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Transcript of Indian Agriculture 1915
gOU_1 68393 ?m CQ
HANDBOOK OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE
HANDBOOK,OP
INDIAN AGRICULTWB
BY
NITYA GOPAL MUKERJI,Holland Gold Medallist ofFellow of thethe
M.A
Royal Agricultural Collie, Oirencetter (England)
Highland and Agricultural Society (Scotland)
and
Professor of Agriculture
and
Agricultural Chemistry^ Civil Engineering
College,
Sibpur (Bengal)
THIRD EDITION,
REYIHBP
"Dl&COVEKIEft MIDI IN THE CULTIVATION OF THI EARTH ARK NOT MERELY FOR TH1 Will AND COUNTRY IK WHICH THEY ARE D8VBLOFID, BUT TH1Y MAY Bl OON8ID1RID AS iXTtHDIlia TO rOTDRS AQI8, AND AS ULTIMATELY TENDING TO B1NEFTT THB WHOL1 RA01, At AFKORDIHd saRSLSTBNCg FOR GENERATIONS TO OOMK, AS MULTIPLYING UF1, AND HOT ONLY
MULTIPLYING LIFE, BUT LIKEWISE PROVIDING KOR
ITS
ENJOYMENT."
SlR
HUMPHREY DAYf
CALCUTTA
THACKEB, 8PINK & CO1915
PRINTED BY
THACKBR, SPINK AND
CO.,
CALCUTTA.
DEDICATEDTO
THE HON'BLE MR. CHARLES EVELYN ARBUTHNOT WILLIAM OLDHAMOF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE,
LATE DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE, BENGAL
AS A TOKENOF
HIGH ESTEEM AND DEEP GRATITUDE
PUBLISHERS' NOTE TO THIRD EDITION.THE Second Edition of this popular book sold out very rapidly. The publishers have again to record the splendid generosity of the anonymous Editor who hasagain his vservices and brought the book up-to-date in accord with the most recent progress of Science.
PREFACE
,TO
FIRST EDITION.
THE publication of the Sibpur Lectures in the form of a Handbook was found necessary owing to the want of a text-book on the whole subject of Indian Agriculture suitable for the use of advanced students. It is riot possible to learn agriculture from a text-book, apart from a farm, and to learn the subject in a systematic manner, a museum and a laboratory are also necessary. Even one passing out of an agricultural college which is equipped with a farm, laboratory, and museum, and possessing a thorough knowledge of a text-book, mustbe prepared to buy his experience, either by apprenticeship in another person's farm, or by losing money on his own, for a year or two, before he can expect to acquire confidence in himself, his crops and his methods. Book-knowledge and college-education must be supple-
mented by detailed experience in that particular department of agriculture which one chooses to take up, in any particular locality, before one can expect to be abook, however, is a valuable aid to the student and also to the man engaged in planting or farming. The Handbook' of Indian Agriculture to little originality. Facts which now lie pretends scattered in hundreds of Reports, Notes, Monographs, Ledgers and Journals, have been brought together here in one volume and treated in a systematic manner. But even as a compilation the author hopes, that it will prove a useful companion to planters and students ofsuccessful farmer.
A
agriculture generally.
CIVIL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, SIBPUR,
The Uth August, 1901.N. G.
MUKERJL
PUBLISHERS' NOTE TO SKCOND RDITION.THE lamented deathof the talented author of this
book took place while the final pages were being passed The latter Chapters in consequence have for press.
been deprived of the benefit of his personal labours. The work of correction and revision was, however, most on the subject, kindly undertaken by a leading authority and the work carried through with great skill in the midst of trying and onerous public duties. This gentleman, who prefers to remain anonymous, has enabled the a second edition of a volume publishers to produce which has already attained a considerable popularity, and which they hope will open up a further field ofedition. utility in the present
CONTENTS.Page.
INTRODUCTION
..
1
PART I-SOILS,I.
II.
Geological Strata Surface Geology of Bengal Districts
11
19
III
Formation of SoilsPhysical Classification of Soils.... .
24
IV. V.
303544
VI.VII.
Chemical Classification of Soils. Chemical Classification of Indian SoilsPhysical Properties of Soils Sunlight, Rain and HailFertility
53
VIII. TX-
6067
and Barrenness...
PART II-IMPLBMKNTS.X. Theories Underlying Cultivation XI. Motive Power or Prime Movers ... ... XII. Ploughs and Ploughing ... ... XIII. Other Cultivation Appliances XIV. Theories Under) ying the Question of Irrigation .. ... XV. Water- Lifts ... XVI. Other Agricultural Implements ... ........
..70...
77
......
92108114
......
120
...136 ...189
XVII.
Equipments of Farms
...
..
...
PART III-CROPS.XVIII.Botanical Classification of CropsClassification of...
...143...
XIX. Economic
Crops......
...
147
XX. ChemicalXXI.
Composition of the Principal CropsStatistics......
......
149151
Agricultural
XXII. Systems of Farming XXIII. Rotation of Crops
...
...153
...
...
...
...159...
XXIV. Rice
...
......
...
...
164
XXV. PaddyXXVI. Wheat XXVII. Barley XXVIII. Oats
Husking...
.,.....
^......
...179...
.........
185 190192
......
...
...
... ...
...
XXIX. Bhutta
XXX.XXXIII.
XXXI. XXXII. BuckwheatPulses
... or Indian Corn ' Juar or Great Millet . Marua or Ragi and other Lesser
...193
...
...195...
Millets.........
198
...
.........
...
......
200201
......
.........
XXXIV.
OilseedsLinseed
...
...206...
XXXV.XXXVI.XXXVII.
Mustard and RapeGingelly or Til
...
...
209 212124
...
^
...
...
Xll
CONTENTS.
PARTCHAP.,,
III
CROPS
(contd.).
XXXVIII.
XXXIX.XL.
Sorguja or Niger Oil Seed ... ... Castor
.....
... ...
XLL.,
Ground-nut CocoanutSafflower
... ......
...... ...
...
Page. .. 214 ." 2 15 219e
.
...............
...
...
221
XLIL MahuaXLIII.
... ...
......
223 224...
t
,,
XLIV. XLV. XLVI. XLVII.XLVIII.
Jute
......
226
Deccan or Bombay
Hemp... ......
........"
232234
Sunn-Hemp Rhea
... ...
...
...
235%i.
*
XLIX.L.
kl.
Cotton ... Aloe Fibres ... Other Fibre Crops PineapplePlantains.........
...... ... ...
240
... ......
...
246 248250
...
LII.
......
... ...... '".]*
'" 251 ^
LIIL Potato LIV. BrinjalLVI.Chillies
254'
...
...
"
259
...
...
...
......
262261......
LVILLVII1.
LIX.
... .. English Vegetables Carrot, Radish and Sweet Potatoes Turmeric and Ginger ...
...
268
...
LX. SugarcaneLXI. LXII.Sugars Indigo Tobacco
...
... ... ... ...
...
........
...
270 272287 294 298
The Date-Sugar...
...
...
.........
.........
LXIIL ... LXIV. ... LXV. Pan or Betel-leaf LXVI. Betel-nut...
...... ...... ...
......
393314,
......
.'.311......
...
LXVILLXVIII.
Camphor, Tejpata, and Cinnamon Other Spices ... .........
3153203 23
.........
...318t
LXIX. Opium
..,
LXX. Tea LXXI. CoffeeLXXII.Vanilla
..........
......
.'..'
.........
...
328 333 336 343 344
......
... ...
...... ......
......
LXXIIL Papaya LXXIV. Cassava as Famine Food LXXV. Arrowroot...
... ...
...337.....
...
LXXV
7
!.
LXXVII. LXXVIII.
Bamboo, Grewia, Mat-Grass and Ruisa Grass ... ... ... ... Oranges India-rubber and Gutta-Percha ... ...Sericulture...
...... ...
346348351
LXXIX.
......
......
...
LXXX.
Lac-culture
..........
... ...
379
LXXXLLXXXILLXXXIII.
.. ... Apiculture ... ... Propagation of Trees ... Agricultural Calendar for Lower Bengal
382 ...383...392
PART IV MANURES.LXXXIV.
LXXXV.LXXXVI. LXXXVII. LXXXVIII.
... General Summary Exhaustion, Recuperation and Absorption.
.
......
...
395407 426437
...400... ...
LXXXIX.
Nitrogenous Manures Phosphatic Manures Potash Manures 4 Calcareous Manures
...
......
......
......
...
......
...431...
...
...
CONTENTS.
XUlPage...
PART IV~CHAP.
XC.
Gypsum and
Salt
441
PART V-METHODS OF ANALYSIS.XCI.XCIIl.
XCIL TheXCIV.
General Remarks Standard Acid and AlkaliAnalysis of Soil
446...,
448 450 455
XCV.,,
XCVI. XCVII.XCVIII.
XCIX.
Analysis of Bone-meal Analysis of Super Analysis of Nitrate of Soda and Saltpetre Analysis of Oil-cake ... ,,. Analysis of Silage, Grass, etc. Water Analysis
458, ,
462 465
.
.
470472
.
PART VI-CATTLE.0.CI.
Buffaloes
...
...
......
...
...
Oxen
...
......
......
....,,
474 476 485
GIL
Goat-keepingPoultry-keeping Diseases of Cattle
.
cm.CIV.
Calculation of weight of Livestock.........
...
...
485486
...... ...
CV.CVI.
...
490
C\7 II.CVIII.
