Madras Presidency Agriculture, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Agriculture
The agriculture of the Presidency naturally depends largely upon its climate, soils, and seasons. Lying, except the Northern Circars, between 8° and 16° N., the climate is hot and .
equable ; the whole period from March to October is characterized by high temperature, coupled, in the central areas, with great atmospheric dryness. As has been mentioned above, the west coast enjoys a heavy and unfailing fall of 100 inches and upwards ; the east coast shares, through the Bay current, in the south-west monsoon as regards the northern Districts, and obtains the full benefit of the north-east monsoon ; the central and southern table-laixl, comprising ten of the largest Districts, gets, with exceptions, only a moderate and capricious rainfall, varying locally from 38 inches in North Arcot to 23 inches or less in Bellary. Much of this last area is known as the famine zone; over large tracts the amount received in 1876 was from 2-7 to 10 inches; during the decade ending 1900 the Deccan Districts received an annual average of only 23-2 inches. Moreover, where the rainfall is least abundant it is most capricious in both amount and distribution ; there are frequently excessive and destructive intervals or premature cessations at critical seasons, while much of the rain is too light to be of use under a tropical sun or to put any water into the irrigation sources. The atmosphere in the Deccan and central Districts is extremely dry for most of the year, and dew is general only in the cold season.
To hostility of climate must be added considerable inferiority of
' In the remarks under this head, only the Districts east of the Western Ghats will be included unless the West Coast is expressly mentioned. The two West Coast Dis- tricts (Malabar and South Kanara) are wholly different from the others. Statistics relate solely to ryohmri and iiiaiii land ; the zamindaris population,7554355 excludins: those in the Agency tracts) are wliolly omitted. For the meaning of the terms ryot- wan, inain, and zammcfari stc under Land Revenue pp. 317, 318)soil.
The deltas and river margins, indeed, are of rich alluvial mould robbed from the hills and uplands of the undulating" country, and over large tracts is found the retentive black cotton soil ; but, from their geological origin and position, the soils over vast areas are shallow, gravelly, and sandy, overlying a sterile and even impenetrable subsoil of gravel and rock. Much even of the black soil is inferior, being saline and shallow. Of i7'5 million acres of 'wet' and 'dry' land in twelve non-deltaic Districts, the black clays, loams, and sands aggregate i6, 17-4, and 4 per cent, respectively, and the red loams and sands 2 2 '5 and 40-1 per cent. : in those Districts alluvial soils and red clays are of inappreciable extent. Soils are described as ' dry,' i. e. non- irrigated ) ' wet,' i. e. irrigated otherwise than from private wells ; and ' garden,' i. e. ' dry ' land watered from private wells on which ' dry ' and not ' wet ' assessment is charged. Of the occupied ryotwdri area, 81 per cent, is 'dry,' including 'gardens,' and 19 per cent, 'wet' ' Dry ' soils, even of the black class, are deficient, generally speaking, in organic matter and in constituents of vital importance. Phosphoric acid is low in all soils, so far as tested ; nitrogen is wanting and nitrifying power small ; alumina is lacking in the vast areas of sandy soils ; potash and iron are usually sufficient, but lime is low in the red soils ; humus is in striking defect everywhere. ' Wet ' soils are much better ; they are chiefly formed of the mixed alluvium washed from the hills and uplands, and are fairly manured. 'Garden' land is naturally good by its position in fertile bottoms, and is laboriously improved by tillage and manure.
The agricultural year nearly coincides with the ' Fasli,' that is, from I St July to 30th June. It has four periods: that of the south-west monsoon (ist June to 30th September), of the north-east monsoon (October to December), of the dry season (January to March), and of the hot season (April and May). In the first, the sowings on the lighter classes of unirrigated land take place, each successive shower adding to the area : the crops sown vary in the several Districts, where each crop has, generally speaking, its appropriate date ; the heavier .soils are not usually sown till late in this period or early in the next, the southern Districts being usually later than the others. For light soils a succession of showers is needed, but they may be slight ; for heavy black soils slight showers alone are useless, but when once the land has been thoroughly soaked its retentive power enables it to mature good crops with little subsequent rain.
