Final Report on the Land Revenue Survey and Settlement of the Athmallik State 1927-31

In the Baisipali on account of the flatness of the ground rice is the only crop grown apprecably and no land now spared for the cultivation of Rabi crops whereas in the Solapada Rabi crops take the first place. [...] The last 2 Perganas Painchakul and Chaurasi are riparian Perganas and run along the Panchadhara hills on one side and the Mahanadi river on the other and contain the best alluvial lands although the paddy crop of some of the riparian villages is subject to the ravages of flood the loss is doubly compensated by Rabi crops oil seeds and vegetables grown in. [...] Dispensaries--The State has established two charitable dispensaries one at the headquarters to give medical help to the people of Chaurasi and Painchakul Perganas and the other at Handapa on the Cuttack-Sambalpur Road for the utility of the people of Solpada and Baisipali Perganas and to the traveling public. [...] The cultivator must have a plough and a yoke to till and puddle the ground a harrow to break the clods a Korad or Rampa for levelling his uneven and undulating fields a hoe or Bida to tear up the surface of the soil to loosen and soften it to kill the weeds a sickle_ for cutting the grain a spade a shovel and a pickaxe to dig the earth. [...] The people keep their cattle in their noriparian fields enclosed by a thin hedge for a month or so and then move on to the next field thus leaving the dungs of cattle on the surface of the fields which are mixed with the soil when it is ploughed after the first or the second shower in February and get putrefied during the rains enriching the productivity of the soil.