The Theory of Healtn in Relation to Foods and Fodders 495 ... 499 ... Utility of Growing Fodder Crops ... ... 500 ... Fodder Crops .........
CIX. Silos ... ^ ex. Proteid Ratio ... CXI. Mammal Value of Food-stuffs ... CXTI. Milk ... CXIII. Cream and Butter..
... ......
......
...
.........
.....
... ...
505 50$ 513 515
518521
CXIV.
cxv.CXVI.
... Cheese-making Bacon and Ham-Curing Curing Sheep and Other Skins
,..
...
... ...
..
... .,,
525
...
...527
PART VII-INSECT AND FUNGUS PESTS.CXVII. CXVIII.General Remedies against Pests and ParasitesAgricultural Zoology Insects ......... ... .........
629'
......... ...
... ......
533 538 549
CXIX.
CXX.
Locusts
...
......
CXXI. Grasshoppers and CXXII. Granary PestsCXXIII.
Crickets... ... ... ...
...552...
...
......
553557
Paddy Pests... CXXIV. Cut-Worms ... CXXV. The Sugarcane Borer
......
...555...
... ...
.........
...559...561...
CXXVI.
White-ants and other Ants..
.....
CXXVII. The Mango Weevil CXXVIII. The Indian Golden- Apple-Beetle,..
563
...
...564...565.. ...
CXXIX.
Plant-Lice and Scale-Insects
...
......
CXXX.CXXXI. CXXXII.CXXXIII.
Insects Injurious to Indian Crops Zymotic Diseases and Remedies for
Them
......
668 570579
Agricultural Bacteriology
... ...
...573..'.
Dairy Bacteriology
...
... ......
CXXXIV. CXXXV.
Soil Bacteriology ... Vaccines and their Preparation
......
...582..:
585
XIV
CONTENTS,
CHAP.
PART VII-INSECT AND FUNGUS PESTS-(conM.) CXXXVI. The Higher Fungi......
JP*ge.
.....
...
CXXXVIL
Mushrooms
...
,..
...591 ... 598
PARTCXXXVIII.
VIII
FAMINES.
OXXXIX.,
CXL.CXLI.
General Remarks on Indian Famines ... 599 ... The System of Land Revenue as Affecting the Question 6O2 Measures of Protection and Relief ... ...606 ... ... ... 610 Agricultural Education
INTRODUCTION.
Favourable [Progress of agricultural improvement within recent years Agricultural improvements already report on work of Saidapet College The system of Southern India worth following The introduced, manifold aim of the Handbook No agricultural depression in India Resources in normal years on the increase Gentlemen farmers in India Cultivation by partnership; Special courses of farming by expenditure of capital; Need Conservatism of Indian for agricultural education among Ke venue Officers Canal rtii/fiti; Need for agricultural education in Engineering Colleges and well irrigation Profitableness of canal irrigation to the State as well as I'd ///.// ; Knowledge of agricultural science important for Canal Officers ; Need of special scheme of agricultural education for agricultural classes Division of subjects.]; ; ;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
TiE inauguration of agricultural education in the different provinces of India is one of the outcomes of the deliberations of* the Famine Commission that was sent out to India at the instance The Famine Commission subof the British Parliament in 1878. mitted their Report in 1880, and during the period since that date the recommendations of this Commission have been kept steadily in view by Government, and given effect to, one after another. Canals and railways, the most important measures of protectionagainst famine, have been extended since then with great rapidity, and a definite scheme of irrigation for the different provinces adopted. The systems of land administration and police administration have been greatly improved, chiefly with a view to give security of possession to cultivators, and to obtain correct statistics and prompt information regarding agricultural conditions and By the institution of agricultural exagricultural depressions.
periments and agricultural education, a foundation has been laid for ascertaining facts with a view to increasing and improving the produce of land, and diffusing agricultural knowledge among the cultivating classes. The establishment of the Pusa Research Institute, of a College of Agriculture in each province, and the gradual institution in every province of a practical system of agricultural education in villages, are the most recent developments. The establishment of semi-official agricultural associations in district after district is a further means of making the results of agricultural experiments achieved in experimental farms known to the actual cultivator. I have endeavoured to remove the want of a text-book by publishing a book on agriculture in Bengali and one in Uriya, suitable for use among cultivating classes.M,
HA
1
2
HANDBOOK OP AGRICULTURE.
So satisfactory has been the result of agricultural education in Madras, where it has been the longest established, that a committee appointed by Government to report on the working of the agricultural department and the agricultural college of Madras,attached the highest importance to the agricultural education imparted in the college and the schools, and they devoted more than half their report to this subject. It is often said that the native agricultural practices are the best for India and that they are not capable of improvement. I was surprised to find during my tours of 1898 and 1904 to 1906, that the native agricultural practices of the Madras, Bombay and the Central Provinces are far in advance of those of Bengal and the United Provinces of India. If agricultural education has been found beneficial in the Madras Presidency, where the existing
system of agriculture is really superior, how much more beneficial We have not only will it be for Bengal, which is so backward to benefit from our knowledge of western science and western practices, but we have also to learn the superior practices followed by the non-Aryan races of South India. Indeed, Indian agriculture has been actually vastly improved by our contact with the West. European planters have been the means of introducing important innovations. In the most out-of-the-way places of!
find European planters imperceptibly and noiselessly on agricultural experiments and improvements. We find carrying them growing the most delicate English vegetables even during the hot weather by cultivating them in trenches. Some of our commonest articles of food and fodder have been introduced by
India
we
Europeans. Maize, oats, potatoes, tobacco, cabbages, beet, papaya, the superior varieties of plantains, lucerne and guinea-grass, are all exotics. Indeed, there are few English cereals, root-crops, vegetables and fruits that have not been introduced with success into India, and European farm implements are in common use in some plantations. It is difficult to think of any agricultural experiments that have not been already tried, successfully or unEven the steam-plough, which successfully, by European planters. is still considered an expensive luxury in Europe, has been tried by planters within my own knowledge. The aim of this book will be to consider how soils can be made to yield more than they do, how irrigation can be made possible for the poor raiyat, how to extend the cultivation of droughtresisting crops, how to preserve, without damage, food and fodder, t^he excess production of one year, for years of scarcity, how to organise measures of protection against famine. These pages wiU be mainly devoted to the consideration of the food and other necessaries of life or what can become food, etc., for the masses. They will discuss only such appliances and machinery as can be used by the raiyat individually or collectively. They will analyse only such manures as may be placed within easy reach of the raiyat. They will explain ftie means of getting rid of, and of
INTRODUCTION,
and parasites ttat are so destructive to ordinary In one word, this handbook hopes to be able to be a guide, crops. philosopher and friend, to the actual tiller of the soil and be the means of ameliorating his condition. Seventy per cent, of the people of India live directly by farming, and it is of paramount importance to study those questions which affect so large a proportion of the population of India. In no other country in the world does such a large proportion of the population depend on In England only seven and-a-half per cent, of the agriculture.avoiding, pests
population live by agriculture. The agricultural condition of India is not to be considered as being in a specially depressed condition,, as it is in some countries of Europe. Except for the periodic recurrence of famines, local or general, which has always occurred and still occurs in India, and particularly within recent years, the agricultural population The. of India may be regarded as being in a prosperous condition. area under cultivation is steadily increasing exports of food-grains, which represent surplus stocks, have been also increasing, notwithstanding increase of population, and the rental and revenue from land are growing. There are few cases in India of lands going out of cultivation, and farmers being ruined and emigrating to In spite of his debts, which foreign countries in quest of a living. are a hereditary thing with the Indian raiyat, we do not find many cultivators alienating their holdings and going in for other trades. Many crafts and trades have suffered of late years, but not agriThe agricultural produce of other lands has not been culture. able to compete with India's own products, and she has always more and more to spare for the needs of other countries. The famine of 1897 in Bengal went to show that the resources of the masses had increased of late years. The failure of crops all over India since 1896 has been unprecedented, and, if this had taken place twenty years or even ten years earlier, the havoc among the would have been terrible. But the re* agricultural population sources of the country have been developing steadily for over half a century. It is a significant fact that, during the sixty-one years ending the 31st March 1896, India imported foreign merchandise to the value of Rs. 1,931,00,00,000, while during the same period the value of her exports amounted to as much as Rs. 3,064,00,00,000. Her exports therefore exceeded her imports by Rs. 1,133,00,00,000. Of course, the whole of this does not represent so much into the pockets of the Indian peasantry. But that Indians, and especially Indian cultivators, have materially benefited by this excess of export of indigenous produce can be inferred from the fact that, during the same period, the balance of import of gold over export was of the value of Rs. 1,46,68,00,000. Of this only Rs. 2,44,40,000 worth of gold was used during the sixty-one years in the mint for Rs. 1,44,00,00,000 coinage, and the balance of gold to the value of must have been absorbed by the people, chiefly in making articles To take of jewellery, which are pawned largely in famine times.;
4:
HANDBOOK OF AGRICULTURE.
