MS 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



ili!). The implements and ojierations of Hindustance agriculture are as simple as can 

 well l>6 imagined. The 

 plough] of which General 

 Beatson has given several 

 forms (jig. 1 19.), is little 

 better man a pointed stick, 

 and is carried to the Held 

 on the shoulder like the 

 spade. It scratches (lie 

 sandy uplands, or the mud 



left by the livers, in a to- 

 lerable manner ; hut the 

 strong lands of Bengal, 

 that send up the ./uncus 

 already mentioned, ap- 

 pear as green after one ploughing as before; "only a few scratches are perceptible here 

 and there, more resembling the digging of a mole than the work of the plough." To 

 accomplish the work of pulverisation, the ploughman repeats the operation from five 

 to fifteen times, and at last succeeds in raising mould enough to cover the seed : one 

 plough and pair is allowed to five acres. From this mode of repeatedly going over the 

 same surface and effecting a little each time, General Beatson has drawn some inge- 

 nious arguments in favour of the use of the cultivator in this country, which will be 

 afterwards noticed. 



920. The cart, or hackery, has two wheels, and is drawn by two bullocks. The wheels 

 are under three feet in diameter, and the body of the carriage consists of two bamboos, 

 united by a few cross-bars, also of bamboo, and approaching each other the whole length 

 of the machine, till they meet at a point between the necks of the cattle, where they are 

 supported by a bar projecting sideways over the shoulders of both. By this the oxen or 

 buffaloes are often galled in a shocking manner, and the suppuration which takes place 

 in consequence is, perhaps, not perfectly cured during the whole life of the animal ; the 

 evil being aggravated by the crows, which set upon him as soon as he is relieved from the 

 yoke. 



921. As no department of aration can be carried on without artificial watering, that 

 operation becomes very expensive and troublesome in elevated districts. In the Mon- 

 gheer district of Bengal, a deep well is dug in the highest part of the field. The fields, 

 after being ploughed, are divided into little square plots, resembling the checkers of a 

 backgammon table. Each square is surrounded with a shelving border, about four 

 inches high, capable of containing water. Between the square checkers thus constructed 

 small dykes are formed for conveying a rivulet over the whole field. As soon as the water 

 has stood a sufficient time in one square for that portion to imbibe moisture, it is let off into 

 the adjoining one, by opening a small outlet through the surrounding dyke. Thus one 

 square after another is saturated, till the whole field, of whatever extent, is gone over. 



922. The ivater is raised in large leathern bags, pulled up by two bullocks yoked to a 

 rope. The cattle are not driven in a gin as ours, but retire away from the well, and re- 

 turn to its mouth, accordingly as the bag is meant to be raised or to descend. When 

 raising the filled skin they walk down hill away from the well, and they ascend back- 

 wards as the emptied skin redescends into the water. The earth is artificially raised 

 to suit this process. The rope is kept perpendicular in the pit, by a pulley, over which 

 it runs. From the mouth of the well thus placed, the rivulets are formed to every part 

 of a field 



923. In the district of Palna the wells are not so deep. Here the leathern bags are 

 raised by long bamboo levers, as buckets are in several parts of this country. In a few- 

 places rice is transplanted, which is done with pointed sticks, and the crop is found to be 

 better than what is sown broadcast. 



924. In the hill;/ districts they neither plough nor sow ; what grain they raise is 

 introduced into small holes, made with a peg and mallet, in a soil untouched by 

 the plough. The oidy preparation given to it is the turning away of the jungle. 

 Iu the vicinity of Rajamahl there are many tribes of peasants, who subsist partly by 

 digging roots, and by killing birds and noisome reptiles. In these savage districts 

 ninety villages have been taxed for two hundred rupees ; and yet this paltry sum could 

 only be made up by fruits peculiar to the situation. The wretched state of these peasants, 

 Dr. Tennant observes, outdoes every thing which a European can imagine. 



925. Harvests are gathered in at different seasons of the year ; and as often as a 

 particular crop is collected, the ryot sends for the brahmin, or parish priest, who burns 

 ghee and says prayers over the collected heap, and receives one measure of grain for his 

 trouble. 



926- The selections we have now submitted will give some idea of the aboriginal agri- 



