( 85 ) 



himself; the third by the eldest boy. Towards the end of Kwdr the kdkun and 



maize will be cut, the cobs separated from the stalks, five men being hired to 



help, and the maize field will then be cleared, " bhut&i karna," for rabi and 



ploughed. The hired man must be kept on to watch the jwdr and bdjra, and 



the cultivator, helped by another man, sows his rabi (one bigha wheat, three bighas 



bijhra, including ths dofasli field, two bighas jau-chana) in four days, levels the 



fields himself and with a man to help for t<vo days, makes the irrigation beds 



and channels, after which he waters his cane. Hiring three men, he now cuts 



indigo seed and stores it on the threshiugfloor, and then brings in the urd and 



til from the jwdr, and the mung from the bdjra, in all seven days ; and then by 



beating separates the seed pods of the indigo (he has a man to assist him all 



this time). The bdjra is now cut, and afterwards the jwdr, by men taking their 



wages in kind (lonhdri). Then the indigo seed, bdjra, and jwdr, are threshed 



out and winnowed, taking, say, a week; and as it is now Aghan, the well is put in 



repair (see " Well") and the housewife, helped by other women (paid by eleventh 



share), begins to pick the cotton. The cultivator sets to work to water his rabi 



with help : it will take twenty days to water his wheat and bijhra (jau-chana will 



remain unirrigated), after which the cane is watered, and the wheat and bijhra 



weeded, five hired men helping, and the job taking four days. In Pus the rabi 



is again watered and preparations made for pressing out the sugar ; the mill fixed 



in the ground and the boiling house covered in. The wheat is then watered 



again, taking four days, and the cane cut and pressed (see " Cane"), taking eight 



days, after which there is nothing to do for nearly three weeks, when the wheat 



must be watered yet once more, and preparations made to sow next year's cane. 



When Chait has come, after the ffoli, the family will cut the wheat in three days, 



the bijhra in nine days, the jau-chana in six days, and the arhar in two days more, 



and bring the whole to the threshingfloor, where they will thresh it out at their 



leisure, taking perhaps six weeks to do it ; preparing the field in the meanwhile 



for next year's crop of cane. Thus the year has gone round, and it is Jeth 



again. 