maunds being taken
a concrete example like jute, at the price of Rs. 10 a maund, fifteen as the average produce per acre, the raiyats' share of the outturn may be regarded as Rs. 100 per acre, while the remaining Rs. 50 are shared by the Indian middleman and the European exporter. Poor as the Indian raiyat has always been, his poverty is not so intense now as it used to be, and he can afford to spend money on little luxuries which his forefathers never dreamt of enjoying. The ambition of the landless labourer is to buy land and to become an agriculturist. The man who earns Rs. 10 or Rs. 12 a month in a Calcutta mill also looks forward to saving enough money for buying land and cattle and settling down as an agriculturist. Surely agriculture pays, and it is not in that depressed condition in wfiich it happens to be in somecountries in Europe.will
not be misunderstood. I do not mean agriculture a gentleman/ It is only by dint of hard labour and pay that the Indian cultivator makes agriculture pay him. frugality If a gentleman were to employ labourers and go in for ordinary farming, he will find these labourers (so industrious when working for themselves) sleeping over his work and accomplishing very little when pretending to be doing work actually in his presence. He can never compete with the actual cultivators in ordinary agriculture, as by their frugality and industry they will be able to He get their outturn at a smaller cost and thus undersell him. succeed with a new crop, but only for a time. When the may cultivator finds out how he grows it, and where he sells it, he (the cultivator) will grow it at a smaller cost and put it on the market I have at a smaller price. taught scientific methods of sericulture during eleven years to a large number of persons, among whom are a number of actual cocoon-rearers. It is these latter alone who are carrying out the new methods with profit, while all the educated men who have gone in for it have lost money. In a climate like that of India, agricultural industry is unsuitable for men who cannot be in the field with their labourers. Capitalists and educated men can derive profit from agriculture by acting as middlemen, finding land, seed, manure and
Let
me
'
appliances for cultivators, and using their labour and their cattle and sharing with them the profits. Cultivation by partnership is indeed a well-recognised system in Bengal, and, il trained agriculturists go in for it largely, this system may prove to be of the4
highest bfehefit in introducing superior staples and superior methods of cultivation. One has, say, five-hundred bighas of land. He some Cultivators of the neighbourhood to go in partnership gets with him and to give him half the produce. He gives them seed, well-selected and of superior kinds he finds them superior appliances for irrigation, hoeing, thrashing and winnowing he buys; ;
for
them manures, and he takes half the crop for himself. He knows how to store his crop secure against insects, and he sells itwhich he would have sold his
for seed again at twice the price at
'INTRODUCTION.
5
crop at harvest time. This would be an improvement over the ordinary system of cultivation by partnership. Then, by the employment of capital, one can compete successfully with cultivators in such agricultural, or rather industrial Two graduates pursuits, as require a large outlay at the start.of Saidapet College are making large profits by conducting dairies. The manufacture of cheese, butter and ghi, with appliances that
cannot be ordinarily purchased by cultivators, would prove remunerative to a man with a capital. The method of sugar manufacture devised by Mr. S. M. Hadi, of Cawnpore, can be adopted in practice by men with capital of a few thousand rupees.Fruit-farming also would probably pay well in suitable situations. Fruits and vegetables can be preserved by a rapid process of deThis is an industry which, properly developed, is likely siccation. The abundance of one year to have an important future before it. can be preserved from rotting for consumption in another year. But some of the students of the agricultural classes will have to do with agriculture and agriculturists in the capacity of revenue The knowledge of agriculture is of great value for reveofficers. nue officers and district engineers. When the Director of the Agricultural Department, or the Reporter of Economic Products, or any expert officer of Government, seeks any information of an
any samples, he usually refers to district information or samples. The district officers consult their deputies or the district engineers, and they (the district officers) usually find out how ignorant their subordinate officers are regarding the circumstances and the wants of the culagricultural character, orofficers
for
such
tivators.
district engineers with an agriacquire some sympathy for the masses of the population who are employed in producing the staff of life, and whose interests these officers are now too apt to forget A mere literary and scientific training gives one or to ignore. little knowledge of the immediate surroundings, in the midst of which one's lot is likely to be cast in actual life, and little aptitudeofficers
Revenue
andto
cultural training are
likely
with such surroundings, in an official capacity. The agricultural statistics which ought to be of great value in estimating the resources of the people in times of famine, being compiled by men who have very little practical acquaintance with land and its produce, and who, owing partly to the very education they have received, are accustomed to take very little interest in such questions, were found to be of little use during the last famine in Bengal. The famine programmes, annually prepared in anticipation of famine by district engineers, were found wide of thein dealing
mark and
The district staffs might were, in practice, ignored. well in future be manned by officers who have received not only aliterary and scientific education, but who have been accustomed to see and handle the things with which they will be ordinarily surrounded in their practical life. Such officers will be able to
draw up famine programmes
in
an
intelligent
manner
after ascer-
6
HANDBOOK OF AGRICULTURE.and enquiring of the cultivators themworks to suggest, which might protect
taining local conditions, selves if they had anytivators
In certain localities, I know of culto cut across roads and bunds water into their fields, for the protection of their crops. admitting They have been fruitlessly applying for years to the district engineer for a sluice-gate here, a channel there and for permission to open a lock-gate a little earlier or a little later than usual, and so on. Having an eye to the protection of crops, officers with a rural training will be able to shape their famine programme and their annual programme in the interest of the cultivators. As men in charge of Government estates, officers with agricultural training will recognise the position of Government as a model zemindar for Khas the khas mahal raiyats, and they will know how to utilise the to the best advantage. GovernMahal Improvement Fund khas mahal ment can depend upon their initiating the tenants, under their charge, to at least one permanent improvement, for which they will be always grateful to Government and to the offifor instance, cers concerned, specially in times of famine. If, tenants under their charge khas mahal they can induce the to grow tapioca roots, and teach them to use the roots for food and to extract flour out of them, they will have done some permanent good, and they will have saved those tenants perhaps for all times from the jaws of famine. As managers of Court of Wards estates, officers with agricultural training will have ample opportunities of utilising the allotment annually made for agricultural improvements, by introducing well-thought-out reforms. Theycertain tracts against failure.
who have been accustomed
;
' '
' '
'
;
' '
' '
' '
will find in
most places
it is
some practicable method
of irrigation
that the raiyat needs, and, if they can give him a canal here, a well there, a windmill somewhere else, and teach him how to lift water from small depths and great depths with fairly cheap appliances, the outlay they will incur on account of the estate they may happen to manage, may protect a certain precarious tract for all time to come, from drought and failure of crops. In many parts of Bengal where water in wells is available at the driest season within twenty or twenty-five feet from the surface, the introduction of the most inexpensive method prevalent in the Western Coast of India from Dwarka to Eatnagiri of lifting water with hand and foot by means of a primitive Persian wheel, would become the means of giving an impetus to the cultivation of rabi crops, which are more or less
ignored in Bengal. And the educating influence of such innovations, even on the Indian raiyat, who is proverbially conservative, though slow, will be lasting. For the raiyat, though conservative, is only obliged to be so on account of his poverty. He cannot afford to lose money by launching out on mere speculations. But if the benefits of
some
monstrated
practicable methods are demonstrated persistently debefore his eyes, efven he will be induced to change
his old ways.
Have not
the cultivators taken to growing potatoes
INTRODUCTION,
7
and tobacco, and using the Behiayour own methods.
mill for crushing sugarcane, and the microscope for selecting silkworm grain ? You have to treat the raiyat with a little patience and you must have confidence in
The question of famine in India is mainly a question of irrigation, and to manage irrigation properly, one must have a fairly solid knowledge of engineering and of agricultural science. It has been observed that the productive power of soil diminishes after a number of years where canal water is used too freely for the purpose of irrigation, and that localities too freely irrigated with canal water, become malarious. The question of well-irrigation is being seriously discussed as probably fraught with greater advantage, and along with this must be considered suitable implements for lifting water from various depths. On the whole, however, there cannot be the slightest doubt that canals have proved the best protection against famine. I of will quote a few figures from the reports the famine year 1896-7, to prove that the construction of canals should be undertaken, wherever possible, by way of relief work, at any rate, in famine times. In Bengal the capital outlay on canals up to the close of The total length 1896-7, had reached a total of Rs. 7,61,23,817. of canals in operation was 916 miles, including 738 miles used for There were irrigation, the rest being used for navigation only. These were capable of also 2,605 miles of canal distributaries.
The receipts for 1896-7 amount to 1,572,005 acres. Ks. 25,63,047 and the working expenses to Rs. 19,37,142, the net revenue being Rs. 6,25,905 against Rs. 2,45,646 and Rs. 1,38,135 in the two preceding years. The areas actually irrigated from these canals in 1896-7 and the two previous years were respectivelyirrigating
805,387 acres, 579,933 acres and 509,811 acres. The average outturn of paddy per acre from canal-irrigated areas may be put
down at twenty-four maunds,The outturn
representing sixteen
maunds
of rice.
of grain from the 805,387 acres served by canal water be put down at 12,000,000 maunds. The annual consumpmay tion of grain per individual adult being put down at six maunds,of adult units directly saved from starvation by canal in Bengal during the famine may be calculated to have irrigation been two millions in 1896-97.
the
number
Provinces, the Punjab, Sind, In are equally or still more satisfactory. the Punjab the whole of the capital outlay of 841 lakhs of rupees has been more than recovered, the net revenue up to the end of 1896-7, amounting to 865 lakhs of rupees, or taking the interestfiguresfor
The
the United
Bombay and Madras
charge of 556 lakhs of rupees into account, the State has already recovered 310 lakhs out of the 841 lakhs spent in irrigation works in the Punjab. In 1896-7, the gross revenue exceeded 109 lakhs, while the working expenses were below 31 lakhs, leaving a net profit of about 78J lakhs to the State, which is equivalent to 9*34
8
HANDBOOK OF AGRICULTUBE.
per cent, on the capital invested. The area irrigated in the Punjab in that famine year was 4,621,000 acres, viz., one-fifth of the total Of this 1,441,000 acres were cultivated area of the province. under wheat (which alone must have saved between three and four
The total quantity of foodmillion persons from starvation). of all kinds raised by canal water in the Punjab in 1896-7 crops sufficed to feed over six millions of people or a quarter of the entireirrigated does possible to irrigate and grow food-grain on. The capital outlay on canal works, though enormous, represents but a small fraction of the benefit rendered to
population of that province.
