BENGAL. 



453 



Bengal, supplies necessary to keep up the inundation.'' " The 

 v ' decrease of the inundation does not always keep 

 pace with tlt of the river, by reason of the height 

 of the banks ; but after the beginning of October, 

 when the rain has nearly ceased, the remainder of 

 the inundation goes off quickly by eiftporation, lea- 

 ving the lands highly manured, and in a state to re- 

 ceive the seed, after the simple operation of plow- 

 ing." Rennet's Memoir, p. 348, &c. 

 Husban- The intense heats which succeed the rainy season, 



dl T - and which act upon the soil when full of moisture, 



produce, in Bengal, a luxuriance of vegetation which 

 is unknown in any other country in the world. The 

 lands are -easily cultivated, and yield abundant crops 

 without any other manure than whatiias been depo- 

 sited by the waters of the inundation. The princi- 

 pal food of the natives, and, consequently, the princi- 

 pal object of the husbandman, is rice ; but very good 

 wheat and barley, though much smaller and lighter 

 than in Europe, is also produced. A great variety 

 of different kinds of pulse is raised during the inter- 

 vals of attention to the white grains, such as pease, 

 chiches, pigeon pease, kidney beans, &c. ; and these 

 constitute a very valuable article in Bengal husband- 

 ry, as they require very little culture, and thrive 

 readily on the poorer soils. Maize, millet, panic, and 

 other small grains, which are chiefly the food of the 

 poorer classes, are very generally sown, especially in 

 the hilly regions and western districts ; and there is 

 a very extensive culture of mustard, sesamum, lint- 

 seed, and palma christi, to supply the vast consump- 

 tion of oil by the natives of the country. The plough 

 of Bengal is drawn by a single yoke of oxen, guided 

 by the ploughman himself ; but three pair of oxen 

 are assigned to every plough, and these relieve each 

 other till the daily task be completed. Several 

 ploughs in succession deepen the same furrows, or 

 rather scratch the surface, as it has no contrivance 

 for turning the earth, and the share has neither width 

 nor depth to stir a new soil. A second ploughing 

 erosses the first, and a third is sometimes given dia- 

 gonally to the preceding. These frequently repeat- 

 ed, and followed by the substitute for the harrow, 

 which is generally nothing more than the branch of 

 a tree, pulverise the surface, and prepare it for the 

 seed. For the extirpation of weeds after the crops 

 have risen above the ground, the labourers employ a 

 short-handed spade, and place themselves at their 

 work in a sitting posture. There are two seasons of 

 reaping in the year ; one in April, called the little 

 harvest, which consists of the smaller grains ; and 

 another, called the grand harvest, which is wholly of 

 rice, though in some places three crops of this grain 

 are raised in one year. But nothing can be conceived 

 more tedious and injudicious than the mode of reap- 

 ing. A mixture of different crops is frequently sown 

 together in the same field ; and, as these ripen in 

 succession, the husbandman must either gather them 

 singly, which occasions great destruction to the later 

 plant3 by their being repeatedly trodden down, or 

 must wait till he can reap the whole at once, which 

 causes an equal loss in the more early grains by over 

 ripeness. The corn of every description, after being 

 reaped, is carelessly piled up without any defence 

 from the weather, to be trodden out by the cattle, 

 or threshed by the staff of the husbandman at his 



convenience ; and the grain, after being winnowed in 

 the wind, is stored in jars of unbaked earth, and bas- 

 kets made of twigs or grass, or is hoarded above 

 ground in round huts, the floor of which, on account 

 of the dampness of the climate and the moisture of 

 the soil, is raised a foot or two above the surface. 



With an excellent soil and climate, with almost 

 every variety of cultivated grains, and with a compe- 

 tent number of labourers at a small expense, the im- 

 perfection of Bengal husbandry is great beyond what 

 might have been expected. Sufficient attention is not 

 paid to the most proper periods. of sowing. No care, 

 is employed in selecting the best varieties of each 

 kind of grain. The most valuable crops are not stea- 

 dily preferred in cultivation. The implements are 

 scanty and incompetent. The rotation of crops is 

 not understood. The dung of the cattle is dried for 

 fuel ; and, except in cultivating the sugar cane, mul- 

 berry, tobacco, and poppy, no manure is supplied. 

 The lands are not duly fallowed and cleaned. Drill 

 husbandry, though known in the more remote coun- 

 tries, is not practised in this province, even in the cul- 

 ture of the 6Ugar cane. There are no inclosures in 

 the country ; no capital among the agriculturists ; 

 and no roads kept in repair. The former unsettled 

 state of the country exposed the cultivators of the 

 soil to perpetual pillage and oppression. The hus- 

 bandman has at no time any thing resembling a secure 

 lease, or permanent interest in the fields. Even the 

 genial nature of the climate, and remarkable fertility 

 of the soil, have contributed to prevent that exertion 

 of ingenuity and application of labour, which, in more 

 barren regions, and imder more unpropitious skies, 

 have brought the cultivation of the soil to the high- 

 est state of improvement. All these circumstances 

 have operated so strongly as obstacles to the progress 

 of agriculture in Bengal, that this most useful and 

 first practised of human arts must be considered as 

 still in its infancy, or as having greatly degenerated. 



There i3 one circumstance, however, peculiar to 

 the lower districts of this province, which frequently 

 renders abortive the utmost skill and diligence of the 

 husbandman ; viz. an excess or a deficiency in the an- 

 nual inundations. When their increase is gradual, the 

 growth of the rice keeps pace with the rise of the wa- 

 ters, is thus always above its surface, and is frequent- 

 ly reaped in boats ; but when the inundations rise too . 

 rapidly, or much above their ordinary level, the rice 

 is overtopped and destroyed by the flood. The im- 

 mense and expensive dykes mentioned above, and 

 which are intended to guard against such disastrous 

 occurrences, are frequently found to be very feeble 

 barriers against the gathering stream of the Ganges. 

 Its huge volume of water, bursting through the 

 strongest, or rising over the highest, of its banks, 

 spreads far and wide over the level plains, sweeps 

 away every thing in its course, and covers the richest 

 fields with a bed of barren sand. The fatal effects of 

 a dry season are still more extensive and destructive ; 

 and in order to provide some source of relief, under 

 the pressure of such a calamity, numerous reservoirs, 

 called tanks, of an oblong square shape, frequently 

 more than an acre in extent, are constructed through- 

 out the country. These being filled with water in 

 the rainy season, afford the inhabitants, during the 

 dry period, a supply of water for domestic uses, su- 



Senga'. 