The great deltas and other tracts irrigated by rivers fed by the south-west monsoon are cultivated from June onwards, the precise season and class of rice varying according to local custom. The north-east monsoon period is important for the other irrigated lands, since the rain-fed tanks draw their best supplies from the heavy rains of October and November, those from ihe south-west monsoon being uncertain. Crops of an inferior or precarious character are also largely sown in most Districts towards the end of this period. In the third period there are few sowings^ but the scanty rains are useful for pasture and for refreshing standing crops. The rains in the fourth period or hot season are of great agricultural importance, for with them vast areas are ploughed ready for sowing ; in some Districts large areas of gingelly {Sesamum) and other crops needing little rain are sown, pasture revives, and occasionally a second crop of lint on standing cotton plants is brought on.
Agricultural practice differs widely according to conditions. Tillage is generally superficial; in the light thin soils of the dry Districts it is so from want of rain for preparatory work, from the necessity for rapid and extensive sowings with the precarious showers of the south-west monsoon, and from the nature of the cattle and implements. The ordinary tillage of the black soils is also superficial, but every few years these should be deeply broken up : the prophylactic value of deep tillage against drought is then frequently visible in the Deccan Districts. For superior crops, such as sugar-cane, tobacco, and ' garden ' crops generally, the tillage is thorough and laborious, and a fine. seed-bed is obtained by numerous cross-ploughings. On irrigated lands swamp- cultivation is most in vogue, a shallow surface soil being laboriously stirred with water into fine mud, while the subsoil is left as a soapy impervious pan.
Implements are few and simple. In the Tamil Districts the light plough — a single-tined grubber or cultivator — is almost the sole cattle- power implement ; in the Telugu Districts, chiefly of the Deccan, bullock-hoes, scrapers, and seed-drills are also in use, and the heavy black soils are broken up with huge and cumbrous ploughs drawn by five or six pairs of bullocks ; thousands of costly iron ploughs have now replaced these last-named implements ; in the south the crowbar is used for breaking up black soils. Simi)le water-lifts, worked by cattle or human power, are universal, and the iron sugar-cane mill is replacing the wooden one. Carts are fairly numerous (505,000), and have greatly increased during the last few years : they average 22 per 1,000 acres cultivated. Except simple manual tools, other implements hardly exist.
Live-stock have increased with the spread of cultivation; but they are generally of poor quality, undersized, ill fed, and ill cared for, though excellent breeds and good cattle are available upon demand, as for heavy draught in the strong soils, for well-work, and for road haulage. General practice is defective in both breeding and feeding. The universal system of common pasturing, in which cattle of all ages wander in promiscuous herds over the open arable lands and village wastes, ensures immature, mongrel breeding and the spread of disease ; and since, in general, there is no system of fodder-growing, only the scanty wild pasture of the unoccupied lands, and the grazing and stubble on the arable lands and leaves from trees, are available for ordinary cattle. The straw of the crops, occasional fodder crops and rough pastures, cotton seed, some oil-cake, crop-thinnings, and weedings are generally kept for the working and best cattle.
Forests, when available, supply grazing, but vast areas are far distant from even the semblance of a forest. Horned cattle, moreover, are seldom slaughtered, so that large numbers of worn-out beasts return nothing but scanty manure for the food consumed. Hence the mere number of cattle is no gauge of their power or productive value. District figures vary greatly per loo acres in numbers, age, and sex, according to soil, irrigation, &c., or according as cattle are bred or imported ; but for the Presidency (including the West Coast) the latest figures are, though understated: — 15-05 million cattle and 13-3 million sheep and goats, compared with 14-5 and 12 millions in 1890, being an increase of 4 and II per cent, respectively; the numbers per 100 acres cropped are 62 cattle and 55 sheep and goats, compared with 62 and 51 respectively.
