ItYK. 



RYSWICK, PEACE OF. 



224 



ml). thj ofUo Uke paw or bean* between the rye-gram and the 

 wheat. Thin aocord* with theory ; t <r when the rye-gram completes 

 iu fructification, ev.-n if the seed i nut ri|>o, it liiu deteriorating 

 eflbet on the eoil similar to that of white crop, ami then-fore a legu- 

 minous crop should succeed it. 



liirtt-rnit \.iri. tiro of rye-gnu* hare been recommended at various 

 time*; one which goee by the name of Paety't ryr-yrau luu kept 

 iU imputation a* a perennial grass for a long time. tin- Italian ryr- 

 TIM, well known in the ninth <>f France, in Switzerland, and in 

 Germany, U a native of Lombanly, where it growl moat luxuriantly 

 and rapidly by mean* of irrigation. There in DO gram which to toon 

 forma a water-meadow ; and it bean well the cold and wet winters of 

 Britain. On rich moist land it grown most rapidly and luxuriantly. It 

 will bear eereral cuttings in a * >n. Those who have paid attention to 

 the cultivation of rye-gram think highly of it. It grows much more 

 rapidly in spring than any other gram, and ia iu> much relished by cattle, 

 that they scarcely allow a single stem to spring up. A small sjiacc in a 

 kyer being sowu with Italian rye-gnus, may be distinguished in the 

 pasture by, iu superior green colour and its very close pile; and 

 the cattle will always bo found then?, OB long as there is the least 

 bite for them. It may be advantageously sown in autumn with the 

 Trifoliiim iiu-.uiutum, and together iln-y w ill give much early green 

 food in spring. It maybe a question whether tin- i pratsnUa to 

 owing rye; but it afford* a variety, r.ml .. gome soils may produce 

 earlier and more abundant feed for lambs. Wlien It.ilian rye-gross is 

 own by itself, and allowed to go to seed, it becomes thin after the 

 nrt year, from many of the plants dying off: it may therefore be 

 prudent to mix some other kinds of grouses with it, which will supply 

 its puce where it is worn out. It is a most excellent practice to sow 

 Italian rye-gnus on old meadows and pastures, at the time when they 

 are recruited with compost or earth. If they are well harrowed or 

 scarified, and the rye-gnus be sown before the roller goes over them, 

 the succeeding crop of hay will lie much increased in quantity and 

 improved in quality. On water-meadows, which require renovation. 

 this gram is invaluable, being early, rapid in gmwth, and very abundant 

 when irrigated. We have ecen hay made- in July frm a newly-made 

 water-meadow sown with Italian ryi'-gr.iHs iu March. This wan at Mr. 

 De Felleubcrg's, at Hofwyl.near Berne, in Switzerland. No plant will 

 more fully use abundant dressings of manure than Italian rye-grass. 

 If richly manured and irrigated after ench cutting it will yield 18 to 

 20 tons of green food per acre, three or four times in the year. 

 When sown by itself 3 bushels per acre are gown broadcast in August 

 or September, and the next year the crop will U' in full bearing. A 

 first or second cutting may be token in the following year, and being 

 then ploughed down a crop of late turnips or rape may be taken pre- 

 vious to a succeeding spring-sown corn crop. 



KYE. SPURRED. [EUCJOT.] 



KYOTS, the name by which the cultivators of the soil in Hindustan 

 are designated. The ryots pay rent out of the produce of their land to 

 a sovereign proprietor, and, so long AH they pay the rent demanded of 

 them, have a claim to the continued occupation of the land. 



The economical condition of the Asiatic cultivator may lie described 

 as being made up of tin- three following circumstances : 1. He is on 

 hereditary occupier, or. in other words, has an hereditary claim to the 

 occupation of the land which he cultivates. 2. The amount of rent 

 which he pays is, in practice, determined by the sovereign power. 

 3. There exisUa number of classes intermediate between the hereditary 

 occupier and the sovereign. all entitled to various portions of the 

 revenue which is yielded by the laud, but none having any proprietary 

 right. The number of these intermediate classes, arising out of the 

 tendency of all offices connected with the land to become hereditary, 

 has contributed greatly to the ignorance prevalent among Europeans 

 of the position of Asiatic cultivators. 



