Soil Classifieation.- During ancient times, soils were classified into two broad types, viz. urvara and anurvara or usar. In the 16" century, the agricultural land was divided into barani, nehri, Sallabi and abi depending on the suitability of soils for crops, as determined by sources of irrigation. Later on, when the State of Haryana was divided into Assessment Circles for revenue purposes on the eve of the first settlement in the 19" century, the division purely confirmed to the surface texture of soil and the availability of water and sources of irrigation which put together determined the land productivity, On the basis of such information the villages were grouped into barani, nehri, khaddar, bangar, Chhachhra, naili, rohi, rangoi, bagar, tibba tal, beretc, Assessment Reports reveal that Pipli Tehsil of the then Ambala district had a great variety of soils at the end of 19" century Five Assessment Circles of the Tehsil formed the Khadir (new alluvium), the Ladwa Bangar (old alluvium in the plains), the Northern and Southern Chhachhras (abundant growth of dak jungle ) and the Markanda Bet' (low lying flood plains). The Pehowa tract, inundated by the capricious floods of the Saraswati and the Ghaggar was known as the Naili” The district mainly has now three type of soils, (i) the medium soil, (ii) the moderately heavy soil and (iii) the heavy soil and very heavy soil. Medium soil embrace three sub-categories viz. (a) Light Loam, (seori), (b) Coarse Loam (dhar and ‘Chacknot) and (c) Loam (bangar and sardak). i i Thanesar Tehsil The moderately heavy soil includes silty loam wl 's locally designated as Khadar. General alluvium of mixed origin is found along the major river course of the Yamuna. Khadar soil is very inferior, poor and grey-coloured sandy loam. ‘The heavy soil and very heavy soil are found along the Ghaggar and Markanda. The heavy soil is clayey silt which forms a good area of alluvium known as ber. The very heavy soil consists of silty clay or stiff loam or stiff clay which is confined to drainage lines and hollows. Hard clay (sofar) or loam prevails in Ghaggar valley in ———_ | Ambata District Gazetteer, 1892-93, pp.124-25 * Kamal District Gazetieer, 1892, pp 2-5