The area tilled per pair of plough cattle averages 9 acres, but varies greatly according to soil, class ('wet' or 'dry') of cultivation, existence of labour-saving implements, &c. Some black-soil areas, such as Kurnool, return 30 to 40 acres per pair, while lighter soils show from 10 to 20 acres ; in irrigated tracts the area averages about 6 acres. The chief breeds of cattle are the Nellore (from North Nellore and Guntur), which are heavy, big animals weighing up to 1,500 lb., the best milkers in the Presidency, and prolific breeders, calving almost annually ; the Mysore breeds of different names and types, such as Mahadeswarabetta, Alambadi, Mecheri, Bargur, and Tiruchengodu in Coimbatore and Salem Districts ; the Kangayam, Pulikulam, and Kilkad in Coimbatore and Madura ; the Punganuru of North Arcot ; and the Dupad and Erramala breeds of Kurnool. These are all regular breeds of distinct types raised by large ryots or cattle-breeders, of good quality and commanding fair to high prices. The yield of milk may amount, though rarely, to 20 lb. (8 quarts) in the best milking breeds, while the trotting cattle of the Alambadi, Kangayam, and other compact breeds will trot up to 7 miles an hour.
Buffaloes (2-| millions) are of various breeds, those called Kampli (Bellary) and those of Vizagapatam and the Nilgiris being the best. The cows are valued for milk; the males are used for heavy ploughing (chiefly in the ' wet ' lands) and for slow heavy draught, but, especially in the south, are little valued as compared with females, and are sacrificed at shrines, usually as calves, in immense numbers.
Horses and ponies are of little value. Sheep are numerous but not generally of good quality, though several breeds — such as the big Nellore sheep standing 3 feet high and weighing 80 to 100 lb. each, the small Coimbatore woolly Kurumba breed, and the Mysore breed in parts of the Deccan — are fair. The wool is usually poor in quality and yield, seldom exceeding i to 2 lb. per fleece ; the mutton, averaging 20 to 25 lb. clean weight, is generally inferior. Goats, of two main breeds, are highly useful, being hardy and able to pick up a living anywhere in most seasons. Together with sheep, they are largely used as manuring agents, wandering over the village by day and penned at night on the fields of those who have hired their services. They are very prolific, and will produce from two to six kids in the year. The value of a sheep or a goat may vary from Rs. 2 to Rs. 10.
Pigs and poultry are numerous, but their maintenance is, under the customs obtaining, hardly an item of agricultural practice. Bee- keeping is unknown.
Dairying is very backward, though cholaiii stalk {Soyghiiin vulgare) is one of the best fodders in the world for milch cattle. The yield of milk from cattle is small, though the quality is not inferior ; it is not above 2 to 4 lb. from the common mixed breeds, and from' 8 to 20 lb. (rare) in the good class. Buffalo milk (i-| million cows) is fair in quantity, and the milk is far richer than that of English cows in butter-fats and solids. Good milk is also largely obtained from sheep and goats. But as the holdings in general are very minute and devoted to arable farming, the milk yield small, and the feeding inadequate, while co-operation in such matters is unknown, the dairying of European countries is not practised. Gfn (clarified butter) is, however, made largely, while curds and butter- milk are staple items of production.
The produce of stock in manure, milk, wool and hair, hides and skins, meat and bones, apart from that of their labour in the farms and on the roads, forms an immense addition to the income of the agriculturists and breeders.
There are numerous annual cattle fairs, especially in the southern part of the Presidency, and many of the weekly markets are almost equally important : the annual fair at Madura in April will have 30,000 head displayed for sale, at prices from Rs. too to Rs. 400 per pair. These fairs and markets enable ryots, cartmen, and the richer classes to supply themselves with good cattle, the ordinary methods sufficing for the common and cheap breeds ; the Deccan is generally supplied by drovers from Nellore and Guntur, who bring young stock for sale on a three-year instalment system, which is well conducted on both sides, though somewhat expensive.
Practice regarding manures is defective, partly from poverty. Dung from the stalls or elsewhere, the droppings of cattle, sheep, and goats penned on or \vandering over the fields, town and village sweepings, ashes, leaves and twigs, indigo refuse, &c., are chiefly in use. Cattle manure is badly and wastefully j)repared ; and besides what is burnt and used in plastering walls and floors, much is lost by pasturing cattle on the wastes and, for several months together, in the forests. Bones are not used directly; saltpetre is occasionally used indirectly in the application of old village-site soil, but not otherwise ; the very valuable tank silt, available in millions of tons, is seldom applied, while the one universal, natural, and almost suflicient manure, human excreta, is abhorred, though availed of indirectly in the fields imme- diately around the village site and, in some cases, by useful blindness in the collection of village and house sweepings. Poudrette is nowhere made; artificial manures, fish, &c., are practically unknown; and green manuring, so necessary for dry, arid soils, is little practised except in the use of masses of leaves on ' wet ' lands.
