AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

SOILS

Almost the entire area of the district consists of a thin covering of black or dark brown soil over a sheet of trap rock. The soils in Wardha are all derived from volcanic trap and are, therefore, quite fertile and capable of producing very good cotton and jowar crops. The soil varies in depth from a few inches to ten feet, the average thickness being about two feet. It is generally found mixed together with nodular limestone, the exposed fragments of which are collected and burnt for building purposes. The eastern half of Hinganghat tahsil, the northernmost corner of Wardha tahsil and the central part of Arvi tahsil have shallow type of soil. The western quarter of Hinganghat tahsil and the western strip of Arvi tahsil contain medium soils. The best soil in the district is found in the level tract lying along the eastern bank of the Wardha river in the Arvi tahsil. The soil here is formed of detritus drained down from the hills and grows exceptionally good crops of cotton. The remainder of the Arvi tahsil is hilly and undulating and contains the largest proportionate area of inferior soil. The north-east of Wardha tahsil is also hilly but the centre and the south of Wardha and nearly the whole of Hinganghat consist of an undulating plain.

The soils of the district can thus be grouped under four main classes viz., kali, morand, khardi and bardi. The soil that occupies the greater part of the district is kali or rich black soil of first rate productiveness which is further sub-divided into two classes, first class kali and the second class. The former is most common in Arvi tahsil and the latter in Hinganghat. This soil possesses excellent power of retaining moisture and when the climate and drainage are suitable for kharif crops it is quite unsurpassed. Rabi crops which are grown on it are sometimes not so good as those on brown soil, for it is such a severe strain on the bullocks to plough in kali soil that it is insufficiently disturbed. As a result wheat grown in it has often a short straw. However, with a good quality of plough cattle the soil can be well tilled. For rabi pulses like lentils, peas and tiura, kali is a favourite soil.

Morand is a black or dark brown soil generally mixed with limestone grit. It differs from kali in that it is composed of large particles which do not stick so closely together. Its clods are less hard and when saturated it does not turn into fine mud while in dry weather it cracks less. This is the commonest soil in the district and is also sub-divided into Morand I and Morand II. This is the great wheat soil of the Wainganga plain. In embanked fields, both classes of morand carry double crops.

Khardi and bardi are lighter type of soils and are found mostly in the eastern and northern parts of the district. Their depth is less than three inches. Khardi, to be more specific, is a poor and shallow dark soil mixed with sand. Bardi is hilly land strewn with stones. Locally, the soils are further categorised into retari or regular sandy soil and kachar or alluvial land on the banks of the streams which, however, are found in insignificant quantities. But on the whole the fertile soil covers the major part of the district. Good class of land is locally known as gahari or wheat-land whether wheat is actually grown or not. It may be added here that selection of wheat as a standard crop in Wardha was found to be unsatisfactory and it has yielded place to jowar which ranks first among all the crops grown in the district except cotton.

The following account of the relative factors of value of the different soils is reproduced from the old Wardha Gazetteer. " The relative factors of value of the different soils when classed as wheat land in the ordinary position were kali I 40, kali II 36, morand II 24 and khardi 14. When classed as minor crop land the above factors were lowered by a quarter to a third ".

" The following special variations of position were also recognised as increasing or decreasing the fertility of wheat land-lawan or low lying land retentive of moisture; pathar or low lying high or on a low slope and hence liable to dry up quickly; Wahuri or land cut up by water-channels or ravines; ran or land lying at a distance from the village and liable to damage from wild beasts; bandhia in the case of a field embanked with a small and bandhan of one with a large bank; and abpashi if the field was irrigated. In the case of each of these positions the factor of value for the field was raised or lowered in a certain proportion. Low-lying land was valued at an additional rate from 15 to 20 per cent and embanked and irrigated fields of from 25 to 33 per cent. In the case of high-lying fields the factor was decreased by 10 to 20 per cent, in those cut up by drainage by 20 to 33 per cent and in those liable to damage from wild beasts by from 20 to 40 per cent. These distinctions of position were applied only to wheat land, and the only ones occurring with any frequency were pathar or high-lying land under which 1,32,000 acres or 13 per cent of the cultivated area were included and Wahuri denoting fields cut up by drainage which covered 43,000 acres or 4 per cent of the total. Many of these fields lie in the vicinity of the Wardha river. Embanked fields are practically not to be found in the District, and irrigation is applied only to vegetable and fruit-gardens. The latter were given special factors of 40 to 50 when irrigated and 20 to 32 when unirrigated, according to the nature of the soil. In the case of fields manured by drainage from the village site, the ordinary valuation was raised by 75 per cent in the case of the poorer and 100 per cent in that of the better soils. The District has very little regular rice land, and such as there is was valued at the rates adopted for minor crops. The fields in Wardha are generally of very large size, some containing from 30 to 50 acres, while the average area of a single field is not less than 15 acres. Large fields were frequently subdivided in classification according to the different soils they contained and the positions in which they lay. " [ Vol. A., pp. 89-91. Central Provinces District Gazetteers, Wardha District.]

The profile description and analytical data of a few typical profiles found in Wardha District are given below [Supplied by Soil Specialist, Department of Agriculture, Maharashtra State, Sholapur.]:

The soils are moderately alkaline in reaction and low in salt content. They are clayey in texture and contain fair amounts of free calcium carbonate. The total bases are also high, Ca and Mg. constituting more than 90 per cent of the total exchangeable bases.

RESULTS OF THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF A FEW SAMPLES OF SOILS IN WARDHA DISTRICT.

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