Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
irrigated with the milk of Euphorbia Antiquorum, a succulent native to parts of
India which has a latex of pungent odor.
A contemporary source (the Krishi) offers a difference between rain-fed and
river-fed land, and discusses the cultivation of fresh alluvium, where vegetables can
be grown with the aid of cow manure, which, the writer suggests, could also be
used dried and pulverized in paddies. The dif
culties of cultivation on hard, iron-
black soil are acknowledged, soil was plowed often, as many as
ve times before
sowing, and remaining clods were to be broken by a harrow. The Kas-
hyapiyakrishisukti was written mostly in the 7th or 8th century CE. It is an agri-
cultural
treatise, giving a detailed account of methods of cultivation,
the
identi
cation of suitable land and the construction of irrigation works. According to
this text, good land should be devoid of stones and bones; a pliant (plastic) clay,
very unctuous (greasy) with reddish and black hue, and glossy with water; neither
too deep nor too shallow; conducive to speedy seedling emergence; easy to plow
and cultivate; water absorbent, and replete with bene
cial organisms such as
earthworms; and devoid of thorns and cow dung, thickly set and compact, and
heavy when it was lifted. There is some evidence of soil testing in the text: A hole is
to be dug and the effects of the digging observed repeatedly. Several characteristics
of the soil are to be observed, among them color and uniformity of color, taste,
uidity, and stickiness. Cow and goat excrement, compost and tendrils of creepers
are mentioned as manuring substances.
An agricultural text from Mughal India, which was transcribed in 1693, the
Nushka Dar Fanni-Falahat, is of particular interest for the diligence employed in
preparation of planting sites and the wide range of manures mentioned: Pits dug for
olive trees should be left open for a year or burnt, presumably to kill pathogens.
Burnt cow bones and dung are recommended as fertilizers for trees. Apart from
dung and bones, salt and nitre (saltpetre), vine sap, eggs, olive leaf-sap, pig dung,
human urine, night soil and sheep blood are mentioned. The text also offers a
description of suitable soils for a list of cultivars, similar to all other extant agri-
cultural manuals.
The native classi
cation of soils and the uses soils were put to during the
Mughal reign were recorded by an East India Company employee in the 18th
century, rendering four soil types and eight types of land, each was characterized by
its situation with respect to elevation and vicinity to watercourses. Like in other
agricultural civilizations, where revenue depended largely on land taxes, the dis-
tinction between classes of land was made by fertility.
For later times,
'
native
'
classi
cations and methods are known mainly through
the reports of colonial of
cials or travelers. In one of these accounts, dating to 1820,
the pit-digging soil test which was used both in China and Europe, is described as
being used by the farmers of the Malabar province. By using the test, these farmers
distinguished sandy and clays soils, preferring clays.