In some Districts all forms of village and house manure are frequently gathered or dropped into pits and used at intervals ; and in the hedged areas of Coimbatore and Salem, cattle and sheep are penned continuously on the gardens ; the refuse of slaughter-houses and tanneries is used, and certain oil-cakes. But, speaking generally, practice is primitive, the quality of the manure is poor from poor feeding, while the much too scant quantity is chiefly given to the irrigated and garden lands, so that most ' dry ' lands get little or nothing. For manurial and many other necessities the need for hedges, wherever practicable, and for abundance of trees, especially private, is very great.
Rotations are hardly practised as a system, though experience adopts advisable and avoids improper sequences in special cases. But the universal method of mixed crops, especially of legumes with cereals, largely takes their place, permitting continuous cereal cropping by the power of the leguminous root-nodules to acquire free nitrogen ; probably the effect would be better if pulses were not, as often, pulled up by the roots. One-fifth of the land, usually the poorer portion, is in bare fillow or pasture ; the bare fallows fall short of their restorative value, since the lands are often left untilled ; relinquishments and Government sales and purchases are largely due to this need for fallowing.
Diseases and pests among stock and crops are sadly prevalent and cause great losses. Cattle diseases, their prevention and cure, are being studied, and ofiicial veterinary work is slowly developing ; but the general management of stock is so defective, the customs regarding the sick and dead so provocative of the S[)read of disease, the field so vast, and passivity and ignorance of good veterinary treatment so great, that enormous effort and a long period are neces- sary to make a satisfactory impression. Little is known of the various pests, insect and fungoid, which affect crops ; the Government Botanist has begun work on them, but a staff of assistants is necessary in the total absence of private and amateur help.
To sum up : the climate and solar heat are tropical, and — excluding favoured tracts such as the West Coast, the great deltas, &c. — the rainfall and water-supply are uncertain, variable, and often scanty, atmospheric humidity is frequently slight, and natural soils over vast areas are moderate to very inferior. Hence on immense tracts, man can live and increase only by the ceaseless and intelligent application of the whole art and science of agriculture ; and when, from any cause, such application is defective, or when natural conditions fall seriously below normal, there must result danger and possibly disaster. Yet, in practice, tillage is defective ; stock are productively inadequate and largely ill cared for ; cattle-power implements, though ingenious, are primitive, and in the Tamil Districts almost absent ; manures are low in quality and gravely insufficient in quantity ; capital is scanty and credit too frequently mortgaged ; the ryot is too isolated a unit ; and, though hereditary skill is considerable, there is lacking that basis of wider knowledge which alone renders possible an intel- ligent adaptation or development of practice to meet new conditions, which have swiftly supervened upon a rapid increase of population over unimproved soils and the opening up of trade.
The chief general remedy, though very partial and insufficient and most difficult to apply just where it is most needed, is irrigation. On the West Coast the abundant rainfall renders artificial irrigation, except of the simplest sort, unnecessary. East of the Ghats the numerous irrigation works referred to below, which include 6,000 dams thrown across rivers (and the many channels fed by them), 33,000 tanks or reservoirs, and 7,000 channels tapping the surface or underground flow of the rivers, irrigate 4-9 million acres as well as above a million acres of second crop. In addition, an increasing number of permanent wells (667,000 in 1 900-1) water above a million acres, besides a second crop on 43 per cent, of that area. On the whole, nearly 29 per cent, of the crops grown east of the Ghats are irrigated in an ordinary year.
On irrigated lands practice differs according to the water-supply. When flow-water is abundant, nothing but rice is grown, chiefly by swamp cultivation. The swamp method is necessary on existing rice flats irrigated solely by surface flow, where, in view of the rights of the adjacent holders to the water, it cannot be allowed to sink into the ground and be drained away at lower levels. When lifted, as from wells, water is used economically ; there is no swamping, but the soil and subsoil are kept healthy and porous, the water largely draining back to the well; practice can hardly be improved, and crops are heavy and almost continuous. Irrigated lands are well manured, either naturally, by the silt from river water, or artificially, swamp cultivation requiring {inter alia) the extensive use of leaf-manure, the supply of which is a question of much practical importance. Irrigation on all the lighter soils is a panacea as regards crop-growth when manure is supplied, but on strong retentive soils may be mischievous if applied in the usual swamping fashion, since they are easily water- logged. Hence the ryot on such soils prefers to grow crops by rainfall, with occasional floodings only in case of drought, so that the protection of these areas by state irrigation is difficult, owing to the conflict of interests between agriculture and irrigation revenue.