But the area actuallyit is
not represent the whole that
The value of the crops raised agriculture through their means. canal irrigation in the Punjab in 1896-7 alone was estimated by at 1,508 lakhs of rupees, viz., nearly twice the amount of the whole the value per capital outlay incurred from the commencement acre being estimated at Us. 33, while the water-rate levied was Rs. 3-4. The figures for more recent years are still more encouraging, the interest on capital working up to more than ten per Even a canal like the Eden Canal in Bengal, which has not cent. as yet proved remunerative, has brought immense benefit to the country, and the water-rate has been raised lately without any opposition worth speaking of, so that profit may be expected in future. knowledge of agricultural science will enable one to avoid bringing about a deterioration of soil by canal irrigation. Irrigation-water judiciously used adds to the fertility of the soil, while injudiciously and lavishly used, it can wash the good gradually out of the soil and render the locality unhealthy at the same time. The cultivator will take nine inches of water if he can get it, though two to six inches according to the season of the year will do him more good than nine inches, leaving the fertility of the soil intact,;
A
and theItis
locality free
in this as in every other country, agricultural education is being taken advantage of almost exclusively by persons who are not directly interested in agriculture. Neither the farm labourer, nor the farmer, nor the landed proprietor, cares, as a rule, for agricultural education. Agricultural colleges and schools in almost every country are crammed either by place-seekers or by town-bred men, who fancy they can make their fortune by scientific farming or by cattle In other countries such men do occasionally turn out ranching. successful farmers or colonists. But in India the caste system has*
from malaria. somewhat unfortunate, however, that
ingrained and stamped in different classes, different abilities and disabilities in such an indelible manner, that the priestly and writer castes who generally go in for high education are ab initio unfit subjects for agricultural training, and the high education they go in for makes them less suitable for an agricultural pursuit. Their instincts, their habits oibody and of mind, are not suitable lor an agricultural occupation. They are eminently fitted for
INTRODUCTION.other paths o!islife,
9
but not for success in agricultural pursuits. It doubly important therefore for India that the right classes of people should be encouraged to receive agricultural education
that the benefit derived by them may easily filter down to their fellow-caste-men in rural tracts. To expect the benefits of agricultural education to filter down to rural tracts from the prospective gardens, farms and plantations that the Bengali or the Maratha gentleman may establish, after receiving agricultural education of a high order, is a far-fetched hope. Vernacular education, on the other hand, has spread so far in rural tracts in Bengal, that we can now find many actual cultivators who have passed the middle vernacular or even higher examinations. They are quite, capable of receiving a systematic training in agriculture, and these are the men who will have influence among their fellow-caste-men. In dealing with agricultural pupils of the cultivator class a great deal of patience, a great deal of sympathy, is at first needed. But when once a headway has been made among them, -agricultural progress will come directly through their agency. It is therefore of great importance to induce, by the offer of suitable scholarships or otherwise, sons of bond fide cultivators who have passed at least the middle vernacular examinations, to come for special agricultural training to a central institution, and then go back to their respective Such men will not feel disappointed if they cannot secure villages.' '
Government appointments. Training a hundred men of this sort by the judicious allotment of a hundred scholarships, will have far more effect in ameliorating the agricultural condition of this province than training a dozen university graduates annually, who will probably give up all connection with agriculture in disgust, if they fail to secure Government appointments. It is by the spread of agricultural education rather than by reduction of revenue demand or opening of agricultural banks that the question of famine must be met. There is no occasion for the raiyat to starve when there is a shorter rainfall, but the raiyat does not know how he can help He -must be taught. So, while a class has been properly himself. established in Bengal for higher training in agriculture given to a few University graduates and engineers or surveyors with theobject of employingcapacities in
them
as
Government
officers in certain special
which agricultural knowledge is needed, it must not be forgotten that the more important scheme, of giving a thoroughly practical agricultural training in a properly equipped farm, to the actual cultivator, is yet to follow. It is the 'want of such a scheme of education that is really at the bottom of the small amount of practical success the agricultural departments have attainedhitherto.
The object of agriculture is the production of food and other essential requirements of man, and the aim of the science of agriculture is the production in the best condition, of the greatest
amount of produce, in the shortest space of and with the smallest deterioration of land.
time, at the least cost The sciences helpful
HANDBOOK OVto this end are:
AOBIOTOTtTBE.
(1) Geology and Mineralogy (some knowledge of which is required in understanding Part I of this book) (2) Mechanics and Hydrostatics (c/. Part II) (3) Botany (c/. Part III) (4) Chemistry (c/. Parts IV & VII) (5) Veterinary Science (c/. Part V) (6) Zoology (c/. Part VI) (7) Bacteriology (c/. Part VI) and; ; ;; ; ;
(8) Political
Economy
(cf.
Part VIII).
HANDBOOK OF AGKICULTDRE.
PARTSOILS.
I.
CHAPTER
I.
GEOLOGICAL STRATA.Order definite Stratified and [General character of strata, how formed Strata from below upwards, Lower and Upper Magma ; unstratified rocks the Azoic rocks the Mesozoic and Neozoic the Vindhyan system epochs Recent strata Laterite. Strata from top to bottom. Sirnimary.J;;
;
;
;
;
;
borings into the earth or study railway cuttings and rocks exposed are of different by character and consistency, and we notice, as a rule, well-marked stratifications both in the loose earth and the hard rocks so exposed. The deepest mine is only about half a mile in depth, and so we can study the soils and rocks only of the outer crust of the As the rocks, however, do not always occur in horizontal earth. layers, and as the crust of the earth has evidently undergone violent contortions, we are able actually to study rocks situated down to a depth of about twenty miles, on the very surface of the earth. In other words, there are rocks on the surface of the earth which would have been buried twenty miles deep had not violent The evidences for such eruptions brought them up to the surface. are numerous. find the temperature of the crust eruptions of the earth increases by about one degree Fahrenheit for every fifty-six feet of depth. The deeper we go down in a mine, the warmer it is, and we can only imagine how hot it is twenty miles below the surface of the earth. It is over 2000F., a temperature at which all minerals and rocks must be in a fluid and disturbed condition. have further evidence of this internal heat in hot-springs, earthquakes and volcanoes. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptionshill-sides,
IF
we make we
find the earth
We
We
12
HANDBOOK OF AGRICULTURE.
were very much more violent in past ages than they are now. Take, for instance, the Deccan trap formation, two hundredthousand square miles in area and as much as six thousand feet deep in some places. The volcanic outbursts that resulted in this But all over the earth's deposit must have been most fearful. crust we have evidence of contortions and dislocations of the strata that form the outer crust of the earth, which point to very great heat acting from within the bowels of the earth. This heatgradually becoming less, in other words, the earth getting cooler and cooler, the disturbances on the earth's surface have also become less and less. At one time the heat and the disturbances in the shape of earthquakes and dislocations were so great that no plant or animal could have lived on the surface of the earth. Gradually the surface getting cooler and quieter, plant and animal lives made their appearance. But thousands and perhaps millions of years before the surface of the earth became fit for human habitelapsed ation. It is supposed that our planet was originally a portion of the sun, and that it was spitted out by the sun by a violent action. This nebulous or fluid mass of burning and centrifugal revolving matter has been gradually getting cooler and cooler and solidifying from the surface downwards. The composition of the whole of the solid crust of the earth can be studied and evenof a portion of the fluid magma, as it is called, lying underneath the crust, as volcanic action has exposed to the surface not only the solid strata but also the liquid magma below.' '
Geologists have found out in the midst of all the contortions and dislocations to which the outer crust of the earth has been
subjected for ages past, that the strata forming the crust occur in a certain definite order all over the earth's surface. In England these strata occur in beautiful regularity from south-east to northwest, the newer formations at the south-east and the older formations at the north-west. In other countries although these strata do not occur in such regular succession exposed to the surface, a similar order can be traced all over the surface of the earth. If we study the character of the rocks so exposed in succession,either vertically in cuttings or horizontally as we pass from field to field, and district to district, we find two classes of rocks, stratiUnstratified rocks are igneous in origin, i.e., fied and unstratified. thrown up from the burning bowels of the earth. The stratified rocks have been formed by the action of rivers, lakes, or thesea.
