allowing the forest to grow again for a few years, and then again burning and cultivating them; while under the latter the clearing is not returned to for a much longer period and is sometimes deserted for ever. The latter is in fashion in the more hilly and wilder parts, while the former is a step towards civilization.
In February or March the jungle trees and bushes are cut down and spread evenly over the portion to be cultivated; and, when the hot weather comes on, they are burnt. The ashes act as a manure, and the cultivators also think that the mere heat of the burning makes the ground productive. The land is ploughed once or twice in chalaka pódus before and after sowing, but not at all in konda pódus. The seed is sown in June in the mrigasíra kárti. Hill cholam and sámai are the commonest crops. The former is dibbled into the ground.
Grain is usually stored in regular granaries (kottu) or in thatched bamboo receptacles built on a raised foundation and called gádi. These are not found in Bhadráchalam or the central delta, where the puri (a high, round receptacle made of twisted straw) is used. Grain is also stored, as elsewhere, in pits.
The chief irrigation source of the district is the Gódávari, the channels from which protect 240,800 acres in all seasons. Some 4,600 acres of this are in Rajahmundry, and the rest in the delta taluks of Rámachandrapuram, Cocanada, Amalápuram and Nagaram. Tanks and channels from smaller rivers safeguard 31,800 acres in all seasons and 53,800 acres in ordinary seasons. Wells irrigate a very small area. Only in Amalápuram taluk does the extent protected by them rise above 100 acres.
The Gódávari water is rendered available by the great anicut at Dowlaishweram and the immense system of canals and channels leading off from it. Those in this district are shown in the accompanying map, and there are yet others in Kistna.
This anicut was the first of any real magnitude to be built by Europeans in this Presidency (the Cauvery system was an elaboration of native enterprize) and is one of the greatest triumphs of engineering skill in all India. Its history is of the greatest interest. Not only were the physical difficulties encountered in damming up so huge a river enormous, but the opposition of those who doubted the possibility and financial prospects of the work had to be overcome. Both were met by the engineers in charge of the project with indomitable perseverance and fortitude.