Such being the general features of the economical condition of the 

 ryot, bis actual position necessarily depends most, on the amount of 

 rent paid by him to the sovereign, and the iiinnm-r in which the rent 



The amount of rent was fixed by the laws of Menu at a sixth, an : 



eighth, or a twelfth of the crops, according to differences in the soil, in 

 the degree, of labour necessary to cultivate it, and m the general pros- 

 perity of districts; but in times of urgent necessity, of war or invasion, 

 the same laws allowed the king to take even so much as a fourth. 

 (' Institutes of Menu,' c. iii., 130; x. 118, 120.) A sixth part of the 

 produce hod come to bo the uniform tax in Hindustan when the 

 Mohammedans became its masters. (' Sacontala.') But we find in 

 Strabo, that when Alexander invaded India, a fourth of the produce 

 was generally taken as rent. The despotic sovereigns of the K.I-I did 

 not long continue to observe their ancient laws, sometimes opfnly 

 violating them, at other times evading them by a resort to imliivi t 

 taxation. Indeed before the Mohammedan period there are instances 

 of oppression by Hindu governments, under which the ryots were 

 allowed to retain no more than a fifth or sixth of their crops. 



The form in which the rent is paid hag even a greater influence on 

 the condition of the ryot than its amount. In ancient times the rent wa< 

 always paid in produce. Whenever, iu later times, it has been deman- 

 ded in money, the consequences have been ruinous to the ryot, chiefly 

 owing to the want of markets. When the ryot is compelled to pay in 

 money, which, owing to the want of a ready market, he has a difhViilly 

 in doing, his obvious resort is to a money-lender. The money which 

 he borrows for the purpose of relieving himself of immediate difficulty 

 is borrowed at a high rate of interest. The immediate difficulty is 

 thus got rid of at a great sacrifice, and the ryot becomes dependent on 

 the money-lender. In 1860 considerable discontent was created among 

 the ryots in Bengal by the system asserted to have been adopted by 

 the European indigo manufacturers : these, it was at least asserted by 

 the ryots, made agreement* with the zemindar* that certain portions 

 of the land should be devoted to the cultivation of the indigo plant, to 

 be sold to them, in consideration of certain advancements of money at 

 a rate wliich was ruinous to the cultivator. The attempt to enforce 

 these agreements by law occasioned several tumults, and the dispute is 

 not yet (1861) settled. 



The agency by means of which the rents are collected, though less 

 important than the form of payment, has also a considerable influence 

 on the condition of the ryot. Under the ancient Indian governments, 

 the agents of the prince to whom districts were assigned transacted 

 immediately with the ryots, either singly or in villages. The latter 

 mode was the more general, by which the government levied a certain 

 sum on each village, and left it to the villages to settle the individual 

 quotas among themselves. 



As regards the payment of rents, there were two kinds of arrange- 

 ment prevailing in the villages. In some villages the land was culti- 

 vated in common, and each cultivator hod a share of the produce 

 assigned, according to certain fixed rules ; these were called liyarliarri/ 

 (brotherhood) villages. In others, each ryot cultivated separately his 

 own spot of land, and paid rent for it separately : these went by the 

 name olputterday (partnership) villages. 



The heads of villages paid the rents collected to the heads of dis- 

 tricts (de> adikart); these again to the heads of larger tracts of country. 

 The system of government detailed in the ' Institutes of Menu ' 

 enumerates lords of one town or district, of ten towns, of twenty 

 towns, of a hundred towns, and a thousand towns. All these lords 

 received assignments of land, and a per centoge on their collections 

 besides. 



Thi- heads of districts (dea adlhin) came afterwards to be represented 

 by one class of zemindars, namely, those whose duties were confined i o 

 the superintendence of police. The class of zemindars however 

 which is the best known is that class in which the duty of collecting 

 the revenue was added to the superintendence of police. This is not 

 the place to speak of these functionaries, or to trace the changes in 

 their duties and position until the commencement of the British 

 dominion. [ZKMINU.UI.] 



A full and interesting account of ryot rents will be found in Mr. 



Jones's EMU;/ on the J)!itrll>i<ti:ii i,f Wealth and on the tfuurcel of 



T'l.i-Htiiiii. 'i'lie render is referred also to Mr. Mill's ffutory of India, 



l.v Wilson, vol. i. 



' KY.SWICK, 1'EACE OF, [TREATIES, CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF.] 