When rocks formed by such action have been afterwards changed, by heat or by great pressure, they are called metamorphicrocks.:
Studying the geological strata from below upwards, we find the following order prevailing in the deposition of these strata Tht fir$tf that is, the lowermost stratum, may be called the Lowtr Magma. This consists of basic rocks rich in earthy bases and oxides of iron. Volcanic 4 action has exposed this deep liquid layer to the surface of the earth in the form of Basalt and similar
GEOLOGICAL STRATA,rocks.of the
J3
Greenstones and Basalts generally are called trap-rocks
as they occur in thetion as volcanic rocks.
form of steps on hill-sides. The solidification Lower Magma has usually taken place after volcanic erupon the surface of the earth, and therefore they occur chiefly
Many of the eruptions which have formed these rocks took place in, geologically speaking, fairly recent times, and hence the rocks often lie over others, sedimentary and metamorAll over the plains phic, which were formed at an earlier date. of Deccan occur trap-rocks, usually in horizontal layers of six to ninety feet, each layer being a separate lava deposit evidencing a succession of volcanic eruptions. The total depth of these successive deposits of trap reaches in some places to 5,000 or 6,000 feet, and the total area covered by these trap-rocks is about 200,000 square miles. Soils formed from "decomposition of trap-rocks arenaturally very fertile, being rich in silica, alumina, iron, lime, magnesia, potash, phosphates and soda. The celebrated blackcotton-soil or Eegur of Southern and Central India was formed*
chiefly out of trap-rocks.2nd. -The Upper
andnic,
is
more
Magma -resting on the Lower Magma is lighter composed of silica. This stratum is largely
It is mainly plutotherefore called the siliceous or acidic magma. that is to say, solidified by slow cooling under pressure, and occurs in conseqiience, in the form of coarse-grained crystals compacted together in the form of granite. The presence of plutonic granite is an indication of the earliest geological formation. They usually intrude into gneiss and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between intruded dykes or veins of granite and the older
metamorphic schists. Veins andr"dykes of granite occur throughout the vast metamorphic (or gneissose) rocks of India, all along the Himalayas, in the Arravali hills, and also in the Deccan. Granite consists of quaitz, mica and felspar, in varying proportions. Quartz and mica are not of much value as fertilizers, but felspar is. Soils formed out of granite are therefore less fertile than those formed out of Basalt. But there are whole hills of feldspathic granite near Rajmahal, at the foot of which are some of the most fertile tracts of land suitable for rice, melons and mustard.acidic rocks contain sixty to seventy-five per cent, of the basic rocks less than fifty per cent. The acidic rocks are light, and more infusible, while the basic rocks are very heavy and of fine texture, and they are not so infusible. The principal acidic rocks are Granite, Felsite, Obsidian, Pumice, Syenite, Trachyte and Pophyrite. The principal basic rocks are Basalt,silica,:
The
Dokrite, Diorite
and Gabbro (containing Diallage and Labradorite).
3rd The Azote or metamorphic rooks. These consist of gneiss, mica-schist and clay-slate, formed by the joint action of sedimentation in water and compaction by heat or pressure. They are called azoic because no trace of life has been discovered in them. There are three distinct systems of azoic rocks which from
14
HANDBOOK OF AOBICULTURE.
above downwards may be called the Vindhyan, the Sub-metamorphic and the Metamorphic. The Vindhyan system consists of sandstones, limestones, shale and iron pyrites, and the fernlike (dendritic) markings of earthy manganese oxide which may be easily mistaken for fossil plants, are characteristic of this system. The Sub-metamorphic system consists of quartzite, sandstone, The slate, shale and limestone of more crystalline appearance. older and still more crystalline rock which abounds in Southern India is called gneiss. More than half the Peninsular area is on From Cape Comorin to Colgong on the Ganges, a distance gneiss. of 1,400 miles with a mean width of 350 miles or an area of nearly 500,000 square miles, the land is composed of gneiss or soils formed mainly out of gneiss. Patches of newer strata occur here and there on the gneiss. The Bundelkhand gneiss is the oldest ofGneiss also occurs in the Himalayas, in the Chutia Nagpur Division of Bengal and in Assam. It is composed of quartz, felspar, hornblende, chlorite and mica, all or only two of which minerals may be present. Lead, silver, garnet, corundum and diamond are occasionally found in azoic rocks. The lead-ore or galena of Bhagalpur contains silver. Lead-ores occur in Chutia Nagpur also. The greatest depth of the azoic system is 26,000 The soils are somewhat better than granitic soils, but micafeet. schists which contain no felspar, but only quartz and mica, are Quite recently apatite has been discovered in the mica poor. mines of Hazaribagh a fact which is of considerable agriculturalall.
importance.
Above the Vindhyan system which represents a transi4th. tion between the true metamorphic gneiss and the true sedimentary rocks of the Lower Silurian system which are marked with Pateeozoic rocks. The Palaeozoic period is characripples, come the terised by the first appearance of life, though the remains of very few animals have been discovered in the older of these rocks. ~Afew zoophytes, trilobites and graptolites and some shells called Oldhamia are the fossil remains found in them. The greatest depth of the Lower Silurian rocks, as these older rocks are called, is about 30,000 feet, and of the Upper Silurians about 108,000 feet. The Lower Silurian rocks consist of shales, sandstones, limestones and conglomerates. This system is scarcely represented in India. Lower Silurian beds are found overlying the Himalayan gneiss.
Upper Silurian system consists of the Old- r^-sandstone (dO,000 feet), the Carboniferous rocks (15,000 feet) and the Permian group (3,000 feet) or the New-red-sandstone. Of these the carboniferous rocks are chiefly represented in India. These consist of limestones, shallow beds of sandstone, and coal measures. The coal measures of Bengal are of great importance, and coal in them
The
being associated with iron and limestone, their possible importance as centres of manufacture is evident* Coal exists in an igneous or* crystalline form in the ftlder metamorphic formations, for instance, ia the district of Sambalpur, in the more ordinary form
GEOLOGICAL STRATA.
15
in carboniferous rocks and in the later tertiary formations also and in the recent formations as peat. Feat can be dug out of a depth of only twenty feet in places south of Calcutta. The coal of Bengal is characterised by the usual fossils of the carboniferous systems, viz., lepidodendron and calamite. The Raniganj coalfields embrace an area of about 500 square miles, the Barrakar coal-fields about 220 square miles and the Jheria coal-fields about 200 square miles. The depth of some of the Raniganj coal seams The Bengal carboniferous rocks come is seventy to eighty feet. under what is called the Gondwana system. The soils of this system are indifferent, better than granite soils, but poorer than basaltic and alluvial soils. There is not much to choose between the gneissose soils of Chutia Nagpur and the soils of the coal-fields As a rule, they are indifferent of Burdwan and Manbhum. U ft fe< ftj soils.f:i
Gond wan a system. The upper strata of the Palaeozoic and the lower strata of the Mesozoic groups in India (i.e., from Jurassic down to Carboniferous rocks) are included under the Gond-
wana system.
They have been probably deposited by rivers and are chiefly composed of sandstones and shales. Plant remains are common but not animal remains. The Eajmehal hills, the Damodar Valley, the Tributary Mehals of Orissa and Chhatisgarh, Chutia Nagpur and the Upper Son Valley, and the Satpura range at the Grodavery basin, are the localities representing the Gondwanasystem.The Mesoxoic Epoch. animals which first Air-breathing their appearance at the close of the Paleozoic epoch appeared in abundance at the Mesozoic epoch. The lowest group5th.
made
of this epoch is called the Triassic group (about 2,300 feet in maxiThe next higher is called the Oolitic (about thickness). 4,500 feet in maximum thickness) and the topmost group is called
mumof
the Cretaceous
(maximum thickneSvS, 11,000 feet). Fossil remains Labyrinthodon reptiles have been discovered in the Damodar Valley above the coal-fields of the Panchet hills. These are characteristic of the Triassic period. They have been also discovered in the Central Provinces of India but Triassic rocks occur chiefly in the North- Western Himalayas, where they occur to the thickness:
The Oolitic group of rocks is subdivided of 1,000 to 2,000 feet. into (1) Liassic, (2) Jurassic and (3) Oolitic proper. Monstrous reptiles (Icthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus and Pterodactyle) were the The ammonite and belemnite characteristic animals of this period. of the Himalayas are Oolitic* The shales and limestones of the Himalayas are both Liassic and Oolitic. The Bajmehal hills which abound in fossil plants are Jurassic. The cretaceous system is not represented at all in Bengal, though portions of the Nizam's dominion and of the Bombay Presidency and also of Assam belong to this system. Tracts rich in fossil remains are very fertile, alsothose where gneiss and limestones meet.
16
HANDBOOK OP AGRICULTURE.6th.
plants The trilobite of the Silurian allied to those of the present time. period, the peculiar bony-armoured fish of the Red-sandstone, the large club-mosses and reeds of the carboniferous system, the huge reptiles of the Oolite, the ammonites of the Lias and the chalk, give place to new forms of life. Only from three to four per cent, of the tertiary plants and animals of the earliest strata are modern about eighteen per cent, of the plants and animals of the middle tertiary period are modern, and there is no distinct gap between the close of the tertiary period and the recent period. The lowest tertiary period is called Eocene when the existing forms The middle period is called Miocene, and of life are first seen. the upp3rnmst tertiary period is called Pliocene. The nummulitic limastone formations of the Himalayas, often attaining a height of 16,000 feet, are marine and belong to the eocene period. Mammals appeared first in the miocene period, and the extensive fossil remains of the Siwalik range belong to this period. The Sivatherium deer is the characteristic fossil of this period. Gigantic crocodiles and land turtles of modern times also occurred, and a huge but extinct species of tortoise, a shell of which can be seen in the Indian Museum. In the Pliocene period man first made his appearance, and agate knives have been discovered in the Upper Goda;
for the first time
The Neozoic epoch follows the rnesozoic, and at this we come across remains of animals and
epoch
of this period. The greatest depth of the or Neozoic group of rocks is 9,000 feet. Tertiary
very characteristic
7th. Between the Indus and the Brahmaputra there lies a vast alluvial plain which consists mainly of miocene and pliocene These aie tho Recent Formations, the comtertiary deposits. mencement of this period being coeval with the first appearance In Bengal, though some of the other systems are repreof man. as we have already indicated, we aie mainly concerned sented, with these alluvial post-tertiary and recent deposits.
