FOR NIXE MONTHS OF THE YEARS 1850-51. 



Week ending 29th May, 1851. 



63 



Obs. — With the exception of Sunday tlie past week has been attended 

 with continued fine weather. The bearded wheat, now arrived at ma- 

 turity, has been for the most part cut down, conveyed to the farmsteads, 

 and in some places even thrashed on the mud before the doors, with a 

 flail, only differing from our own by having one portion to revolve upon 

 a lateral hinge at the extremity of the half held in the hand. It is very 

 extraordinary to observe the carelessness with which this process is con- 

 ducted, and the little anxiety manifested by the peasants to keep their 

 grain clean. The fields of stubble are being irrigated and prepared for 

 the paddy, which will soon be ready for transplantation — some however 

 have been devoted to cotton — and in a few the young cotton plants, 

 which were sown among the wheat at the commencement of the month 

 and covered with earth from the furrows, are now several inches above 

 the surface. The average temperature of the past Meek has been 72*1°; 

 that of the corresponding week in 1850, 77-3°. 