Of the gross area (29-5 million acres'*) of crops on ryohvdri and perlands, 80 per cent, is occupied by food-crops. Rice occupies 26-4 per cent, of the gross area, and yields from 7 to 10 cwt. of clean rice per acre, or much more heavily than any other cereal ; the maximum rises to over 30 cwt. on the best 'wet' or 'garden' land. The crop is usually, though not always, irrigated, and under swamp cultivation requires an almost continuous supply, equal, in five months, to 8,000 to 10,000 cubic yards per acre. Manures are river silt (from the irrigation water), leaves, village sweepings, dung, <S:c. Cholain {Sorghum vulgare) occupies 13-8 per cent, of the gross area, is usually unirrigated, but yields heavily in grain (3^ to 6^ cwt. per acre) and straw if irrigated eight or ten times in a period of about 100 days. Cambii {Pennisetum typhoideuvi) covers nearly 10 per cent, of the gross area, yields 3^ to 5 cwt. per acre, and is seldom irrigated. Rdgi {Eleusine coracana), which occupies 5-4 per cent, of the gross area and yields from 4^ to 5 cwt. per acre, is grown both as a ' dry crop ' and under intermittent irrigation. For all these crops any manure available is used.
About 15 per cent, of the cultivated area produces industrial crops. Cotton (1,740,000 acres) is grown as an annual chiefly on black soil, but also, occasionally, as a triennial on red soils ; it is never irrigated. The average yield in normal years varies according to soil and District from 30 to 90 lb. of lint, but this estimate is alleged by the trade to be too low. Seeds are three times the weight of lint ; oil is not manufactured from them, but they are used un- pressed as cattle food. Oilseeds taken together occupy a larger area (2,082,000 acres) than cotton ; gingelly {Sesamu/n indicum), castor {Rtcinus comniiinis), and ground-nuts {Arachis hypogaea) are the chief; the last named is largely grown in South Arcot and exported from Pondicherry. Indigo (242,000 acres) has shrunk from nearly 2 per cent, to below i per cent, of the total cultivated area. Sugar-cane
' The figures of crops include those of the West Coast. Details appear in Table IV at the end of this article ^p. 352). keeps its usual low area (50,000 acres), having increased by about one- half in forty years ; the cost and delay in returns check extended cultivation, since profits are good upon an average yield of 45 cwt. ; the crop gets thorough tillage, plenty of manure, and regular though not continuous irrigation for nine or ten months on well-drained soil. Sugar is also obtained in immense quantities from the palms.
Tobacco is grown on the greatly increased area of 134,000 acres, largely as a 'garden" crop with well-irrigation, ashes and brackish water being considered good for the crop : 1,000 lb. of dry leaf per acre is a low average. Production and manufacture have been greatly improved of late years by European factories and the introduction of foreign seed, but immense expansion is possible for the foreign market. Various condiments and spices are grown on 413,000 acres, having increased by one-third since 1880-90. Tea is grown on only 12,000 acres by individual planters; coffee on 51,000 acres, chiefly but not entirely by Europeans. Cinchona (3,300 acres) has largely decreased, but rubber of various species is being planted on hill areas. Orchards (780,000 acres) comprise only areas classed as such, including the coco-nut plantations of the West Coast, but not the vast unrecorded masses of palms and other fruit trees scat- tered over and on the margins of fields and in backyards. Fodder crops (228,000 acres), though occasionally grown elsewhere (e.g. in Tinnevelly), are chiefly recorded for Kistna District, where, though much understated, the statistics relate to the areas sown with san {Croiolaria juncea) grown for fodder, without revenue charge, after the rice crop on irrigated land. Vegetables of many kinds and character are grown everywhere, \vhether in irrigated gardens, or mixed with ordinary crops, or otherwise ; the unrecorded cultivation in the plot usually attached to every cottage produces immense quan- tities of this class of crop.
