1859.] Notes on the Flora of Lucknow. 93 



the cold season, the harvest occurring in the end of March and first 

 week of April. Second — the season of cucurbitaceous cultivation, 

 lasting from the harvest of the first season to the beginning of the 

 rains. Third — the season of tropical grains and leguminosse, com- 

 mencing with, and lasting through the rainy season. 



I. — The season of Wheat and Vetch cultivation. 



In the beginning of October, when the rains have subsided, the 

 ground is rapidly prepared for the reception of the cold season 

 crops, by its surface being several times turned over, by means of 

 the rude native plough ; the seed is sown in shallow furrows, and the 

 ground smoothed by a log of wood being dragged over it by a pair 

 of bullocks, the driver standing on the log, to steady its progress 

 and increase its weight. From the dryness of the climate after 

 October, irrigation forms an important part of the agriculture of the 

 cold weather, and the fields are flooded with water several times during 

 this period. The water is obtained either from wells, or natural 

 ponds of water. 



In the valley of the Goomtee, the water is near the surface, and is 

 easily raised by an earthen vessel, attached by a short rope to the 

 end of a pole so fastened to an upright post, as to admit of the end 

 to which the vessel is secured, being lowered into the well, while the 

 other extremity, which is loaded with a stone or mass of clay, lessens 

 the force required to raise the bucket when filled with water. The 

 principle is that of a lever, the resistance to be overcome, being the 

 bucket full of water, the fulcrum, the points of attachment of the pole 

 to the upright post, and the power, the loaded extremity, to which a 

 man also adds his weight. Two men are required, one, to raise and 

 lower the bucket, and another, to empty the water into the trough, 

 from which the field is watered. On the laud above the valley of the 

 river, the wells require to be sunk below the kunker beds. There the 

 water is obtained by means of bullocks raising a large leathern bucket 

 or basket, attached to a strong rope of untanned hide passed over 

 a large wheel, fixed over the well. The bullocks to lessen their 

 labour work on a greatly inclined plane the length of the rope. The 

 wells are often eighty feet deep, and contain cold, good water. I have 

 never observed the Persian wells in Oude, though they occur at 

 Cawnpore, and commonly, north-west of Meerut and Delhie. 



