I X D I A. 



87 



cies of cucumbers, water melons, &c. Such vegetables 

 as are common in Europe, are seldom met with in the 

 south of India, where the climate is too hot for them. 

 The potatoe, however, both the common and sweet 

 kind, are grown of an excelknt quality near Bombay. 

 Guzerat and Bengal also supply thi* vegetable in great 

 profusion. The onion of Bombay is famous through- 

 out the East. Orchard* of mango, palmira, and other 

 tree*, are favourite object* with the Hindoos, who, be- 

 tide* being sheltered by them during the hot weather, 

 and deriving profit from their fruit, regard, with a feel- 

 ing of veneration and respect, the trees planted by their 



In the garden* belonging to the Mahometan princes, 

 which in some part* of India were made at a very great 

 expend-, a separate piece of ground was usually allot- 

 ted for each kind of plant, the whole being divided 

 into sauare plot* separated by walks. Thus one plot 

 was filled with rose trees, another with pomegranates, 

 Ac. The gardens of this tort most celebrated in India 

 were those of Bangalore and Delhi. The former be- 

 longed to Tippoo, and were made by him and his father 

 Hyder Ali. A* Bangalore i* very much elevated 

 above the sea. it enjoys a temperate climate ; and in 

 the royal gardens were seen, not only the trees alrea- 

 dy mentioned, but also the cypre**, vine, and the ap- 

 ple, and peach : both the Utter produced fruit. Straw- 

 berrie* were likewise raised ; and oak and pin* plants, 

 brought from the Cape of Good Hope, flourished. The 

 am iliui of Shabmar near Delhi, which were made in the 

 beginning of the 17th century by the Emperor Shah- 

 jelan, are aaid to have cost one million Sterling, and 

 seen to have occupied about one mile in circumference. 

 They were surrounded by a high brick wall ; but they 

 are now entirely in rain 

 tiayUssini* The plough used throughout all India it at rude and 



and the field remains full of dirt and rubbish. Xor is Statistic*. 

 it rendered much more fit for the seed by the repeated l *""i""" 

 ploughings which are given it ; in Bengal to the num- 

 ber of three or four ; in the Mysore, of seven or eight ; 

 and in the Benares, sometimes to the number of 30 or 

 40. Indeed, the grass roots are in general of such 

 great length and strength, and so extremely difficult 

 to kill, even in land that has been long arable, that u 

 much more perfect implement than the Hindoo plough 

 would produce very little effect. In the Mysore, it is 

 not uncommon to see small bushes as firmly and erect- 

 ly fixed in the soil, after six or eight ploughings, as 

 they were before, and the mould not moved to the 

 depth of three inches. The second ploughing, where 

 only three or four are given, is generally across, and 

 the third in a diagonal direction. The harrow is, if 

 possible, a more imperfect implement than the plough : 

 it U simply a bough broken from the nearest tree. The 

 roller is described by Mr. Tennant to resemble a lad- 

 der about 18 feet in length, drawn by two bullock;, 

 and guided by two men, who stand upon it, to increase 

 it* weight. When a plough with its yoke and oxen is 

 hired, about 4d. a day is the sum commonly given. In 

 most part* of Hindostan there arc two huliratirs or 

 ploughing seasons, namely, after the setting in of the 

 rain* in June, and after they cease in October. The 

 wages of a ploughman are five seers of the grain which 

 is in cultivation, and two rupees for each ploughing 

 season. The wage* of the other country labourers are 

 five tun of grain, and a 25th sheaf during harvest. 



a* 

 dfT - 



imperfect an inHiuHmit a* can well be conceived. It 

 cesMisU simply of two or three piece* of wood, most 

 uted, or even of a piece of crooked stick, 

 with nothing rrtembting or serving the puiuoatt of a 

 coulter or mould- board. It is so extremely light, that 

 a Hindoo, a man of no muscular strength, can easily 

 carry it on hi* shoulder to the field. In Bengal, and 

 generally in Hindostan Proper, it i* drawn by a yoke 

 of oxen guided by the ploughman himself. These, 

 however, work only part of the day, a* there are al- 

 ways two or three pair of oxen assigned to each plough. 

 In tnmc part* of Oriea*, the women are seen holding 



Tlie kacltrry, an ill. constructed and clumsy two-wheel- 

 ed cart, i* used by the Ryot* of Bengal for some pur- 

 pose* on their farms, where they have not an opportu- 

 nity of water carriage ; but for heavy burdens to be 

 carried to any considerable dntancr, oxen and bullocks 



TIM 



which the arable land in Munuit*. 



A pair of oxen may be the waetea, 



*a plough for 1 < r th* of a a* would i 

 In Hindottan Proper, it is weather. 



the plough, and the female children driving the 

 Where the tame person perform* both opetatiom, be 

 generally hold* the plough with one handV (for it ha* 

 but one stih or handle), and nrnniunaJly pull* the uils 

 of the oxen with the other. 

 pufcha*ed for 6 or 8 rupee*, 

 rupee, and a yoke far ^th. In Hindoetan Proper 

 calculated that a man and two oxen can plough a be. 

 jah of land several time* in the course of the day ; and 

 in the south of India, that 12* acre* of watered land. 

 and 25 acre* of dry land, require five plough.. In the 

 /eiwindary near Benare*, of which Mr. Tennant give* 

 a* account, 400 workme cattle were kept for 800 acre* 

 under the plough. That i* a larger allowance per acre 

 then Mr. Grant, in his Anmlytu of the Fi~cu of Ben. 

 gat, states ; for, according to him, ten yoke of oxen are 

 Vsea* for the ordinary yearly threefold cultivation 



yearly threefold cultivation 

 of 100 bejahs of ground. Where it ia necessary to 

 plough the ground to considerable depth, several 

 plMJhi follow one another f but even then, nnleat the 

 oil u v*rj loose and triable, they do not penetrate far, 



India receive* from the plough and other agricultural 

 imyamums, i* by no mean* compensated by the appli- 

 cation of manure. The use of it is entirely unknown 

 in most districts, except occasionally for sugnr. In the 

 Mysore it seems to be the most attended to. Every 

 fanner in that province form* a dung-hill from the lit- 

 ter, Ac. of his cattle, mixed with the ashes and soil of 

 hi* bouse ; the toil of the town, however, i* not used. 

 In other part* of the south of India, if the rice straw 

 left on the field be not sufficient fur the purposes of ma- 

 nure, small pits are dug in different parts of the field, 

 which are filled with leave* and the tender twigs of 

 tree*, and covered with earth. These, when sufficiently 

 rotten, are applied as manure. 



The past u rr land of India is in fact nothing else but Pasture 

 the waetea, forests, and coarse jungle. Artificial gnu*- Und - 

 e* would not thrive, nor even exist, during the hot 

 eaalhii Even the coarse and natural grass of the 

 country disappears in some places during the preva- 

 lence of the hot winds so completely, that the farmers 

 are obliged to feed their cattle on the roots cut fn.ni 

 limit I the ground and washed. The grass cutters, a 

 class of people who are employed by Europeans to pro- 

 cure food for their horses, will bring provender from 

 a field where there is no appearance of verdure, by 

 means of a sharp instrument which they ue. During 

 the rainy season, indeed, the grass lands look green, 

 and are coveted with various kinds of pasture ; but, 

 for the most part, it consist* of a hard grass, very si- 

 milar to what is called lienl in some parts of England, 

 which is neither relished by the cattle, nor nounshing 

 for them. There are, however, some districts in In- 



