Mysore State: Agriculture and Animal husbandry, 1909
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From Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1907 – 1909
Mysore State (Maisūr): 1909
Agriculture
Agriculture is chiefly dependent on the rains. If they are sufficient and seasonable, it prospers ; but such a favourable conjuncture is only occasional. 'Wet crops' irrigated from river channels or perennial wells, and products of the self-sustaining black soil, are therefore least affected by vicissitudes of the seasons.
The soils in Mysore vary from black cotton to light sandy loam. A red-coloured loam, or clay loam, predominates. Differing from other soils of India, they are generally deficient in phosphoric acid, most of them containing less than 0.1 per cent. and the average containing barely 0.05 per cent. The percentage of potash is much higher, averaging three or four times that of phosphoric acid. In the hilly virgin-forest region in the west of the State, where coffee is largely grown, the percentage of nitrogen is very high, averaging more than 0.2 percent, in the surface soil and nearly 0.15 per cent. in the second foot. In the eastern portion of the State, where the land has been cultivated a long time, less nitrogen is found.
The surface is generally undulating (though flat in some parts and very hilly in others), here and there broken up by rocky hills and gravelly ridges. The annual rainfall varies from about 200 inches in the Western Ghāts to about 25 or 30 inches in the eastern part of the State. Excepting rice, coffee, cardamoms, pepper, areca-nut, and betel-leaf, very little cultivation is carried on in the forest region of heavy rainfall in the [S. 210] extreme west.
The other part of the State, with a rainfall varying from about 20 to 60 inches, grows principally rāgi, jola, various pulses and oil plants on the 'dry' lands, with cotton and tobacco in some localities, and principally rice and sugar-cane on the irrigated fields1.
1 This paragraph was contributed by Dr. A. Lehmann, Agricultural Chemist to the Government of Mysore. The population engaged in and dependent on agriculture, according to the Census of 1901, is 3,657,462, or 66 per cent. of the total. Of these, 951,056 males and 179,876 females are actual workers, and 941,867 males and 1,584,663 females are dependents.
The staple food-grains are : rāgi (Eleusine coracana), rice (Oryza sativa), jola (Sorghum vulgare), other millets (Pnicum), gram (Dolichos biflorus), and other pulses. Oilseeds include gingelly (Sesamum) and castor (Ricinus) ; the chief fibres are cotton and san-hemp ; among spices may be mentioned chilli or capsicum, ginger, coriander, cumin seed, &c. ; and among miscellaneous crops—tobacco, mustard, onions, garlic, &c.
The months for sowing the principal crops are June and July, and November is the general harvest time ; but the pulses avare and togari, which are sown along with rāgi, ripen two or three months later. Horse-gram is sown in October or November, and ripens in three months. Of rice there are two crops, the Kārtika fasal, or kār, maturing in October or November, and the Vaisākha fasal, or hain, maturing in April or May.
The ordinary sugar-cane is planted about April and takes twelve months to mature. Other kinds are planted in August or February, and require fourteen months. Cotton is sown in June and ripens in six months, continuing to yield for four months, and the second year's crop is better. Kumri or shifting forest cultivation is practised only by wild hill tribes in the west and south, and is permitted in some parts under certain restrictions. Under this system jungle is burnt down and seed planted in the ashes.
Agricultural implements in general are such as have been in use for ages. The principal new appliance that has been to some extent adopted is an iron mill for expressing the juice of the sugar-cane, which has in many parts replaced the old cumbrous apparatus.
Fruit and vegetable production has received special attention in the neighbourhood of Bangalore. Apples, strawberries, potatoes, peas, and cauliflowers may be mentioned among European products that are well established. Of native fruits, the grafted mango is largely cultivated. Areca-nuts, coco-nuts, and plantains are general in irrigated land.
The best areca-nuts are a special production of Nagar and the moist west. Coco-nuts are grown without irrigation in the central parts of the State, and the dried kernels are an article of export. A horticultural garden [S. 211] is maintained by the State in the Lāl Bāgh at Bangalore, and an exotic fruit garden at Nandidroog. Native florists do a good business in plants.
To the Agricultural department are attached an agricultural chemist, with assistants, a mycologist, and an entomologist. A well-equipped chemical laboratory has been fitted up at Bangalore, where analyses are made of soils, of the composition of manures and fertilizers, of the quality of special products like coffee, and of roots, bulbs, and other wild edibles that may be of use as food in time of famine.
Prevalent insect pests and plant diseases are investigated with a view to devising remedies. Plot experiments are being conducted in the cultivation of sugar-cane, rāgi, sweet potatoes, and ground-nuts. A plant-house for pot culture is being erected. An experimental farm has been formed near Bangalore, where 'wet' and 'dry crops' are being raised. In the Lāl Bāgh garden at Bangalore rubber, fibre, and cotton plants are receiving attention.