The origin of laterite and its position in the Laterite is porous are subjects of some dispute. geological system rock much impregnated with iron peroxide, some argillaceous containing as much as 25 to 35% of iron. The iron exists chiefly The surface of laterite after as limonite or hydrated peroxide. is covered with a brown or blackish brown crust of limoexposure8th.Laterite.
but the rock when freshly broken is mottled with tints of brown, red and yellow and a considerable proportion consists of white clay which contains no iron. Examples of all these forms The are to be met with at Garhbeta in the district of Midnapur. exposed surface is pitted with hollows and irregularities caused by washing away of softer portions. The rock has a scoriaeeous and volcanic appearance, especially as it is associated usually with basalt and other igneous rocks * But it is now usually believed to be of detrital origin produced from other rocks, igneous and sedimentary. The high-level laterite of Central and Western Indianite,
GEOLOGICAL STRATA.
17
does not appear to be detrital in origin as the iron is not sandy. The low-level laterite of Bengal is mixed up with sand, quartz,pebbles, ferruginous sandy clay and gravel. The high-level laterite always caps the highest lava flow, which makes the subject of its It becomes more and more origin so difficult to understand.
probable, however, that it is simply the normal weathering product of highly basic rocks under the conditions of a tropical climate. The low-level laterite is probably the detritus of the high-level The action of rain and streams having carried away laterite. the lighter sand and clay, the heavy iron-sand is left as laterite, and to this may be due the concentration of the ferruginous element. The age of the low-level laterite is certainly post-tertiary, while the high-level laterite is being constantly produced.9th.
Alluvial deposits and
Blown sands*
Blown sand forms the
soil
of places close to the sea, and its deposit is quite recent. deposits will be dealt with in the next Chapter.
Alluvial
It should be noted that (1) clay, (2) sand, (3) gravel, (4) peat, shell-marl and (6) marine ooze of recent formation are analogous (5) respectively to (1) shale, (2) sandstone, (3) conglomerate, (4) coal, and (6) chalk of old geological formations. The plder (5) limestone
the sedimentary rocks, the more compact they are. But their age is indicated chiefly by fossils. The strata of the crust of the earth has found in India, from the top to the bottom or from the most recent .to the oldest, may be graphically represented as below:
Post Tertiaru rost-lertiaty
A. NROZOIC
|I
st). ( I | Plei8tocene r Pliocene (3rd).
Decent
1
TertiaryI
Miocene (4th). Eocene (5th).Cretaceous (6th). Oolitic proper (7th).
\Cuddalore/
rooks.
JK.
MBSOZOiu
I
(
-v
Oolitic
1 Jurassic (8th). tLiassic (9th). .
Triassic(IOrh).
Gondwanasystem.(13th).
TT*~ UpperC. PALEOZOIC \>
n* lurian
\
f Permian (llth). ftrK nnifl.n,,CarboniferousI
n
n (12th).
(old red-sandstone(14th).
Lower Silurian
(15th).
Sub-metamorphic
(16th).
(VindhyanThe following summary
M t ,^>,^ Metamorphic
/
(
B undelkhand
Peninsular Gneiss (17th). Gneiss (18th).
of the characters of the geological as they particularly refer to India may be found useful : strata
A. NEOZOIC.Itt.
Blown sands, alluvium, fluviatile and marine, including deltas and lagoons, laterite and gravels. Exampl*, the united delta of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, covering a space of 60.000 to 60,000 square miles and ft depthRecent.
of about 600 feet, and the whole of the Indo-Gangetic batfn. General cf&racfine sands and clay with occasional pebbles or pebble-beds, beds of peat t*r, and remains of tree*, but no trace of marine organisms.
18
HANDBOOK 02 AGBKJULTURE.Glacial period.
layas
and Upper Punjab.
Modern
Erratic boulders and moraines in the Himafauna.
3rd. Pliocene period. Sott massive sandstone, also clays and conglomerates, many frefth*water, resting on the nammulic limestones. Example, Sivvalik-beds, full of fossil remains of animals, chiefly mammals allied to modern fauna ; also in Sind, the Punjab, the North- West Provinces of India, and along a narrow strip of bills from the Jhelnm to the Brahmaputra in the Sub-Himalayan region, 1,500 miles long and 12 to 15,000 feet in thickness.'
4th. Miocene.
fossiliferous
Marine sands, shales, clays with gypsum, sandstones and highly bands of limestones. Uppermost beds are clays with gypsum
containing estuarine5th. Eocene.
This period is represented in Sind. shells. Sandstones, probably fresh-water ; also marine limestones passing into sandstones and shales ; nummuUtic limestones ; clays With gypsum and lignite abounding in marine fauna. Examples in Sind, tho Punjab, Orissa Coast, Assam ana Burma.
B, MESOZOIC,6M. Cretaceous or Chalk system 11,000 feet. Here and tbere in the Himalayas, especially in Assam, but all over the Indian Peninsula, where it is covered over in the middle and west by the Deccan basalt, which is the volcanic lavaof this period.
shales and limestones. proper. Himalayan 8M. Jurassw. Hajmehal hills (characterised by fossil plants) and OOLITIC Upper Panchet Series. Lower beds 4,50;) FEET.l 9th. Li Lower Silurian 30,000 feet. Shales, limestones, sandstones and conglomeThis is scarcely represented in India, but is found on the top of Himarates.
layan gneiss.
D. Azoic.IbthtolSth. Arr.h&an rocks 26,000 feet. Oldest known rocks of India are gneiss underlying the ancient Palaeozoic rocks. They belong to two periods. Tfee Older or Bundelkhand Gneiss (18th) is covered by certain transition or Submetamorphic rocks (called also Vindhyan system of rocks) which (15th) as they approach the younger gneiss become altered (16th) and intersected by granite intrusions. In West Himalayas both the gneisses occur. The Upper Himalayan gneiss (16th) is fprmed by the metamorphisra of older Pakeozoicrocks*
SURFACE-GEOLOGY, BENGAL.
19
CHAPTEE
II.
SURFACE-GEOLOGY OF THE BENGAL DISTRICTS,l/The Old
and New Alluvial tracts Laterite region and laterite patches glacial boulders the two Cuddalore bands Tertiary and Cretaceous regions (in Eastern Bengal, Assam and Orissa Hills) Gondwana deposits consisting of (1) Rajmehal trap (from Raniganj Northwards and Westwards through Birbhum, Damodar Valley to Hazaribagh, also in Cuttack, in the Son Valley, and in Palamau), (2) Jurassic beds of Rajmehal, (3) Panchet and Pubrajpur rocks, (4) Barrakar rocks including coal, (5) Talchirs and (6) Damudas (Raniganj to Chanda) Upper Vindhyans of Chunar Lower Vindhyans in the Son Valley transition rocks in Manbhum and Singhbhum gneiss and granitic intrusions in Chutia Nagpur Division and Monghyr Domogneiss trap-dykes rare in Bengal gneiss Bengal trap (1) Cretaceous (W. of Chutia Nagpur;, (2) Rajmehal and (3) Archamn; ;
;
:
;
;
;
:
;
;
;
;
(Singhbhum).]
MOSTis
districts of
Bengal and Bihar are
alluvial.
This alluvial
portion of the Indo-Gangetic basin which includes plain about 300,000 square miles, or one quarter of the whole of British It is the richest and most populous tract of land, consistIndia. of clay, more or less sandy. Peat, gravels, conglomerate and
a
ing
Pisolitic concretions of hydrated pure sand occur at intervals. In Dinajpur the nodules iron peroxide abound in certain regions. but usually they are of iron-peroxide are as big as pigeons' eggs The alluvium is classified into of the size of peas or even smaller. Old and New. The older alluvium is at a higher level, in the;
BurdwanThe
Division, in
the sea-level.delta of
some places, over one hundred feet above The newer alluvium occurs near channels of rivers. the Ganges and the Brahmaputra is also new allufossils
vium.
No marinein Calcuttafeet
have been discovered into
This boring clearly demonstrated that the surface of the land in the neighbourhood of Calcutta has sunk Freshto at least this extent within the recent geological age. water shells, pebbles and bits of wood that must have occurred at one time at the surface were brought out by this boring. The is old alluvium containing greater portion of the Ganges alluvium of lime nodules, and of concretions of beds of kankar or carbonate hydrated iron-peroxide. On the western edge of the delta of Bengal there is a large area of this older alluvium, where the surface is somewhat undulating, evidently in consequence of denudation. This tract, which is continuous with the newer alluvium of East Bengal, comprises the greater portion of the country to the westward of the Bhagirathi and the Hooghly, and owes its comparative elevation to the deposits from the Mourakshi, Ajay and Damodar, brought down from the Rajmehal series of hills, extending north and south from the Ganges to the neighbourhood of Suri in Bengal. The Bath country of Bengal and the whole of the Bihar soil is composed of old alluvium. The old alluvium .is under deniidatipn,
though hundred
a
boring down
a
depth
of
this alluvium, nearly five
was made.
