( 17 ) 



to be thrown away ; for the ryot has a decided liking for having his water 

 available when he wants it, stored, that is, to hand, not dependent on the supply in 

 the canal, which varies week by week. He does not object to lifting his water; 

 indeed he often takes canal water down a slope at the end of which he will 

 have to lift at some expense. 



55. Few natural reservoirs give more than one watering, because the 

 demand is so great, every one being entitled to one watering if he can get it, 

 that the supply does not hold out. 



56. The water of the ponds near villages is most valuable from the col- 

 lected drainage of the houses and cattle-pens, and it is rich in the elements 

 of manure. Fields near such ponds, and irrigated from them, will always 

 fetch good rents, though as a fact zemindars very often monopolise the water 

 ibr their " sir ;" and as they seem regardless of expense in the matter of 

 lifts, I am led to believe that they can only afford this irrigation by having 

 recourse to the unpaid labour of the village menials. (It is well known that 

 zemindars are entitled to get one ploughing from each cultivator's plough, and 

 as there are always certain chamdrs and koris called " gaonkama," I 

 imagine their labour is utilised for the purpose of lifting water. They are paid 

 by annual doles from the threshingfloors of the cultivators. ^ Cultivators 

 avoid the expense of lifting by mutual assistance : hence Mr. Buck saw 

 as many as four lifts at work from the Isan river, and I have myself frequently 

 seen one lift of two baskets at a lake, one lift of two baskets between the 

 lake and field, and one lift of one basket at the field. The number of lifts 

 increases of course as the water gets lower in the reservoir. 



57. The method of irrigation is the same as described under " Canal." 



58. There is some irrigation from the river Isan, but from none of the 

 other larger streams, which are too deep to allow of water being lifted with 

 profit. Refuse water from the canal is passed down small streams like the 

 two rivers Non, and used unpaid for by the villages on either bank. 



59. Except in the rare instance of the refuse from indigo vats being 



available, or camping grounds being near, the cultivator has 

 Manure . 



only his own manure heap to look to for the improvement of 



his land. This he commences to form when the rains fall, for during this 

 season he cannot dry his cowduug fuel-cakes. For the remainder of the 

 year all his house sweepings, ashes, refuse, straw, &c., are thrown on the heap ; 

 but though the ash of the fuel itself contains a large proportion of plant-food, 

 the most valuable portion of the heap is that which is at the bottom, as contain- 

 ing more unmixed droppings from his cattle. 



60. The result of enquiry tested by actual observation givos, roughly 

 speaking, an average of sufficient manure for half an acre as collected from 



3 