In normal years 29 million acres are recorded as cultivated on an area of about 25 million acres of ryotivdri and inavi land : more than 3 million acres thus produce a second crop, of which half is on 'dry' land, including above half a million acres of second crop from well-irrigation, and half on 'wet' land. The West Coast area, however, is greatly understated, as shown by the settlement operations now proceeding ; South Kanara would starve on the figures recorded, whereas it exports rice largely.
Second and third crops (grown with well-irrigation) and fodder crops are also imperfectly reported, and the area of pulses grown in mixed crops is understated. Table IV at the end of this article (p. 352) shows cultivation for twenty years, but the frequent bad seasons of the second decade have kept down the area. Comparing 1904 with 1880, the area cultivated has extended by 26 per cent, and that of crops grown by 35 per cent. ; population on the area by 29 per cent. ; first-class river irrigation and that from wells has also increased, together with other intensive methods such as ottadatn or combined short and long rice crops in Tanjore and South Arcot, while the West Coast area, though it has increased, has never been so reported. Hence it is clear that, after deducting half a million acres for survey corrections, pro- duction has fully kept pace with population, notwithstanding the necessary resort to poor and unimproved soils.
The out-turns of food-grains quoted on p. 274 are those estimated with some care in i8g8, but are only approximations; with soils, climates, practice, capital, and irrigational facilities so different and fluctuating, and with the agencies available, nothing is so difficult as correct estimation even of normal, still more of average, out-turns. Applying the various rates to the respective areas, the gross average result, exclusive of famine years, was 7-47 million tons of food-grains, including pulses, from 21-57 million acres of crop grown on about 19-3 million acres of ryotwdri and indm lands, with a population of 28 millions ; from this a deduction for husking of one-third by weight is due on 4-35 million tons of rice ; on the other hand, the pulses are included with cereals, though, weight for weight, far more nutri- tious. The average gross out-turn of food-grains was 6-93 cwt. (776 lb.) per acre of crop; if the needful husking deduction is made, it would be 5-58 cwt. (625 lb.); the corresponding out-turn per acre cultivated would be 867 lb. and 698 lb. respectively. Considering that the good yield of rice and garden cereals is included in this average, the small out-turn on the poorer soils may be inferred ; even these figures are little higher than the yield of continuously unmanured wheat at Rothamstead, and most ' dry crops ' obviously yield only the natural minimum. Recent reports tend, however, to show, on some areas, larger average 'dry' yields than are here stated, while the average area of 21-57 million acres of food-crops is considerably below that (22-3 millions at least) of a normal year.
Of the total population, 71 per cent, are engaged in agriculture, inclusive of cattle-breeders, labourers and others ; 48 per cent, have a direct interest in the land either as owners or tenants. In ryohvari areas there are 3,300,000 holdings with 5,814,000 shareholders, 67-7 per cent, being held by single owners. Of these holdings, 12-6 per cent, pay less than R. i as land revenue, 55 per cent, between R. I and Rs. 10, and 22 per cent, between Rs. 10 and Rs. 30. Exclud- ing the West Coast, the smallest class averages three-fourths of an acre assessed at 11 annas, the next class 4 acres paying Rs. 4-8, and the third class about 10 acres paying Rs. 16-4. These nine-tenths hold 61 per cent, of the total area, including, however, only 31 per cent, of the irrigated area. In addition, about 4^ million acres of 'minor /«aw' land are held, mostly by the same ryots, and about 750,000 acres, not in holdings, are cultivated annually with catch-crops. These figures show the minuteness of ryotivari holdings, and those in zajnlnddris and ' whole inain ' villages are similar ; many of the landholders eke out their living by wages or by renting land.