20
HANDBOOK OF AGRICULTURE.
though occasional elevation by silt formation, due to inundation, The newer alluvium is ordinarily under also occurs in places. formation and it has the tendency to rise, though occasionally denudation and disappearance of whole tracts of new alluviumoften takes place in different localities. This general depression of the older alluvium and this general elevation of the newer alluvium are to be distinguished from the geological upheaval and depression that have taken place in the alluvial tracts of Bengal The elevation of the Tippera hills and since the tertiary period. the coast of Orissa, and the depression of the Gangetic delta by nearly five hundred feet cannot be explained by alluvial action and denudation. There is some evidence to show that the drainage of the Indo-Gangetic plain took place at one time by one delta only, viz., the delta of the Indus, and that the Gangetic delta havS been formed since the depression of the lower part of Bengal, faciThe extensive Madhupur litating drainage by a second outlet. of Dacca are probably the remains of the old alluvium jungles which existed prior to this depression which has resulted in the accumulation of new alluvium in the greater portion of East
Bengal.
Though the prevailing rocks of Bengal and Bihar are alluvium, whether old and new, there are some important exceptions. First of all we will describe the laterite region of Bengal, which is also This laterite region can be traced up from Cape post-tertiary.Comorin along the east coast, through Orissa, Midnapur, Bankura, Burdwan, Birbhum, to the flanks of the Rajmehal hills as far as. Patna. This fringe of laterite underlies the old alluvium and is.It is often seen capping older rocks. Thi& older than alluvium. The low-level laterite is the high-level laterite already described. is truly alluvial, and it occurs in patches throughout the old allu-
vium of the Ganges The Pleistocene
valley.
or glacial boulders and moraines are not rein Bengal, except in the lower hills of Sikkim, Bhutan presented and Nepal, down to a height of about 3,000 feet above the level of
the sea.
Next we come
across in Bengal a
band
of the Cuddalore
group
of rocks, sandstones, grits and clays, underlying laterite, from east of Raniganj, extending northwards as far as Suri. These Cuddalore sandstones, etc., are tertiary. At a lower elevation in
the Sub-Himalayan range, on the north of Bengal, there is of soft massive sandstones, also clays and conglomerates, on the older tertiary bed of nummulitic limestone. This to the same age as the Cuddalore band from Raniganj to
a bandresting
belongsSuri.
Next come the Eocene sandstones, nummulitic limestones, the cretaceous rocks, and the pre-tertiary slates and sandstones that are found in the Chittftgong, Tippera, Garo and Manipurhills.
Tertiary rocks prevail in these hills which were probably elevated at the post-tertiary age about the same time as the Gangetic delta from Rajmehal to the Garo hills was depressed.
SURFACE-GEOLOGY, BENGAL.
21
The Jurassic system is next represented in Bengal in the Rajmehal hills and the Upper Panchet series of rocks. The typical Rajmehal rock is a basalt or trap consisting of dark-coloured dolerite interstratified with a hard, white and grey and carbonaceous shale, white and grey sandstones and hard quartzose grit. Trapdykes and intrusions of the Rajmehal age are also abundant in the coal-fields of the Damodar valley and dykes and cores of basalt .are common in Birbhum, South- West of Rajmehal. Trap-dykesdiminish in the Damodar valley from east to west until in the south-west of Hazaribagh volcanic intrusions disappear almost Further west, of course, occurs the newer Deccan trap. entirely. The focus of eruption of the Rajmehal trap is at a point north of Raniganj. The Rajmehal beds extend to the east coast close up to Cuttack and southwards. Eastward, trap-dykes are less numerous, but they occur throughout the Upper Son valley and they gradually die out in Palamau only two hundred miles west of the ground in which the older lava flows of the Rajmehal age are seen and within less than one hundred miles of the Gondwana basins in the Upper Damodar valley which are traversed by basalt dykes probably of the same age as the Rajmehal traps. The Gondwana rocks appear in Bengal, in the Damodar valley and in Chutia Nagpur. In the former, the upper and the lower Gondwana rocks, are both observable at the basal portion of the Panchet hill and the zemindari of Panchet, south of the Raniganj The lower Panchet beds consist of coarse felspathic coal-field. and micaceous sandstones, usually white or greenish-white in colour, with bands of red clay interstratified among the sandstones.rocks, though often occurring in close proximity, are of different age. The Panchet rocks are distinguishable from the typical Damudas by the presence of red clay and the absence of carbonaceous shales, and by the sandstone being usually more micaceous. Fragments of coal and shale are found in the conglomerates of the Panchet group, but they are evidently derived from the Damudas. The Dubrajpur rocks consisting of ferruginous sandstones and conglomerates belong to the Upper Gondwana age. The ridge of gneiss from the basaltic plateau of the Deccan to the Highlands of Chutia Nagpur is overlaid and crossed by Gondwana deposits stretching across from the Son to the Mahanadi. The watershed between the Son and the Mahanadi is pretty high and is occupied by the Talchir rocks of no great thickness, so that gneiss forms the rock barrier from east to west. The Tributary Mahals of Orissa also belong to the Gondwana series. The coarseness of the rocks, the prevalence of sandstones, the frequent occurrence of bands of conglomerate and the absence of marine fossil, characterise them as Gondwanas. Then come the typical Damuda or Barrakar rocks belonging to the carboniferous system. The Barrakar river and its tributaries traverse the whole of this region. It passes round the western portion of the Raniganj coal-field and f into the Damoall|
The Panchet and Damuda
22
HANDBOOK OP AGRICULTURE.
dar within the limits of the field. In the higher portion of its course the Barrakar receives streams which drain the Karharbari coal-fields which are supposed to be Talchirs or the lowest Gondwaria and not carboniferous. Conglomerates, sandstones, shales usually micaceous, and coal, characterise this region. The sandstones are felspathic, consisting of grains of quartz and decomposed Knobs of calcareous concretions project through the felspar. sandstones. Felspar is at different places seen converted into pure kaolin. White felspathic sandstone may be traced all the way from Raniganj to Chanda in the Central Provinces. Another typical Barrakar rock is conglomerate of rounded-white quartz pebbles scattered over the surface of the soil. Last of all we have the Archaean rocks of Bengal, metamorphic and submetamorphic, transition or Vindhyan. Small hills in Bihar appearing through the alluvium are most of them Lower Vindhyan, and at the lowest level where the Ganges washes the base of the plateau at Chunar, only Upper Vindhyans are exposed. The concealment of the Lower Vindhyans here is probably due to
the depression in the main axis of the basin. The Lower Vindhyan rocks of the Son valley consist of limestones, shale, sandstone, shaley sandstone, trappoid beds, porcellanic shales and conglomeratic and calcareous sandstone. True metamorphic rocks, that is to say, gneiss and granitoids, encroach upon the zone of the transition rocks in Bihar where for some miles north of the Grand Trunk Road, west of Gaya, gneiss reaches quite across the strike of the slates. Several hills isolated on the alluvial plain in thi
Immediately east of Gya neighbourhood are of pure granite. transition rocks appear again on the prolongation of those on the Son valley and having the same strike. They form several groups of hills in East Bihar, known as the Maher, Rajagriha, Shaikhpura and Gidhour hills, which stand clear of the main gneissic area and moreor less isolated in the alluvial plains, and those of Mohabar and Bhiaura on the northern margin of the gneissic upland. All these isolated Bihar rocks belong to one system, massive quartzites appearing on the sides of the hills and the associated schists or slates appearing obscurely in the valleys. On the north side of the Bhiadomeura ridge the bottom quartzites lie steeply against the as the peculiar rounded and poised masses of gneiss are gneiss'
'
'
'
Elsewhere schistose gneiss occur* at the boundary. True may be observed in the soft earthy schists. In the neighbourhood of Gya many forms of special metamorphism and of contact action are well exhibited. At Lukhisari the quartcalled.
granitic intrusion
mass of pseudo-crystalline gradefined texture than at Shaikhsharply pura in which strings of pebbles can be detected. This amorphous mass rests on beds of coarse conglomerate. Another outcrop of conglomeratic schist appears in the east end of the Gidhour range.zite rests against
an amorphousless
nitoid rock of
much
The gneissic uplands of Hazaribagh in Chutia Nagpur, about one hundred and twenty miles wide, separated the transition rocks
SUBtfACE-GEOLOGY, BENGAL,of Bihar
2
from those which occupy parts of Manbhum and Singh-* in South- West Bengal and stretch far to the west, the whole* transition area here being one hundred and fifty miles long from
bhum
east to west
and eighty miles wide. *The prevailing character of the rocks here may be best explained by an enumeration of the These are quartzite, principal kinds that occur on the surface.quartzitic sandstone, slate, shales, hornblendic, micaceous, talcose
and chloritic schists passing into bedded trap, and shales with ripple marks so little metamorphosed that they might be mistaken forTalchirs, or the lowest Gondwana shales, but for veins of quartz penetrating through them. The Chutia Nagpur gneiss is interbedded with micaceous hornblendic and siliceous schists, and occa-
sionally withschists.
bands of porphyritic granite and highly metamorphic In Singhbhum the oldest or Bundelkhund gneiss is seen in junction with transition rocks, interpenetrated by trap-dykes. Sandstones and tnudstones, resting immediately on the rough and weathered surface of the granitic gneiss traversed by trap-dykes is the Domeprevailing character of the Singhbhum soil. prevails in the northern fringe of the Hazaribagh plateau gneiss' '
' '
and the Mandar hill of Bhagalpur. Trap-dykes though common in the Bundelkhund gneiss are rare in the Bengal gneiss. We do not see the same extensive basaltic intrusions in Southern Monghyr,. Hazaribagh and Chutia Nagpur as we do in Birbhum where they belong not to the Archaean but to the Kajmehal age.have thus seen that, although the prevailing character of Bengal and Bihar is alluvial, either old or new, we have important exceptions all over the outlying districts, where rockathesoil of
We
of older epochs prevail. The age of rocks can
be only vaguely guessed by their texture. which period a or a particular limestone, or a particular particular sandstone, As an agriculturist one should be able to judge shale, belongs. from the external appearance of soils and sub-soils and with such
The study
of fossils alone gives us exact clue as to
rough and ready test astheir general character
is afforded by a little hydrochloric acid, and composition, and a knowledge of the principal minerals and of the method of distinguishing and testing
them will help one to judge still better whether a soil is rich or poor and whether it is capable of much improvement by the utilization of local resources. The value of trap-rocks in the formation o rich soils has been mentioned. The presence of a large variety ofrocksis also of great value in valley or a forming rich soils. situated near a hill where shales, sandstones, limestones and plain ielspathic granite or gneiss occur in abundance must be rich in
A
plant-food.rich.
