, the Jewarry of the Mussulmans, the Sholum of the 
Tamuls, and the Jonalu of the Telingas. It is often sown for fodder ; 
for when the crop is not uncommonly good, the grain is no object. 
It is cut, and given to the cattle at a time when Ragy straw is not 
to be procured. Previously to being given to cattle, however, it 
must be dried, as the green straw is found to be very pernicious. 
There are two kinds of Jola; the white, and the red. When they are 
intended to be cut for the grain, these are sown separately ; as the 
red kind ripens in three months, while four are required to ripen 
the white Jola. In those parts of the Ashta gram Talucs which are 
remote from the city, the grain is generally preserved; but near 
Seringapatam, where the demand for fodder is greater, and where 
the Jola is commonly cultivated with a view to furnishing that 
article, the two kinds are often sown promiscuously. A red Ragy 
soil is preferred for it, and crops of Ragy and Jola are generally 
taken alternately, the crop of Ragy having an extraordinary allow- 
ance of dung. The Jola requires less rain than the Ragy, and admits 
of a second crop of Huruli being taken after it ; and thus, in the 
course of two years, there are on the same ground three crops. In 
Phalguna and Chaitra , from the 14tli of February to the 22d of 
April, they plough from five to seven times. If a crop of Ragy has 
preceded, there is no occasion for manure to the Jola ; but, when 
two crops of this succeed each other, the last must get some dung, 
which is put on before the last ploughing. After a heav’y rain in 
Vaisakha , from the 23d April to the 23d May, the seed is sown 