Moreover, the best land is under occupation, and that remaining is usually the unimproved arid land, which requires great skill, labour, and some capital to make permanently productive : this is well seen in Anantapur. About one- fifth of the holdings are annually left fallow, partly as grazing ground (especially in Godavari and Kistna Districts) and partly to recuperate. In the ryohvilri areas east of the Ghats, about one acre is under cultiva- tion per head of the population, taken as 22-35 millions exclusive of Madras City : but while the 'rich Tanjore delta, chiefly irrigated, main- tains its 2i millions on half an acre apiece, the large dry District of Bellary shows a cropped area of above 2 acres apiece for less than a million people, or four times the Tanjore individual area. These figures suggest and explain many ditificulties attending agri- cultural practice and progress. Madras agriculture, with its irreversible minuteness of holding, can be permanently successful only in so far as it approaches garden cultivation or the spade-husbandry of allotments. The ideal for Madras is the Horatian modus agri non ita magnus^ Hortus ubi et tecto vicinus utgis aquae fo/is, Et paullum silvae .... Among such small folk the necessity for frequent and cheap borrow- ing is obvious ; but, as in other countries of small holdings, wherever the organization of credit is absent, the isolated position of the individual ryot in such matters renders credit dear and indebtedness serious. The amount of debt, its causes, objects, rates of interest, and its burden on the land have never been completely studied ; but, from calculations made, it is probable that indebtedness — including urban — at any one time is at least 45 crores at 15 per cent, interest, and that the people annually pay as charges (interest, stamps, fees, dire, but exclusive of the cost of litigation) a sum which exceeds 6 per cent, interest on that debt by an amount equal to the whole land revenue. From a recent examination of 83,000 registered documents^ it appears that four-fifths of the registered debt outside of Madras City is owed to ryot-creditors, and that professional money-lenders are in a small minority ; floating debt in cash or grain, at least equal in amount to all mortgages, is probably owed in a still greater degree by ryots to ryots. Of mortgages, rather less than one-third are with possession. Interest on mortgages varies between 6 and 36 per cent., but three-fourths pay between 9 and 1 8 per cent. ; non-mortgage debt bears somewhat higher interest.
Probably almost all ryots borrow at one time or other ; but a large number are, as their class in India always has been, continuously in debt, unable to begin cultivation or to subsist during the growth of the crops except by petty borrowing, and returning at harvest time all but a moderate surplus to their creditors; many more are frequently in difficulties. On the other hand, large numbers are perfectly solvent, while the immense relative proportion of ryot-creditors scattered all over the country shows that very many have accumulated surplus capital. Indebtedness is no new thing. Its universality and character were more .striking in the first half of the nineteenth century, and the creditor then was u.sually a shopkeeper or merchant to whom the crops were hypothecated before they were reaped ; the change to the ryot-creditor is noteworthy. But even at the present day the amount of debt relative to land and crop values is large, its burden heavy, its interest high, and the result in improvements or profits a minimum^. To remedy, to some extent, the want of capital for improvements and stock, state funds have been advanced since 1889 under the Land Improveinent and Agriculturists' Loans Acts of 1884. Under the former the advances have been 29 lakhs, with which about 20,000 wells have been constructed, and 26 lakhs, with which an even larger number have been repaired; the area benefited is about 138,000 acres. In addition, 20 lakhs has been granted for other miscellaneous improve- ments, such as reclamation. Under the latter Act 22 lakhs has been advanced, with which 40,000 cattle have been bought, many houses built, and other agricultural improvements effected.
The development of the system is now under consideration. But the want of capital cannot be directly supplied by the state ; and to remedy this want, and to remove or lessen the burden of indebtedness which has ever been a grave hindrance to agriculture, the establishment of agricultural banks in one or more forms is being sought. The village system of the Pre- sidency, the co-operative habits of the ryots in irrigation and other communal matters, the presence of many retired officials and public- spirited men of various classes throughout the country, and the success of indigenous methods of co-operative credit, as exemplified in the nidliis or mutual loan funds with a membership — largely urban, how- ever — of about 40,000, a paid-up capital of about 75 lakhs, deposits of about 25 lakhs, and loans outstanding of nearly 100 lakhs, give promise of gradual success with the aid, at first, of some Government super- vision and small assistance. The Agricultural department is now developing. Two experimental farms have been started, which have already been useful in exemplify- ing the seasonal difficulties of the Presidency ; veterinary work on a larger footing has begun : the hands of the recently appointed Government Botanist are full, including an experimental inquiry into See Mr. Srinivasaraghava Ayyanji;ar's Menioraiidnni of 1893, nnd the Report on Agricultural Banks (1895), vol. i, pp. 229-42. sugar-cane disease and into indigo ; the work of the statistical branch has improved and is now being reorganized; and important recruitment is expected on the purely agricultural and chemical sides. The College of Agriculture, with its educational farm, has continued for years to train students in agricultural science, but, for various reasons, these have not yet been able to influence agriculture. A scheme has now- been sanctioned which embraces the establishment of an Agricultural College and laboratory, equipped with experts in agriculture and allied sciences, at Coimbatore ; the strengthening of the central organization dealing with these matters ; and the establishment of a number of experimental farms at suitable centres. Agricultural associations are rapidly forming in the various Districts, which will be linked together through the Technical Institute at Madras. Something has already been said regarding the considerable area of the eastern side of the Presidency which is under irrigation, and of the practices followed in the cultivation of ' wet ' land.
