Land and Soils ( Back to Menu ): The parent material of the soils of the district is generally caleareous. They are neutral to moderately alkaline and have sometimes well devloped clay accumulation horizon in the subsoils.The organic matter and nitrogen reserve is low as a general rule and they have low to medium levels of phospherus and potessium contents.

There are three main soil tracts, the northern sand treet between the Isan and the Kali, the central loam tract between the Isan and the Kak Nadi on the north and the Sirsa on the south and the southern mixed tract between the Sirsa and the Yamuna.

Of the gour natural soils, matiyar is a stiff, unyielding into a network of fissures, but expanding when moistened into a sticky clayey mass. In favourable circumstances matiyar yields good crops of rice and can also be utilised for the rabi. But its capable of producing only poor rice and a scanty crop of barley.

The second natural soil is bhur, which is in all respects the opposite fo matiyar, being loose and sandy and quite incapable of retaining moisture. Bhur can be ploughed at all seasons with little labour and rapidly absorbs the rainfall, allowing it to drain to the subsoil beneath. Puth is the name given to the bhur where it runs in even ridges above the level of the surrounding country. In the sandy circles of pargana Kurauli, there is a peculiar soil resembling but easily distinguished from bhur, which is known as tikuriya. It is harder and redder than bhur, and requires more watering than bhur. Neither bhur nor matiyar possess the characterstics of really good soils the maximum of productiveness is found inthe soils which combine in moderate proportions the qualities of the two. These are the loams, dumat and pilia or pira, which form the remaining two natural soil divisions. Dumat, as its name implies, comprises sand and clay in almost equal proportions, while in pilia the sand somewhat predominates. The former is generally of a rich brownish colour, adhesive without tenasity, friable without looseness, slippery and greasy when wet, and with a soapy feeling when dry, and cutting like a cheese when ploughed wet. The pilia, as its name shows, is of a yellowish colour. A mixture of dumat and sand, found in Kurauli, is there called milauna, and the red sand underlying the watershed between the Isan and the Kali is known as kasaba.

Cultivation  ( Back to Menu ) : Since about the close of the last century when the canals were opened for irrigation, a marked change in the technique and pattern of cultivation has been noticiable in the district. From 1950 onwards, with a further increase in irrigation facilities provided by the state tube-wells and other private minor irrigation works, considerable progress in the farming pattern has been achieved, particularly in the extension, of the double-cropped (dofasali) area and also in the crops themselves, the more valuable and high yigh-yielding staples having largely taken the place of the indigeneous varieties that constituted the principal products in the district till the fifties of the present century.

Harvests  ( Back to Menu ) : The agricultural year is divided into the three generally recognised seasons of harvests which here also go by the usual names of kharif, rabi and zaid. The last named is of very little importance and consists of melons, kakri, khira, vegetables, spices, tobacco, legumes and a number of low grade cereals. The cucurbitacea are mostly grown in the khadirs and along the sandy banks of the rivers. The kharif crops are sown in Asadha-Sravana and reaped in Ashwin-Kartika after the cessation of the rains, usually well before the preparation of the fields for the rabi sowings, which begin in October-November i.e. Kartika-Agrahayana and are harvested in April-May (Chaitra-Vaisakha-Jyaistha).

Principal Crops  ( Back to Menu ) :

Kharif : The main kharif cereals in the district in order of the area they cover are, maize, bajra and rice. Among the kharif pulses are urd, moong and moth are the main crops though they occupy very small areas.

Rabi : In the rabi the lead is taken by wheat, which is the most valuable of all the food-grains. It is sown alone as well as mixed with barley, gram, pea or mustard. Of the pulses only arhar and masur are important.

Non-food Crops : Sugarcane, oil-seeds like ground-nut, mustard, sesame, rapeseed and linseed, vegetables and fruits, sunn-hemp, jute cotton and tobacco are the non-ffod crops in the district.