The Soils of the District Are Generally Sandy to Sandy Loam in Texture. In

The soils of the district are generally sandy to sandy loam in tex ture. In some areas , however, these are loamy and clay loam. For the study of soil structure , the di strict may be divided into three tracts, viz. Bagar, Haryana and Dadri . Bagar tract. - Th is tract covers th e Loharu tahsil and the Bhiwani tahsil except a small portion of it in the east . Here the prevailing characteris- tic is a light sandy soil and shifti ng sandhi lls interspersed in place s with firmer and in part s loamy bottoms. In general, the sub-soil water level of this tract vari es from 35 to 45 metres . The underground water in the Bhiwani tahsil is brackish and not fit for irr igation. However, in some patches around Jui villag e of Bhiwani block, the farmers have made attempts to instal tubewells but the wa ter of these tub ewells invariably turns brackish within three to four years as soon as the sweet strata of undergroun d water is exhauste d. Under gro und wat ~r ofTosham block is totally brackish though the water-table near Tos ham is little le ss than it s surrounding areas 1• There is a water belt in th e Loha ru tah sil whe re it has been possible to instal shallow tubewell s by farmets and deep community tubewells under MF AL (Marginal Farmers and Agric ul- tural Labou rers Dev elopment Agenc}) scheme. But the underground wate r resource s are meagre and as such the discharge of these tubewells is almo st 1/3 as comp ared to those in other districts of Haryana. Acco rding to the Hisar Dist ric t Gazetteer, 1915 g, and the Loharu St ate Gazetteer, 1915 3, the cul tivated area is classified as tibba (sandhills) an d tal (hard ground, i.e. the firmer valleys in between). Cul tivation in the former is car ried on wi th great difficu lty; if there is no rain there is no crop , not even a blade of gr ass; . while too heavy rain will wa sh the seed out of the soi l or choke it in its germination with sand washed down from the neighbouring hillocks, so th at cul tivators have to re-sow their fie lds often more than onc e. Dust storms often change the appearance of the fields; on a field which wa s quite level yesterd ay a sandhil l appears today. On the other hand, the plo ugh has to be driven afresh over land which had prev iously bee n the site of a 1. Hisar Di strict Gazetteers , 1892 (p .5), 1904 (p.4) and 1915 (p.4) , have mentione d about well irrig ation in the neigh bourhood of the To sham hi lls, where wa ter was nearer the surface. It implies th at the underground water \;l elt must be sWe¥tduring that period . 2. Ibid ,pp .4-5 . 3. Ibid ,p.12. sand hil l. But against all these di sa dvantages there are compensating adv an- tages. The labour of ploughin g is nex t to nothing owing to the light ness of the soil; again the light soil requi res le ss rain for the prod uction of a cro p than the heavier soils of Hary ana, so that there will be a crop, scanty ind eed, in the Bagar when the richer soil to the wes t lies unsown .Once the plan( has taken root, it str ugg les against drou ght for a long time . With a mode ra te rainfall the loamy valleys of the Bagar benefit largely by drainage fro m the sandhills . In tal land ploughing is especi ally difficult . It is done by camels. But the soil, if th e rainfall is su ffi cient , yi eld s fine crops and is preferred to th e tibba. Bo th so il s produce a si ngle crop in the year, and even this de pends upon the rainf all in July and Augu st . The autumn crop is all imp or ta nt , winter crop s being only grown exception ally , should there be good ra in- fall in Septemb er and October . In thi s event barley, gram and oilsee ds wil l be sown by the better cultiva tors on the more lev el pieces of la nd, an d with rain in December or Janu ary, a fair crop is reaped. In ta l areas, the gener al pr actice is to keep about 25 per cen t as fallow to conserve moisture for subs equen t so wing and the rest of the area is cove red under kharif crops . If th ere is suffi cient moisture in the soil towards the end of September and during Octob er, th e are a sown during kha rif in tal al so goes under rabi cr ops. In case of tim ely rainfa ll, the major area dur ing kharif goes for bajra and du ring rabi under gram. When :> there is late ra inf all . during kharif, about 5 to 10 per cent shifting of cropping p3 .ttern fro m baj ra to gwara is norm ally adop te d. While in the event ofla te ra infa ll duri ng rab i, some gram area, i.e. 5 to 10 per cen t, go es under rabi oilseeds (ta ramira) and bar ley . Now with the comm encem ent of perennia l irrigation provi ded by Jui Canal sy stem in par ts of th e Bhiw ani tahsil and some areas of the Lo ha ru tahsil, the tal areas under the comm and of thi s cana l system do hav e two cro ps du ring -the year. Ther e is al so some change in th e topogra phy of the land as the undu lating areas are being leve ll ed every yea r to uti lize the canal irrig at ion faci li ties more effectiv ely. Some areas of Tosham bl ock of the :J3hi wan itahsi l have come unde r seaso nal irrigation prov ided by the Siwani Can al System. As such some are a of tals are sown in both the seas on s in spite of lack of rainfal l for rabi sowing . Invaria bly one protec tiv e irriga tion duri ng winter is pr ovi ded for gram sown under ca nal irriga ted co nditions . The light texture of soils of thi s area ena ble s sowings und er scanty rainf all co nd itions as comp ared to other parts of the State. The inte rmitt ent sJlOwers during the 9fowth period ()ft be crop can he lp to bring th~ cro ps to maturity. Durin g winter, the sev ere cold waves can cause a total damage to the gram crop sown und er rainfed condition s. The principal crops in the Bhiwani tah sil of this tract are baj ra and gwara during kh arif; and gram, wh ea t and oi lseeds in rab i. Some area during kharif goes under pul ses and in raM some area is covered under bar ley on a few tubewell s in stalled in thi s are a. Cotton and gronudnut are being introduced in Jui Canal area . In the Lah am tahsil , be sides bajra and gwara, a sizeable area come s under khari fpulses during kha rif, and in rabi 'besides gram, wheat and oils eeds, barley is also grown on al most every tubewel l. Haryana tract.-It comp rises most of the Bawa ni Khera tah sil an d a small portion of the Bhiw ani tah sil in the east. This tract is generally leve l and sand-dunes are alm ost rar e. The le ading feature of the tract is its fir m clay soil, loc ally kn own as karri or kathi , as opposed to the light shifting sand of the Bagar. In low-lyin g sp ots aff ected by local draina ge, the soil becomes hard and cl ayey and is called dakar . The soi l of thi s tract is richer than the Bagar trac t. It requires mor e rainfal l th an that of the Bagar, and wit h sufficient seasona bl e rain is very pro ductive; bu t, on the other hand, no cr op can be rai sed on the scanty falls which suffice for the Bagar; and there is in ad diti on to th is the absence of local drainage from sandhill s. Th e underground water in almo st the wh ole of the tr ac t is brac kish except some iso lated patches in the vi cinit y of canal min ors. The depth of wa ter leve l is generally over tw enty five me tres. The major cr op du ring kharif is bajra and du ring rabi gram. Unlike the Bagar tract, whe at, suga r- cane an d cot to n cr ops ar e being grow n in the ar ea of this tr act co ver ed by the Western Yamun a (Jumn a)Cana l Syst em as it has better irrig ation facil ities and as su ch the fall ow are a durin g raM is almost ha lf of the Baga r trac t. In rest of the area; du ring kharif the fall ow is almost equ al to Eagar tract .

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