THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 197 



canes that blossomed into life. Each plant is now- 

 covered with ripening pods, most of which have burst, 

 and display the little white bundles of cotton that have 

 developed within them. 



Many of the fields contain several varieties of crops, 

 all growing up intermingled together. In one field the 

 other morning I counted no fewer than five distinct 

 crops, all thus growing together. They were as follow : 

 (i) wheat; (2) a kind of barley; (3) a grain called 

 kussum; (4) another called seeson ; and (5), last, one 

 called tilsee. 



This practice of growing several varieties of crops 

 intermingled was in former days regarded by some 

 English writers as showing the agricultural ignorance 

 and backward civilization of the Hindoos. The practice 

 is now recognized as the outcome of the accumulated 

 experience of centuries. The practice has in this 

 climate many advantages, among others that the 

 young shoots of the later-sown crops are protected 

 by the taller and earlier grown from the scorching heat 

 of the Indian sun. 



In connection with Indian agriculture there is one 

 circumstance which must always excite curiosity. 

 Except in the immediate neighbourhood of the towns, 

 the soil is never manured, and yet it continues year 

 after year to yield these abundant crops. How then 

 are the constituents which the plants withdraw from the 

 soil again supplied ? Is it by means of the irrigation, 

 or by the dust which during the hot weather is 

 deposited by the winds in such abundance? 



When walking over the open fields, one can under- 



