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77. A Kurmi is, next to the Kdchhi, the best cultivator in this district ; he 

 farms on a broader scale, but in devotion to his land and 

 industry, both of himself and of his entire family, he rivals 

 the more closely working market gardener. Take a Kurmi with a wife and 

 throe boys aged 8, 10, and 12 respectively, with one pair of plough bullocks and 

 fifteen bighas of land. His agricultural operations will be as follows : In Jeth 

 he will prepare (by watering) a field to be sown with indigo, for seed, not plant. 

 He will hire a man to help, and as the field is very dry it will take five days to 

 water ; meanwhile three labourers will plough his field. He must also water the 

 cane, taking four days, and dig it up (gurai) with the kuddr, hiring three men to help. 

 The indigo is then watered, taking five days, and again the cane, taking four, which 

 will then be weeded by ten labourers. Another watering will be given to the 

 indigo, and then it will be weeded, eight men being hired to help, and a third 

 watering given the cane, after which the man and his son will bring mud in a 

 cart from the pond and throw it on the cane field : this will take two days, and two 

 men will be hired to assist in putting the mud at the root of each plant. Mow 

 to, manure the maize field with one cartload (20 maunds) of stable refuse, the 

 hire of the cart being two annas, the man himself will spread the manure in a day; 

 when the rain falls he will plough the field for maize for two days, and the son 

 aad four labourers will weed the indigo ; after which he, his son, and labourer 

 will sow the maize up to noon, cleaning the field for the rest of the day. He 

 will then plough for cotton and sow it the next day himself, and when this is 

 done, plough for and sow his jwdr (three bighas), in all four days. He is now at 

 liberty to commence ploughing his rabi fields : after giving them one ploughing 

 he will plough for his bdjra, and weed his cotton, hiring two men for two days, and 

 his maize, hiring four men fortwo days, and his cane, hiring two men for two days, 

 and his indigo, hiring ten men for one day. Sdwan has now arrived, and he gives 

 the rabi fields another ploughing, after which he sows his bajra, cleans the field, 

 and then for three days weeds his jwdr with eight hired men. Againhe ploughs his 

 rabi fields and weeds his maize with four hired men for two days, and then his cot- 

 ton with six men for two days. Bhddon has now commenced, the rabi fields are 

 again ploughed, and the maize weeded and the roots strengthened with earth heaped 

 up round them, four men being hired to assist. Again the cotton is weeded 

 and the rabi fields ploughed, and the bdjra weeded by ten men, taking two days. 

 After another ploughing forra&i, the jwdr is thinned in two days and the indigo 

 cut by his family and three hired men, and the cultivator himself. Suppose it to 

 rain for three days and Kvadr is oome, then there are three things to be done - 

 to watch the maize, plough the rabi, and collect fodder for the cattle. The first 

 js done by a hired man, costing Rs. 2-5-6 a month; the second by the cultivator 



