Page:Madras District Gazetteers - Anantapur.pdf/26

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Anantapur drains cither into the Pennér or its tributary the Chitra- vati, The district thus has a gradual fall from the south northwards until the valley of the Pennér in the Gooty and Tadpatri taluks is passed, after which the ground rises slightly once more. In Hindupur and Madakasfra in the south, where the country runs up to join the Mysore plateau, the average elevation above the sea is over 2,000 feet. By the time Anantapur is reached this has fallen to some 1,100 feet. Gooty stands at about the same height, while Tadpatri, which is in the lowest corner of the district, is only about 900 feet above the sea.


It will be seen that the only taluks in which there is any considerable area of black soil are Gooty and Tadpatri. In the former, most of this lies to the west of a line drawn from Guntakal through Vajra-Kariru and Lattavaramu to Amidala, and forms a continuation of the great cotton-soil spreads of the eastern portion of Bellary district. There are also isolated patches in one or two villages to the east of the Ndgasamudram hills. In Tadpatri the régada occupies practically the whole of the centre of the taluk, the only country covered with red earth being that round about the various hiils and a narrow strip along the banks of the Penner, which latter is frequently soudu, or alkaline. Sometimes however—as in the cases of Gudipddu and Kundanakéta on the top of the Erramalla

‘range between this taluk and Koilkuntla in Kurnool—the cotton-soil

occurs even on the hills themselves, Speaking generally, the régada of both Gooty and Tadpatri is inferior in fertility to that in Bellary district and in the former taluk none of it is assessed at more than Re. 18-0 per acre (though in Bellary Rs. 2-8-0 is not uncommon) while in Tadpatri, which possesses the best soil in the district, only six per cent. of all the dry land is charged more than this amount. Large areas of the régada are saline. The origin and properties of this soil have been much discussed but have yet to be finally determined, In some quarters it is believed to be derived from basalt

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