At the Kunigal stud farm special kinds of rice are being tried. Arrangements have been made for imparting instruction in practical agriculture at the normal school in Mysore and at eight other State schools, and in sericulture at Mr. Tata's silk farm in Bangalore. Moreover, a few model holdings in each tāluk are being selected by the amaldārs, belonging to intelligent tenants who are willing to cultivate them on improved methods according to expert advice. Agricultural shows are to be held at the District head-quarters and prizes awarded by the State.
Loans for land improvement during the thirteen years ending 1903-4 amounted to a total of 1.6 lakhs. In the same period 7.1 lakhs was also advanced for 3,068 irrigation wells, of which 2,212 were completed. For. sāgūvali kattes or cultivation embankments Rs. 1 1,000 was advanced. There were fifty-nine agricultural banks in 1904, of which twenty-one were reported to be working satisfactorily, but taken altogether they have not been a success. Two banks intended for the benefit of native coffee-planters had received loans up to nearly 9 lakhs, of which more than 3½ lakhs was outstanding. They have since been closed, and individual contracts for repayment made with the estates which had received loans.
The advances to the remaining banks had amounted to 7½ lakhs, of which 1 lakh was recovered. Owing to lax management thirteen banks have had the advances made to them recalled. The loans granted by the banks, exclusive of renewals, amounted to 10¾ lakhs, of which 7 lakhs was used to liquidate previous debts, and the rest for agricultural purposes. The balance due to the State in 1904 for loans and interest was 13 lakhs.
The cultivators are for the most part in debt, but not heavily, their liabilities generally ranging between Rs. 50 and Rs. 100. In villages [S. 212] the creditors are, as a rule, themselves agriculturists, but in towns they are more often money-lenders. The rate of interest on private loans to agriculturists varies. In some places in the Malnād the rate till recently ranged between 24 and 36 per cent. In other tracts it used to be 18 per cent. The rate is now everywhere lower, the minimum being 12 and the maximum 18 per cent. A Co-operative Societies Regulation was passed in 1905, from which good is anticipated.
Animal husbandry
The Amrit Mahāl is the principal cattle-breeding establishment. Its head-quarters are at Hunsūr, and grazing-grounds called kāvals are reserved for its use in different parts of the country. In 1903-4, with 9,686 head of cattle, the births were 42.5 per cent. on the average number of breeding cows, and the deaths 9.3 per cent. on the total stock. The sales, including 150 young bullocks to the Madras Transport Depot at the usual rate of Rs. 50 each, realized an average of Rs. 36 per head. Amrit Mahāl bullocks are famed for their pluck and endurance, being as superior to others as thoroughbreds among horses. The best breed is the Hallikār.
The ordinary cattle are of the Mādesvaran-betta and Kānkānhalli breeds, both named from places in the south-east of the State. Amrit Mahāl bulls are stationed by [S. 213] Government in various parts for improving the breed of cattle used by the ryots. Six Amrit Mahāl cows were sent to the Chin Hills in Northern Burma to be crossed with mithan bulls (Bos frontalis).
Large cattle fairs are held at Nandi, at the ghāt north of Dod-Ballāpur, at Santemāranhalli, and other places. An ordinary pair of plough bullocks costs from Rs. 30 to Rs. 50 or more : superior trotting and draught-bullocks, Rs. 70 to Rs. 200 or more. Buffaloes are extensively used for supplying milk, and for carrying manure and ploughing in heavy land.
Sheep and goats were kept on farms under the Amrit Mahāl dārogas. In 1902, with 1,694 head, there were 308 births and 294 deaths. Owing to similar poor results over a series of years, the flocks were then sold, only 257 sheep of Australian and Kashmīr breeds being retained. The ordinary country sheep are the Kurubar. They are shorn twice a year, and the wool is made into rough kamblis. Fine fighting rams are produced. Sheep are folded on fields for the sake of their dung, which is highly valued.
The stud farm is at Kunigal. In 1904 there were five stallions, 81 brood mares, and 200 foals, of which 35 were born in the year. Good native cavalry remounts are produced. From Kathiāwār three wild asses (Equus hemionus) were obtained in order to breed a larger type of donkeys in the State, and for mule-breeding, for which there is a farm near Devanhalli.
The principal cattle diseases are anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease, malignant catarrh, and lung diseases. Rinderpest has also been known. There is a civil veterinary officer only for Bangalore ; but the natives have their own remedies and methods of treatment, among which cautery or branding with hot iron is very common.
The sources of irrigation are channels drawn from dams on the rivers, besides tanks and wells. The most important of the river channels are in the south of the State, connected with the Cauvery and its tributaries. Most of them were originally constructed centuries ago, but have been improved and extended. The water is let out according to the needs of the rice or sugar-cane crops, and confined to the proper seasons for them.
