Excerpts from Dharampalji's book Indian Science and Technology in the 18th Century (1971)
Nothing should surprise us more in the present condition of the Indian cultivator than his preserving industry, and well cultivated fields. Any other than a people of a buoyant spirit would have sunk under these circumstances.
The Hindoos have been long in possession of one of the most beautiful and useful inventions in agriculture. This is the Drill Plough. This instrument has been in use from the remotest times in India. I never, however, observed it in Malabar, as it is not required in rice cultivation in which its advantages have been superseded by transplanting. The system of transplanting is only in fact another method of obtaining the same object as by drill husbandry. It would be but just to adduce this, as another proof of ingenuity of this people and of their successful attention to this branch of labour.
[Dharampal notes that the drill plough is said to have been first used in Europe by one Joseph Locatelli of Carinthia (Austria) in 1662. Its introduction in England dates from 1730.]
They have a variety of implements per husbandry process, some of which have only been introduced into England in the course of our recent improvements. They clean their fields both by hoeing and hand weeding; they have weeding ploughs, which root out and extirpate the weeds. A roller would be useless on rice grounds, which are always wet and frequently an equal mixture of water and mud. The place of the roller is supplied by an instrument which levels or smooths the grounds, without turning on an axis. They have also mallets for breaking clods, the usual assortment of hoes, harrows and rakes.
It is the practice in many parts of India to sow different species of seeds in the same field. This practice has been censured, but it is probably done for the same reason that our farmers sow rye-grass and clover with wheat, barley, or oats; tares with rye; beans with peas; vetches and corn, etc
It is the practice in many parts of India to sow different species of seeds in the same field. This practice has been censured, but it is probably done for the same reason that our farmers sow rye-grass and clover with wheat, barley, or oats; tares with rye; beans with peas; vetches and corn, etc
It has been found by experience that these crops not only thrive in the same field; but improve each other. Rye and oats for instance, serve to support the weak creeping tares, and add besides to the bulk of the crop by growing through the interstices. Clover and rye grass are sheltered by the corn. This analogy will apply to the husbandry of India. These similar experiments may be carried further, where the climate and soil are superior. In India different kinds of seeds when sown in the same field are kept separate by the Drill, or they are mixed together, and sown broadcast. In the last case they are commonly cut down as forage. A plant called sota gowar, is sown broadcast with sugar cane in Guzerat (Gujarat). The gowar serves as a shelter to the sugar cane, from the violent heat of the sun, during the most scorching season of the year. Joar and badgery are sown together, in the same country late, not for the sake of a crop, but for straw, which is very nutritive, and very abundant. This is one of the instances in which the natives provide a green crop for their cattle. Other grains are sown both together and separately, merely for their straw. Soondea, darrya joar, rateeja and goograjoar are sown together: but with the exception, of goograjoar which is allowed to ripen, the rest are reapt while they are green.
It is evident that these examples are not founded on bad principles, and that they are in conformity with the best practice of farming. They evince the care of the Hindoo husbandman to provide food for his labouring cattle. This is an object to which I have generally seen him attentive; but in many parts of India during the dry season it is extremely difficult, and often exceeds the impoverished means of the cultivator, to lay in a sufficient supply. He is sensible enough of the want, and does his utmost to scrape together, all the heterogeneous substances that are within his reach. In some parts of India, hay is not
made, in other parts it is a regular crop, stacked and preserved. This is the case in Guzerat, and some other pergunnahs. The hay is cut down not by the scythe but by the reapers hook: It is dried and brought home in carts. The stacks are generally of an oblong shape something like our own, but often of much larger dimensions than any that I have seen in England. The stack is not thatched merely, but covered by a movable roof. In those parts of India where hay is not made and which are I believe unfavourable to this kind of crop, the cattle are fed with the roots of grass, very like our fiorin, with straw, and especially with the straw of joaree, all the which are considered to be very nourishing food. The roots of this grass are preferred by our own people in the Carnatic to hay. Besides the Hindoo in many parts of India, prepares crops of pulse, solely for the use of his domestic animals. In some place he feeds them with carrots.
made, in other parts it is a regular crop, stacked and preserved. This is the case in Guzerat, and some other pergunnahs. The hay is cut down not by the scythe but by the reapers hook: It is dried and brought home in carts. The stacks are generally of an oblong shape something like our own, but often of much larger dimensions than any that I have seen in England. The stack is not thatched merely, but covered by a movable roof. In those parts of India where hay is not made and which are I believe unfavourable to this kind of crop, the cattle are fed with the roots of grass, very like our fiorin, with straw, and especially with the straw of joaree, all the which are considered to be very nourishing food. The roots of this grass are preferred by our own people in the Carnatic to hay. Besides the Hindoo in many parts of India, prepares crops of pulse, solely for the use of his domestic animals. In some place he feeds them with carrots.
The practice of watering and irrigation is not peculiar to the husbandry of India, but it has probably been carried there to a great extent, and more laborious ingenuity displayed in it than in any other country. The vast and numerous tanks, reservoirs, and artificial lakes as well as dams of solid masonry in rivers which they constructed for the purpose of fertilizing their fields, show the extreme solicitude which they had to secure this object. [Dharampal notes that the above observation is in dramatic contrast to the present day book accounts of the comparative absence of artificial irrigation in eighteenth century India
(Majumdar et al., 1967).]
(Majumdar et al., 1967).]
Besides the great reservoirs for water, the country is covered with numerous wells which are employed for watering the fields. The water is raised by wheel either by men or by bullocks, and it is afterwards conveyed by little canals which diverged on all sides, so as to convey sufficient quantity of moisture to the roots of the most distant plants. When these are seen in operation it gives the most cheerful picture of quiet and useful industry, that can occur even to the imagination. The very sight of it conveys to the mind peace and tranquillity.
By K. Kesava Rao
Department of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Science
Bengaluru 560012, India
kesava@iisc.ac.in
--
Department of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Science
Bengaluru 560012, India
kesava@iisc.ac.in
...To be continued ...
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