Abstract

A public meeting was held on 7th September 1913, with Mr. H. C. Sampson, Acting Principal in the chair, when Mr. Badami Siva Rao, student of Class III, read an interesting paper on " a glance at Mysore Agriculture." The paper was carefully prepared and showed a knowledge of details in several aspects of the subject. After de- scribing the physical features of the province, he divided it into the malnad or hilly portion and the plains, and the soils in the latter were divided into 4 main classes, (1) the black soil, cotton being the chief crop, (2) the red soil in which ragi was largely grown, (3) an ashy col- oured soil which was comparatively poor and (4) a stony soil where rainfall was scarce and where the Amrita Mahal breed had its home. The normal rainfall is about 21 inches from the S. W. monsoon and 15 inches from the N. E. monsoon. Apart from the numerous tanks, chan- nels and wells used for irrigation, he referred with pride to the two great reservoirs formed by throwing stony dams across rivers, the Mari- kanave and Kannambadi reservoirs, the latter of which is nearing completion. Intensive farming is to be met with only near towns, in gardens where English vegetables are largely grown. The methods of cultivation adopted and the implements used were similar to those obtaining in the adjacent districts of the Madras Presidency. Pungam leaves, as green manure for paddy, are esteemed both by the ryots and the Agricultural Department, but green manuring is generally limited to the Cauvery valley. In parts of Bangalore district, boodi-mannu, a village site earth similar to the patimannu of the Kistna delta, is applied with benefit to ragi crop.

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