INDIA. 



83 



Crept rn 



1770, rice rote to ten prices, and even then could 

 scarcely be had: the roads and streets were filled with 

 the dead and dying; the inhabitants fed on forbidden 

 and abhorred animals ; the child on its dead parent, 

 the mother on her child. The number who died in 

 Bengal at this period may be estimated at three mil- 

 lion*. In the same year nearly one half of the Mi( Inn- 

 poor district of Orissa were swept away by famine. 

 The coast of C'oromandel, perhaps, suffers more fre- 

 quently under this calamity than most other parts of 

 India ; and in an especial manner the Carnatic, in con- 

 sequence of its sultry climate, sandy soil, and irregular 

 ami inadequate supply of water. 



In India, the ground under the wet cultivation 

 bring* forth crop* almost all the year round ; tl. 

 crop of rice -is gathered in about the end of August, 

 the second, which i* the greatest, early in the end of 

 April. Even on land which is not under the wetcul- 

 in cKb bar- tivation, there are two harvests. Kheerisf, in Scpteni- 

 "" her and October, and Rubbeef in March and April 



In the province of Agra, the following are the princi- 

 pal article* produced in the spring harvest Wheat, 

 vetches, barley, ades*, a species of lentil, linseed, maa- 

 eer, arzewara, a kind of millet, mustard, peas, fenu- 

 greek, shaly-kour, a particular kind of rice ; pot herb*, 

 ayewain. an inferior kind of onion-seed, onions, car- 

 rot*. In the Autumn harvest, common sugar-cane, 

 shaly muskur, nunninn rice, mash, mowng javar, a 

 kind of pea, shamath, a grain resembling poppy seed ; 

 gall, a grain resembling mustard ; bederwM, SUM OKI. 

 a grain of which oil i* made ; tureyah, a small grain 

 n enabling mustard ; turmeric, water melon*, pot- 

 herbs, moroth. liscierah, arum, a kind of millrt, ko- 

 ree, indigo, cation. The average produce of the 

 spring hanraH i* about three maitnd* one *eer ; a 

 raaund i* about 74 Ib*. and a half; and a seer nearly 

 2 Ib*. ; and the average produce of the autumn harvest 

 t* alxjut 3 aaaudi 6' seer per bejslt. Thi* i* about the 

 cuniute'i produce of land in the Company's service. 

 Hence U appear* that the produce of the two harvest* 

 i* about 24 mannrl*, S* seers per acre, or nearly four 

 quarters. Beeide* the pain, &c. above enumerated, 

 there are cultivated on those land* which hare a regu- 

 lar spring and autumn harvest, bhootali, which flower* 



in July, and i* reaped in August 



gree, panicum italicum, which flower* the end of July , 



tb* r W of Mysore, natcheny in Ute C'arna- 

 Uc, and maud or mal, in the upper province* : cynosuru* 

 coraeanus; bagira, holcn* eptratn*. this i* reaped in 

 both harvest* ; beertia, a specie* of panicum ; these be- 

 long to the autumn harvest. In the spring harvest, 

 ebannab, cicer arietinum ; torr, or arber, cytysu* ca- 

 jan ; this i* sown during the rain* mixed with the ja- 

 % ar . and when that crop i* reaped, it Un<U till the 

 wheat harvest 



It will be stcn from this account of the diflerrnt 

 kinds of produce in the spring and autumn harvest*, 

 in the latter are reaped aaost of the European 

 i. As it would carry us far beyond, r i: (., we 

 in oar further notice of the agriculture of H.n- 

 oarselve* to such articles a* are known 



t!.,t 



.n 



ng with those which are most gene- 

 rally cultivated in that quarter of the world. 



