450 



fathers, including the patel, or head of the vilhige, the IculJcarmi, or 

 accountant, the sutar, or carpenter, the lohar, or smith, the chamhar, or 

 shoemaker, &c. These oflflcials receive for their services a regular alh)w- 

 ance in money or produce, and do the work of their respective handi- 

 crafts without charge to the villager, who only furnishes the material 

 to be manufactured. As their perquisites consist, in part, of certain 

 l^roportions of the growing croi)s, they necessarily inform themselves of 

 the extent and character of those crops. This social organization then 

 furnishes, ready to hand, the machinery for the collection of agricultural 

 statistics. The original records are kept in the vernacular language, 

 abstracts of which are translated into English for the information of the 

 Anglo-Indian government. 



The statistical unit of land is approximately the smallest extent that 

 can be i)lowed with two bullocks and tilled by the cultivator or bread- 

 winner for the support of his family. In the Bombay " survey " the 

 "numbers" or fields of a village, varying in size from what a pair of bul- 

 locks can plow to double that quantity, are carefully measured, with the 

 necessary " checks " to insure accuracy. Lands held by different teu- 

 ures and for different kinds of culture, such as wet, dry, or garden land, 

 are treated as separate "numbers." The " checks" are taken by a Euro- 

 pean assistant, and the errors of native measurement are not allowed to 

 exceed two per cent. After measurement the " numbers " are classified, 

 for assessment purposes, according to the productive capacity of soil, 

 into three kinds — black, brown, and yellow or gravelly. They are 

 gauged again according to their depth, on which depends their ability 

 to imbibe and retain moisture. The presence of " faults," or deteriorat- 

 ing ingredients, such as nodules of limestone, sand, want of cohesion, 

 roughness of surface, &c., is also noted, as well as facilities for irrigation, 

 distance from market, &c. 



At intervals of several years a regular return is made for each village 

 of the above statistics, but every year there is a special return showing 

 the number of acres under twenty-eight of the principal crops, with the 

 number left fallow, besides prices and rates of wages and village popu- 

 lation. The village accounts of each district, called a talulk, are consoli- 

 dated ; the taluk accounts are aggregated in those of a collectorate, and 

 these into a whole presidency. This is the normal system of the Bom- 

 bay presidency, which is the type of Indian social organization. In 

 other presidencies more or less important modifications of the system 

 are extant. The records of the Madras presidency, between 1810 and 

 1825, are especially full and complete. The present measuring system 

 is more accurate than in Bombay, while the classification of soils is pre- 

 served upon similar principles. Annual returns are made of the area 

 of cultivaible and uncultivable land in each village, of irrigated and dry 

 crops, including specially sugar, cotton, and indigo, with prices and 

 rates of wages ; but the acreage in millets, pulses, and some other crops 

 is not given in J3ombay, Punjaub, Oudh, «Sic. There is also in Madras a 

 quinquennial census of population, live stock, implements, &c., such items 

 as are furnished in Bombay at each periodical " settlement." The records 

 of the northwest provinces have not been kept up to date, though they 

 are quite full for the period represented. The central government has 

 taken measures for the comiiletion of these records. The Punjaub 

 records, embracing accurate maps and plats of survey, are especially 

 valuable, and special information is given in regard to classification of 

 soils, rotation of crops, the number of plows, carts, and cattle, together 

 ■with the population, prices, and rates of wages. In the lower provinces 

 of Bengal the native machinery for the collection of such statistics has 



