1 .208 ,] 



i 



CHAPTER 'XXI. 



ATIVE IMPORTANCE; OF CROPS. 

 PHE principal crops grown in Bengal according to their 

 order of importance are: rice, oil-seeds, jute, maize, 

 wheat, sugarcane, marua, and tobacco. Other important 

 crops which occupy comparatively less areas are; tea, indigo, 

 mulberry, pulses (kalai, mung, arahar and gram), sorghum, 

 spiked millet, oats, sunn-hemp, pdn> potatoes, yams, palval, 

 brinjal, onions, chillies, turmeric, ginger, sags of various 

 kinds, and English table-vegetables. Bamboo, thatching grass, 

 mango, jack, papaya and plantains are also of sufficient 

 importance to be classed as crops. We will in this Part 

 deal only with the principal crops and also those that pro- 

 bably have an important future before them. Crops that may 

 be introduced with success into the general agriculture of 

 the country, such as rhea, cassava, arrowroot, sunflower, 

 kulthi and carrot have a special importance. Some know- 

 ledge of such special subjects, such as, opium, lac, rubber, 

 bee-keeping, &c. is also of importance to the student of 

 Indian agriculture. 



253. The proportion of land occupied by the first named 

 crops will give an idea of their paramount importance. 60-5 per 

 cent, of the cultivated area in Bengal is (i.e. about 38,983,000 

 acres) under rice ; 6*45 per cent. (4,159,300 acres) under oil 

 seeds; 3-52 per cent. (2,271,600 acres) under jute ; 3*17 per 

 cent. (2,001,400 acres) under maize ; 2-28 percent, or 1,472,000 

 acres,under wheat ; i'5o per cent., or 967,300 acres,under sugar- 

 cane ; i'49 per cent., or 963,500 acres under marua ; and 1*13 

 ;.per cent. (726,400 acres) under tobacco. 17^80 per cent, of the 

 cultivated area of Bengal has been estimated to be cropped 

 more than once, or about 9,739,300 acres. About 70 to 75 per 

 cent, of the net cultivated area is occupied by the eight import- 



