FAMINES IN CHINGLEPUT DISTRICT 5 the soil is still moist and after the seeds sprout the fields are kept constantly weeded. The principal points of difference between Pulithikkal and Settukkal are that the former does not require irrigation for two months after sowing, and thereby affords greater facilities for cattle than the latter at the time of ploughing. Cultivation in the district was heavily depjsnded on animal power. No breed of cattle was peculiar to Chingleput. Those raised locally were mostly inferior as there were few good grazing grounds.13 The goats and sheep were of the ordinary varieties. In Ponneri taluk alone in 1871-72, the total number of ploughing cattle was estimated at 15,143. This rose to 16,034 in 1878.14 Despite this increase, in 1877 there were complaints of want of ploughing cattle in the district as a whole.15 This was probably due to the death of numerous cattle for want of fodder. Straw formed the only or the principal fodder of the cattle. Straw and cow dung (the latter in the shape of bratties for fuel) were carried off to Madras where they commanded a ready market.16 The farm stock was thus left without the fodder required during the dry season to pick up what sustenance it could on the arid plains around the villages, and the soil was deprived of its productive power. Traditional mod^s of cultivation coupled witlrthe continuous overuse of land could explain the decline in yield per acre during the eighteenth century (Table 2).17 The same decreasing trend in the productive capacity of land may have occurred in the nineteenth century as well as no efforts were taken to improve the fertility of land, though there must exist a floor to the level of yield per acre.18 Table 2: Trends in Yield Per Acre Year Yield per acre in Ibs (a) 1788 2610 (b) 1796-97 830 (c) 1797-98 896 (d) 1798-99 696 Hills and Forests The higher productivity of land would J^ave been maintained if the district had been endowed with some hills and forests. They, apart from preventing soil erosion, play an important role in influencing monsoons and the temperature of a region.19 In Chingleput district the only hills worthy of mention are the Nagalapurarn Hills. The people of Chingleput were thus faced with a 'natural disadvantage*. Rivers or Streams Added to this was the fact that Chingleput district was not too well endowed with rivers or streams that could serve as a source of supply of water for irrigation. There were a few streams like the Palar, Cortelliar, Cheyyar, Narnavaram, Cooum, Nagari and Adayar, of