Miscellaneous. 



158 



[August, 1809. 



softened by water, it is a most efficient 

 implement. Along with the leveller or 

 "ghasabiah" it forms practically the 

 whole stock-in-trade of the Egyptian 

 cultivator. It has there held its place in 

 the estimation of the cultivator against 

 repeated attempts to introduce iron 



ploughs. The broad share deals effec- 

 tively with weeds. The sharp-pointed 

 Sindhi plough, on the contrary, is very 

 apt to miss a considerable number of 

 these, and in particular often fails to 

 pull up the very troublesome creeping 

 stems of " kull " and other plants. 



Construction. — The pole is made of 

 jarrah or any long grained wood and 

 should be about 11 feet long and 4 inches 

 broad and 2\ inches thick. The body is 

 of babul wood, about 3 feet 6 inches long. 

 The body and pole are dove-tailed into 

 each other and fasteued by a moveable 

 bolt. The handle is fastened to both 

 ends of the body, leaving the pole free 

 to move on removal of bolt. Half way 

 along the body an iron bar is fastened 

 through the body, and goes through the 

 pole. At the top of the iron are several 

 holes by means of which the angle 



between body and pole can be regulated. 

 The share is 6h inches broad and spear- 

 shaped, being fastened to end of body. 

 The total cost of construction, including 

 labour and material, is bet ween R*. 7 

 and Rs, 8. 



Demonstrations of this implement are 

 being arranged to be held in each Taluka 

 town, when a sufficient supply of imple- 

 ment? has been made. 



Ridging.- For ridging up land a piece 

 of wood of the following shape is inserted 

 behind the iron bar : — 



General Use. — The cost of ridging with 

 the plough is very considerably cheaper 

 than the same work done by hand with 

 the "kodar." With a couple of plough- 

 ings, any land should be in sufficiently 

 good tilth for ridging up. It is essential 

 for the proper growth of Egyptian cotton 

 and all other crops that the land must 

 be in good tilth and properly cultivated, 

 and this can be done probably better by 

 means of this plough, than by emj loy- 

 ing an expensive English iron one. It 

 has an advantage over the latter, in that 

 the cultivator takes to it naturally. He 

 has no difficulty in holding it as he has 



with the two-handled plough. On the 

 other hand, there are several makes of 

 light one-handled iron ploughs having 

 wooden poles. These have, however, 

 been found quite unsuitable for this 

 class or hard soil, it being almost impos- 

 sible to keep them in the ground. 



In comparison with the Sindhi plough, 

 though slightly heavier in draught, it 

 will do a half more work and go a couple 

 of inches deeper. The dimensions given 

 above were adopted for ploughs worked 

 by cattle of the Cutehi or Guzerati type. 

 The sizes may, however, be varied to 

 suit smaller cattle. 



