140. Piece-work. Wherever possible work should be got 

 done by contract at the above rates, even by labourers 

 employed by the month. Piece-work or work done by con- 

 tract is however apt to be done carelessly unless proper 

 supervision is exercised. 



141. Animal power. Horse, cattle, or donkey-power is 

 utilised for three classes of work, (i) For direct draught or 

 haulage, as in drawing carts, ploughing &c. (2) For appli- 

 cation to machines to turn a capstan giving motion to a 

 wheel or windlass, e. g. in thrashing corn, ginning cotton, 

 pumping water &c., by animal power. (3) For pedalling to 

 turn a tread-mill for communicating power or lifting water. 

 Work done by draught-animals, aided by human reason, is 

 less expensive per unit than work done by hand-power, and 

 it is by the substitution of hand-power by cattle-power that 

 a great many agricultural improvements may be effected in 

 this country. With a Hunter hoe ( it may be repeated here ) 

 which is easily drawn by a pair of country bullocks, maize or 

 potato fields may be ridged at a cost of about 8 annas per acre, 

 while the same work done by hand-power with kodalies will 

 cost Rs. 5, and if the labourers are not closely watched the 

 cost will even exceed this amount. Hand-weeding is more 

 efficient, but for most crops hoeing with bullock-hoes will be 

 found sufficiently effective. When mechanical power (i.e. 

 steam &c.) cannot be conveniently and extensively employed 

 e.g., when fields are small, uneven and crooked, or cut by 

 natural water-courses, it is better and cheaper to cultivate 

 with the aid of draught animals than with steam. As Indian 

 fields are not like English fields, which are each 10 to 20 

 acres in area, and as they are enclosed by ahirs or borders 

 and cut by natural water-courses, steam ploughing &c. are 

 quite unsuitable for Indian conditions. The introduction of 

 implements suitable for the employment of bullock-power 

 more extensively than it is now, is of the utmost importance. 

 Native cultivators are, as a rule, averse to using mechanical 



