Mr. Craddock describes the agricultural character of the different parts of the District as follows :-

The north Bhiugarh and Dongartal tract (where the large blocks of Government forest included in the east and west Pench ranges are situated) bear considerable resemblance to the Satpura country which they border. The soil met with in them is mostly light, the villages small and poor, and the cultivators belong to the aboriginal tribes, consisting principally of Gonds and Gowaris. ON the other hand, in the whole of the country drained by the Wardha river and its tributaries, we find land of exceptional fertility, producing both rabi and kharif crops, interspersed with many garden villages. Even in the more rugged portions of the Katol tahsil the flat-topped stone-covered trap hills which about, in seasons of adequate rainfall, will grow excellent crops of juar and cotton. The Wainganga plain is essentially the wheat tract of the District, and wheat, linseed and pulses are the principal crops produced. The rainfall is too heavy for cotton, and juar is not very successful, except on well-drained areas met with along river banks. The edges of the plain begin to resemble the tracts which border it. On the east along the Bhandara border, rice is of some importance, and tanks and ponds about. On the west, where the Wunna valley is approached, autumn crops are more important. The agricultural character of the country lying between the two main divisions of the District has also distinctions of its own. But it may be generally said of it, that in the north (the country round Kalmeshwar and Saoner) it resembles the rice portions of the Wardha valley, in the south (the Wunna valley ) it is more like the poorer portions of the Katol tahsil. The remaining division of the country, or the Nand valley, which consists of the Sirsi and a portion of the Bela groups, is a wheat-growing tract. The proportion of juar, cotton and other kharif crops produced is remarkably small. This tract is still much under-cultivated; the tenantry are lazy and resource less. They pay unduly low rents, and allow half their holdings t be fallow’.