44 Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. [No. 97- 



with respect to cheena and kungunee, as already mentioned, 

 (see paragraph 172) ; but what corresponds to our clover and 

 hay is the rishka and shufteer. These plants are found in 

 a wild state in many parts of these countries, as has already been 

 mentioned (see paragraph 124). The shufteer is an annual, or 

 at least is cultivated for only one year from the same seed; 

 it is generally sown in the autumn. The first reaping is, in 

 Cabul, about the 30th of April, and it may be cut again twice 

 or thrice during the course of the summer and autumn. It 

 is little cultivated in Khoorasan. In the district of Hirat, it is 

 sometimes ploughed in, without having been once cut, to serve as 

 a preparation for rice. It is scarcely cultivated in Toorkistan, 

 where it is very commonly wild. Rishka seems to be a much su- 

 perior plant. It is represented as a perennial, and is in fact 

 allowed to remain on the ground ten years, sometimes fifteen. 

 It is cultivated in Cabul and all the countries west of it, but 

 both rishka and shufteer are unknown in Peshawur ; they re- 

 quire much watering. Rishka is generally sown in the spring. 



177- A custom little known in India is, that of cutting what 

 are called khuseels. By this is meant the cutting out the 

 leaves of wheat or barley, before the stalk has risen, to be given 

 to horses or cattle. In Peshawur it is thought that barley may 

 be thus cut twice, or even thrice, with little or no injury to it ; 

 but wheat is more delicate in this respect, and many condemn 

 the cutting even one khuseel of it. In Cabul no khuseels are 

 cut, and perhaps the custom is pernicious in that climate. It is 

 very common to eat down by cattle, the young leaves of the 

 wheat and barley in the autumn or beginning of winter. In the 

 Kuchhee of Mohummud Khan, both customs prevail, and the 

 cutting of khuseel is common in most parts of the Sikh country. 

 When a crop is likely, in the Punjab or Peshawur, to turn out 

 an indifferent one, or when danger is apprehended from military 

 violence, the farmer sometimes thinks it advisable to cut it 

 down, even when the ear is formed, as a khuseel, and instead 

 of it to sow some other product. Khuseels, in the sense first ex- 

 plained, are cut in all provinces of Persia ; they are thought to 

 be a good food for animals. 



178. The rubbee of India and of the warm provinces of the 