The junction of two geological formations is always alluvial deposits differ in character according to the difference in the character of rocks composing the hills from which
The
t&ey are derived.
Usually, however, alluvial soils abound plant* foods, especially the farther they are situated away from mountains. The delta of. the Ganges represents washings of the finer particles
m
24
HANDBOOK OF AGRICULTURE.
of all the Bengal hills, and what is of great importance, it is full of organic matter, being the receptacles of the drainage of a large and
populous tract of country and of hills abounding in forests. The combination of minerals and organic matter is far greater i^ the lower part of the basin of the Ganges than in the upper parts. But where in the upper parts of the basin the soil is clearly derived from felspathic granite or trap-rocks and limestones, it is richer than alluvium.
CHAPTERFORMATION OF(Sedentary and transported; ; ;
III.
SOILS.
Kankar Knowledge of composition of soi* soils and stones how far useful External characters Evidence of composition and fertility Fossil remains indicative of fertility Value of archsean and metamorphic soils Trap-rocka and volcanic tuffs making superior soils Presence of felspathic stones desirable Disintegration by aqueous, atmosNature's cultivators (earth- wormSf pheric, physical and organic agencies etc.) Chemical and bacteriological disintegration Physical and chemical properties of humus Mixed soils.]; ; ;;
;
;
;
;
:
;
SOILS are formed by the weathering and disintegration of Soils are either sedentary, that is, formed out of the underrocks. lying rocks, or transported) that is, formed out of the disintegrated parts of rocks, brought down, mainly by the action of rivers from a distance. Sedimentary rocks containing fossil remains of plants were soils at some ancient geological period. The superpositionof layer after layer of silt on them resulted in their becoming compacted under pressure. By volcanic or other action these solidified masses have often been brought again to the surface in the
form of mountains and thus have become once more subject to the action of rain and heat and cold and the atmosphere, and once more they have been weathered and converted into soils. In geological language, the loose top-soil is also a rock, and in some future age, what is now soil with herbs and trees growing on it may become a fossil-bearing hard rock with other rocks superposed on it. Underneath the loose matting of earth both on land and under the sea there is the uneven pavement of stone, jutting out into high mountains, or sinking deep in valleys and ravines, or extending far and wide in plains and table-lands. There are mounThe tains and valleys and plains both under the sea and on land. agriculturist is mainly concerned with the loose matting of soil and sub-soil on dry land and scarcely at all with the stone pavement underneath, unless it occurs within easy depth, in which case he can get building-stones, coals, or other minerals, or even valuable mammal substances for improving hig soil by digging down a short depth or carrying from a short distance. An admixture of ten to fifteen per cent, of small stones of the right lands with agricultural soils is not undesirable, as these contain valuable reserve mate-
FORMATION OFrials of
SOILS.
25
made available as of large-sized stones in the soil is plant-food. generally not desirable, as they interfere with proper aeration of The agriculsoil, germination of seed and penetration of roots.food which gradually get dissolved and
But an admixture
an idea of the composition of his soil found in the soil, but also of the subsoil or the soil immediately below the surface soil interpenetrated with the roots of deep-rooted plants. The sub-soil is more compact in appearance and is usually of a lighter colour. It is very important that the sub-soil should be lighter but richer than theturist should not only have and of the stones which are
and if the soil is sedentary, that the underlying rock should be composed of substances which are valuable for plant-life. In transported soils also, valuable minerals, such" as lime or kankar and gypsum, may be found buried within easy reach of the surface. Chemical analysis does not always give a correct idea of the actual present value of a soil, subsoil, or rock, but it tells us of their possible ultimate value. In a hard rock scarcely any plant-food exists in an available form, and nothing will grow on such a rock. In the case of soils also a great deal depends on cultivation and not on their potential richness as found out by chemical analysis. Analysis, for instance, shows, that the soil of the Sibpur Experimental Farm is richer than those of the Burdwan and the Dumraon Experimental Farms. But we actually get at Sibpur poorer crops. The soil of the Sibpur Farm is a hard clay which is difficult and more expensive to cultivate and under the same treatment this soil does not yield such heavy crops as soils actually poorer but which are easier to cultivate. Nevertheless a knowledge of the composition of soils and rocks is of great practical value to the scientific farmer. He knows what plant-food there is, and it rests with him how much of it he can or he ought to make available for a certain crop. A soil may be very fertile, but the fertility may be very quickly exhausted. Deep ploughing will give better results and so will liming for a time, but these processes are exhausting, and it is for the farmer to judge whether his soil is capable of such exhaustive operations. For exhausting and valuable crops, deep ploughing, burning, liming and other exhausting processes are advisable if the soil is rich, but by bringing too large a quantity of food into a soluble state and by letting chiefly rain to wash it out of the land, though one or two heavier crops may be obtained, the soil in the long run may be impoverished. Chemical analysis is therefore a guide for ascertaining the value of rocks and soils, as the farmer has it in his power to utilise that value slowly or quickly according to his needs by the judicious applicasoil,
tion of tillage
and by manuring. chemical analysis alone gives one the right clue as Though to the composition and nature of rocks and soils, their external characters often give a rough idea as to what they are and what to expect of them. Indeed, the scientific farmer depends more on rough and ready tests than on careful chemical analvsis for
26
HANDBOOK OF AGRICULTURE.
He looks at a dark-coloured soils, rocks and minerals. and may conclude it is rich in nitrogen and potash and suitable for growing corn. He looks at a yellow soil and may conclude it isrich in phosphorus and lime and other mineral matters, and suitable for growing root-crops and fruits as well as corn. He looks at a light-coloured soil and may conclude it is chiefly sand and will grow only mustard and rape and Jcalai to perfection. He looks at a field overgrown with rich and wild vegetation of various kinds, rank grasses, leguminous plants, and creepers, he digs it with his spud and finds he can easily manage that, and while digging he notices dead shells and channels made by earthworms and insects and he concludes it is rich friable loam, and he prefers it to all the others. The dark-coloured soil, first mentioned, though rich, and though it may show on chemical analysis to contain a larger proportion of and other mineral plant-foods as well as organic phosphorus, lime, plant-food, is perhaps a stiff clay which he finds it difficult to dig with his spade and on the surface of which he notices deep and wide cracks. Though he knows it to be richer, he will not prefer it forjudgingsoil
ordinary agricultural crops, though he may for permanent pasture, and for such perennial crops, as Rhea, Abroma augusta, Sabai grass, Tapioca and such agricultural crops as take long growing, such as arahar and sugarcane. If he can afford to keep it in proper tilth and if there are special facilities for irrigation, he may prefer such clay soil to loam, unless the clay is too stiff. Different soils are particularly adapted for particular crops, and when one cannot choose his soil one can at least choose his crops. By cultivation and manuring it is possible to a limited extent to alter the natural adaptability of certain soils to certain crops and these should not be lost sight of in any case. It has been said that certain stratified rocks were loose workable soil in former geological periods. Hence we find imbedded in hard rocks, fossils of plants and animals that once grew on the soil or disported themselves over it. As the remains of animalsand plants are very valuable as plant-food, rocks showing an abundance of fossils, such as certain sandstones, and all limestones, are productive of very fertile soils. The recognition of fossils is thusof some practical importance to farmers. The fertilising property of the rocks of the crystalline group, viz., archaic and metamor-
phic rocks, consists chiefly in the presence of an abundance of felspar.. Mica is of less importance, and quartz is of the least. All sedimentary rocks and soils being ultimately derived from these crystalline rocks, a knowledge of the composition of these is of value. Mica-schist consists of quartz and mica, and a soil formed out of mica-schist is therefore poor. Gneiss is the same as granite in ^composition, only it is metamorphic or, in other words, it has become compact and crystalline by tlje joint action of heat andpressure.
Granites, though consisting of felspar, mica and quartz,, vary very much in composition according to the proportion in which these minerals occur. The larger the proportion of felspar
FORMATION OFin granite, the richer it
SOILS.
2T
is for the purpose of formation of soils, and red-coloured granite and gneiss form richer soil than grey-coloured ones. Trap-rocks and volcanic tuffs form the richest soils, and a of the minerals which compose these is of great importance. study The agencies operating in the disintegration of soils are (1}:
Aqueous,(1)
(2)
Atmospheric,
(3)
Physical and
(4)
Org
