INDIAN GRAIN CROPS. 253 



such is the wonderful productive power of the sun in 

 combination with water. Upon the plains of Oudh, 

 for instance, according to Sir William Hunter, the usual 

 return of land amounts to three harvests annually, the 

 " Rabi " in the Spring ; the " Kharif " (the rainy season, or 

 autumnal harvest) and the " Hewant " in Winter. From 

 the Rabi, sown in October and November and reaped 

 in March and April, the chief crops are wheat, barley, 

 gram, peas, gujai, and birra ; from the Kharif sown in 

 June and reaped in October and November, rice, millets, 

 sawan, mandwa, kakun, and maize; from "Hewant" 

 reaped in December, joar, bajra, mash, and other grains, 

 in addition to the valuable tobacco, opium, and vegetable 

 crops, and spices, such as cummin, aniseed, coriander, 

 etc. When the "Zaid" or fourth harvest is obtained, 

 it is reaped in May. While the pay of ordinary 

 agricultural labourers is about i^-d. per day, in money, 

 when not paid in grain : and artizans, such as smiths, 

 carpenters, etc., receive 4-|-d. per day in their own 

 villages, or 6d. if called away from home. * It is 

 therefore not to be wondered at if the price of wheat 

 and other grains is lowered, and that the British 

 agriculturist with his uncertain and variable climate 

 finds it hard to compete with these and other duty- 

 free over-sea borne bread-stuffs. 



When the sun has had time to dry the soil, after 

 the termination of the rains, in most countries adjacent 

 to the tropics, this is as we have explained followed 

 by a brief cool season. In Northern India for example 

 this may be said tb last from the end of November 

 till the middle of February, after which the heat 



* The Imperial Gazetteer of India, by Sir William W. Hunter, 2nd 

 edit., 1886, Vol. viii, p. 498. Ibid. Vol. x, p. 375. 