Wheat is principally cultivated in Hindustan Pro- 

 per, and in one or two provinces of the Ocean ; but 

 the climate to the south of the Decan is much too hot 

 foe it ; nor, indeed, is there much demand for 

 consequence of rice being-the favourite and almost uni- 

 versal food of all rUses in HutdosUn. From Allaha- 

 bad to the frontieri on the north, wheat U the princi- 



pal object of the farmer's attention. It is sown on the Statistic* 

 sandy loams, which are ploughed once about the com- * ""Y~ 

 mencement of the rainy season in June. After the 

 rain cease?, it is ploughed repeatedly again, sometimes 

 fifteen times. In September or October it is sown. 

 When the dry season begins, it must be watered : it 

 requires four bullocks and three men to water an acre 

 in nine days. The average crop is estimated at fifteen 

 niaunds per bejah, or seven quarters per acre. In the 

 Benares district of Allahabad, the Ryots, or husband- 

 .rc very industrious in the labour they bestow on 

 their wheat and other crops. It is not unusual for 

 them to plough by moonlight, and for some crops they 

 plough the land forty times. Barley, peas, oil cakes, 

 and a plant affording a yellow dye, are often mixed 

 with the wheat in Allahabad: the last is generally 

 planted at the distance of six or ten feet. The wheat 

 of the province of Baliar, especially that part of it 

 which is watered by the Ganges, Soane, &c. is of a 

 superior quality to that which is usually grown in In- 

 dia : that perhaps of the worst quality is grown in the 

 Duiagepoor district of Bengal. The (lour produced 

 from it i.- \ i-ry dark, and scarcely saleable among Eu- 

 ropeans. Guzerat is famous not only for the quantity, 

 but also the quality of the wheat it produces, esjicci- 

 ally on the rich black soil near \Vurgaum. From this 

 .ce the Europeans in Bombay are principally sup- 

 plied with wheat. Barley is a most abundant crop in Barley, &c. 

 all the upper districts of India, where it is made into 

 thin cake* by the natives. March and April arc the 

 harvest months for wheat, barley, and the grain-. 

 which are almost always sown in the same I'u-l.l uitli 

 them. A* there is a very great and almost universal 

 demand for vegetable oil among the natives of Hindus. O| , IR!U . 

 tan, such plants as produce it are cultivated most abun- 

 dantly in both harvests, mixed with other crops. Flax 

 and mustard are generally sown along with wheat and 

 barley for Urn purpose; and a* they ripen first, they 

 are pulled from among the wheat and barley. The 

 re reaped together ; but are necessarily much 

 injured by pulling out the flax ami mustard, and still 

 more so when the plant affording the \cllow dye is al- 

 so sown in the same field. The produce of t 

 grains is also diminished by their being often permitted 

 to stand till they are over-ri|*. In some parti of H in- 

 dostan Proper, where pasture for cattle is scarce and 

 bad, the wheat and barley ctraw will sell for as much 

 a will pay the i 



Rice it initiated much more extensively than any Bice, 

 other crop in India : indeed there are very few provin- 

 ce* in which it is not the most prevalent . op, I here 

 seem to be three kind* of it in Ute south of India : the 

 first i* reaped in September; the second in December 

 and January ; and the third in March or April, lint 

 in moat parts of India there are only two kinds ; the 

 ynrum rice, and that kind of which the grains are ve- 

 ry white and small, with an excellent aromatic taste. 

 There are three modes of sowing this grain practised 

 throughout India generally. According to one mode, mode* of 

 the seed i* sown dry on the fields which are to bring it cultivating 

 to maturity : this is called the dry seed cultivation. '' 

 By the second mode, the seed is steeped iu water till 

 it vegetates, and the field in which it is to be sown i* 

 watered till it become* a kind of puddle : this is the 

 sprouted cultivation. The last mode is by transplan- 

 tation. A piece of rich ground i* selected, in which 

 the seed is sown ; and a* soon as the plants have at- 

 tained the height of a foot they are transplanted. The 

 mcani used to sink it to the bottom of the lit Id, which 

 U covered with water, are very simple and effectual. 



