1850.] Report on the Statistics of Banda. 101 



The observations at 9 a. m. were not made every day. The very 

 remarkable difference in the means of the two years is very striking, 

 and renders it desirable to have observations extending through a much 

 longer period. The instruments used were self-registering thermo- 

 meters by Newman, the same which I employed in observations made at 

 Amballa and published in J. A. S. 1839. They were hung in a northern 

 Veranda about 7 feet above the ground. The temperature, as deduced 

 by me, is very different from that given by Mr. Sutherland, because his 

 register was kept inside the Jail Hospital, and therefore shews much 

 less variation of temperature. The annual mean of my observations 

 from May 1847 to June 1848 is 88° 4', and from March 1848 to 

 February 1849 is 88° 8', which is considerably higher than the mean 

 of Fattehgarh. 



27th. As soon as the fall of the first rain in June softens the 

 ground, then as hard as stone and full of deep fissures, the ploughs 

 are brought out and all the land ploughed that is possible, that lying 

 lowest is generally reserved for rabbi sowing, but not unfrequently 

 if the rains begin badly, it is sown with kharif which succeeds or 

 not according to the amount of rain ; if it be, as is most general, 

 destroyed by wet, it is ploughed in and rabbi sown in its place in 

 November, but when the rains fail and the crops are very bad gener- 

 ally, these low grounds which are the most retentive of moisture yield 

 fine crops, as was the case in 1848. The rabbi ploughing and sowing 

 commences in October and continues till December, if the ground 

 remains moist, but when no rain falls late in October or in November 

 the ground becomes so hard as to render ploughing impossible, and 

 seed if sown will not germinate as was the case to a lamentable extent 

 in 1848. No regular rotation of crops is followed, but the almost 

 universal mixture of crops answers the same purpose agriculturally. 



2%th. In the Patha, only the lands adjoining villages, or simi- 

 larly favoured spots are capable of continued cultivation ; other lands 

 are seldom cropped for more than 3 years consecutively, and then left 

 fallow for an indefinite time. 



29th. The plough used in this district is the simplest, the common 

 Indian plough. The large Bundela plough or Bakhar is not generally 

 used in it, except in the western part of Pergannah Khundeh. The 

 ground is very seldom harrowed or rolled, the earth being left in clods. 



