Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/406

378 according as it contains a less or greater proportion of chuna. The substratum of the former is trap in a stake of decomposition; and of the other, trap with beds of chuna.

The first differs but little from the sod of Gujarat, called by Mr. Marshall kali-bhui, of the lower level. It is adhesive and cracks by drying; but, if irrigated, may be cultivated with chuplagheon.

When the field is ziraut, or dry land, "harbarri jundla" and shetgheon, may be raised during the cold weather on this kind of soil; but bajri is its most common produce, which comes to perfection in the rainy season. The other kinds are usually cultivated with kardu and karli.

The neighbourhood of this town presents extensive fields of good bla ckblack [sic] soil in a waste state, which have not been cultivated on account of the almost total absence of rain during she last two seasons. The fields on the east aide only were in use, as abundance of means from nulias and wells exists there for irrigation.

Parts of the country comprehended in the second division are equally barren as those that have been described in the first; but the rich and beautiful fields on the banks of the Krishna, amply compensate for the few miserable villages and unproductive lands which we meet with near the Yerla river.

Among the latter the village of Aundhli was the most poor and desolate. The soil, which is here very sandy, rests on a bed of gravel, and produces nothing without the assistance of a plentiful monsoon; from the failure of which, last season, an almost total absence of vegetation became the natural consequence, and the inhabitants, with the exception of a few, had deserted the village.

The distinctions of the soil known at this place are "changli kali zamin," or pure black earth, which is a tolerably rich black mould from three to four feet deep, resting on another of a grey colour, which contains much chuna. It is divided into the dry and garden lands; but of the latter there are very few near Aundhli, and these are usually assessed at twelve rupees per bigah. The next kind of soil is that known by the name of "marut," which is a black earth of a reddish tinge resting on gravel, and is usually two feet deep. This is generally cultivated with sealu, and is taxed from six rupees and a quarter to seven and a half. The last of the soils is "karrak," which, like the former, rests on a bed of gravel, but is seldom more