Agricultural Land

Agricultural land, 'means any land used as arable, meadow, or pasture ground only, cottage gardens exceeding one quarter of an acre, market gardens, nursery grounds, orchards or allotments, but doe not include land occupied together with a house as a park, gardens other than as aforesaid, pleasure grounds, or any land kept or preserved mainly or exclusively for purposes of sport or recreation, or land used as a racecourse.'-Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, s. 9. Compare definition of 'agriculture' in Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, s. 61, as including 'horticulture, forestry and the use of land for any purpose of husbandry, inclusive of keeping or breeding of live stock, poultry or bees, and the growth of fruit, vegetables and the like.'

Unless there was evidence that forest lands had been, in some way set apart or earmarked for or linked up with an agricultural purpose, by their owners or occupiers, it could not be held that they are agricultural lands, Controller of Estate duty Kerala v. V. Venugopala Rajah, AIR 1977 SC 121 (126). [Estate Duty Act (24 of 1953), s. 534]

Means land used as arable, meadow or grazing land, or for the purpose of poultry or pig farming, market, gardens, allotments, nursery grounds or orchards. Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 2, 4th Edn., Para 384, Note 2, p. 183.