View source for Saidapet Town

 {| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
</div>
|} 
[[Category:India|S]]
[[Category:Places|S]]
''Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value. ''

=Saidapet Town=
Head-quarters of the taluk of the same name 
and of Chmgleput District, Madras, situated in 13 2' N. and 80 13' E , 
5 miles from Fort St. George. Population (1901), 14,254. The Dis- 
trict head-quarters have been located here since 1859. The Collector's 
office and treasury are in a building called Home's Gardens, which has 
of late been much enlarged and improved, and which also contains the 
offices of a Deputy-Collector and of the taJisilddr and stationary sub- 
magistrate. Saidapet is practically a suburb of Madras, and as the 
South Indian line connects it with the business quarters of that city it 
is the residence of many officials and otheis. Weaving and dyeing are 
its chief industries. The handsome Marmalong bridge across the Adyar 
river, built in the early days of Madras by an Armenian merchant named 
Petrus Uscan, connects the place with St. Thomas's Mount, This has 
an endowment in Government securities, the interest on which is utilized 
foi its repair and for the upkeep of the steps leading up the Mount. 

The most notable institutions in Saidapet aie the Agricultural College 
and the Teachers' College. The latter is under the management of 
a European principal, aided by a staff of assistants, and is designed to 
instruct persons who are taking up teaching as a profession in the theory 
and practice of that art A high school is attached to give the students 
an opportunity of practising, and there is also a well-equipped gymna- 
sium. The Agricultural College originated as a model farm, established 
in 1865, during the Governorship of Sir William Denison. In this 
many important agricultural experiments were made, some of which 
pioduced encoui aging results, indicating the general directions in which 
improvements might be effected in the agriculture of the country. 
Attention was given to subsoil drainage, improved tillage, the restora- 
tion of exhausted soils, the proper utilization of irrigation water, the 
fertilization of arable soils by the use of lime, saltpetre, oil-cake, 
pouarette, and other manures available in Southern India but little 
used by the ryots \ the introduction of new crops suited to the climate 
and adapted for cultivation under an impioving agricultural practice ; 
the production of live fences to afford protection from cattle, shelter 
from wind, and fuelj the introduction of water-lifts, barn machines, 
carts, ploughs, cultivators, cattle-houses, reapmg-knives, &c , of im- 
proved construction ; and the improvement of the live-stock of the 
country by careful feeding and breeding and by acclimatizing new 
breeds. In 1876 a school of agriculture was opened to extend the 
practical utility of the experiments The institution was later raised to 
the status of a college, and a handsome building and museum have 
been erected, A chemical laboratory is attached to it and a veterinary 
hospital has been opened. The college is intended to afford instruction 
to persons who desire to become acquainted with the theory and practice 
of agncultuie, and is under the charge of a principal, a vice-principal, 
and five assistants. Experimental work at the farm has now been given 
up, the cropping done being no more than is necessary for educational 
purposes, but other experimental farms have been established in more 
suitable localities. The college itself is shortly to be transferred to 
a more suitable site at Coimbatore.