The irrigation works administered by the Government may be divided into three main classes. In the first of these come what are technically known as ' major works,' the outlay on which is usually met from Imperial funds. These include the great systems in the deltas of the Godavari, Kistna, Penner, and Cauvery, and important undertakings such as the Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal and the Periyar Project. The delta systems depend upon great masonry anicuts or dams, which have been thrown across the rivers at the head of the deltas, and consist of a network of canals and channels to distribute the water so rendered available. The second class of irrigation works is financed from Provincial funds, and comprises such ' minor works ' as are of sufficient importance to require separate accounts of their capital and revenue expenditure. It includes chiefly the systems dependent upon the dams across the lesser rivers and a few of the largest tanks or artificial reservoirs. The third class includes the thousands of smaller channels and tanks throughout the Presidency, for which no capital accounts are kept. The larger of these are maintained in repair by the department of Public Works, and the smaller are in the charge of the Revenue officials. The clearance of smaller channels and similar petty repairs are generally carried out by the cultivators themselves, by what is called kudi-mardmat or customary labour. In some Districts a special irrigation cess at varying rates is voluntarily paid by ryots holding land supplied by some of the principal river channels, in lieu of the customary labour due by them ; and the money so collected is spent by the Revenue officials in executing the petty repairs else- where performed by kudi-tnardmat. The figures in Table V at the end of this article (p. 353) give, in lakhs, the financial results of these tliree classes of works in recent years. The expenditure includes working expenses and interest on capital outlay. It will be seen that the larger schemes have proved a profitable investment, paying a return of more than 4 per cent, on their capital, and that in the aggregate the revenue from the very many small works (96 lakhs) is most important.
Practically all of the thousands of lesser tanks throughout the Presidency were constructed before the British occupation. They are formed by throwing earthen banks across natural depressions, or the course of streams, in order to store rain-water. But except the system in the Cauvery delta, the basis of which was constructed by former native governments, all the larger works are a product of British rule. The sums due from the cultivators for the water they use are col- lected with the revenue payable upon their land. Except in the case of the Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal, where the system differs, land to which water can be applied is classed as ' wet,' and a consolidated assessment, which includes payment for the water, is levied upon it. If a cultivator uses water upon land classed as ' dry ' he is charged ' water rate.' The share of the revenue which should be credited to the irrigation works is apportioned according to fixed rules.
Besides the Government irrigation works, there are the very numer- ous wells belonging to the cultivators, from which nearly a quarter of the whole irrigated area is watered. These are nearly always large per- manent constructions, often with a masonry revetment. The average area irrigated by them is only 3 acres, which is much less than in Northern India ; but one reason for this is that they are generally used for growing valuable crops which require much water, rather than for the occasional irrigation of the ordinary cereals. The expense of excavating them naturally differs greatly with the character of the soil. In the southern Districts they can often be made for Rs. 100 or Rs. 150, while in the rocky Deccan they cost three or four times this sum. In the Deccan the water is usually raised by a mot, a large leathern bag which is hauled up with a rope and pulley by two bul- locks, while in the south the most popular water-lift is the picotfah, consisting of an iron bucket attached to a long elevated lever, which is operated by the weight of two or three men walking up and down along it. The irrigation tanks usually contain coarse fish, the right of netting which is disposed of annually. The sea-fisheries along the coast employ thousands of persons, and the salting of the catches (see under Mis- cellaneous Revenue, p. 326) is a very considerable industry. The development of the fisheries of the Presidency is now under investiga- tion by Government.
