1839] 



On ihe Staiisf'ics of DuJchun* 



397 



Oil ^¥27^5.— Although (he oil mills belong to a class of persons who 

 are not agriculturists, ihe Koonbee is quite dependent on them to turn 

 his numerous oil seeds to account ; some mention therefore of them is 

 necessary under *' ngriculture." The body of the mill is generally of 

 stone, and the machinery, even when of the rudest construction, shows 

 a good deal of ingennity and an acquaintance with some of the mecha- 

 nic powers. It is entirely the work of the village carpenter. 



At Neelsee, a Kohlee village in the wiMs on the brink of the Ghats, 

 the body of the mill is of wood, the lever works in the hollow of an up- 

 right cylinder, and by the great weight attached to its upper end con- 

 stantly presses against the sides of the hollow and forces the oil from 

 the seed which is put into ihe mill. The whole expense of the machi- 

 nery of this particular mill was only five rupees*. In the Desh the bo- 

 dy of the mill is of stone, the machinery is the same as in this mill. It 

 is worked by a bullock. 



Average Size of Farms. — There are not nny farms of large size under 

 the management of a single farm^^r : the largest I recollect meeting with 

 was about 200 acres, but in general they average very considerably less 

 in size. In the Poena Collectorate the average size was 29 beegahst, 

 in Ahmednuggur 35 beegahs, in Dharv^ir 43t§o" beegahs, and in Khan- 

 desh 23yVo beegahs. The average rent of a fa.nn in Poona was less than 

 48 shillino-s per annum ; in iVhraednuggur about 86 shillings; in Dhar- 

 war 64 shillings ; and in Khandesh, where a good deal of the land cul- 

 tivated is garden land, 74 shillings per annum. In Poona the average 

 rent per beegah is within a fraction of two shillings; in Ahmednuggur 

 about two shillings and six pence per beegah ; in Dharwar not quite 

 eighteen pence; and in Khandesh, where there is proportionablj'- a good 

 deal of garden land, it is somewhat more than three shillings a beegah. 

 The average for the whole of the lands of Dukhun is two shillings and 

 ninepence, one^eighth -pev English acre, or one rupee and fourteen reas 

 per Dukhun beegah. 



Proportion of Yolce Cattle to each Farmer. — Generally in the popula- 

 tion returns there w^ere great omissions of the draft or yoke cattle of the 

 cultivators ; no very satisfactory statement can therefore be given of 

 their agricultural means in this kind of stock. In one Talook, or county 

 of the Dharwar Colleetorate, the yoke cattle were filled in, with the ex- 

 ception of two or tliree village returns, and the proportion is only r33 

 bullocks to each cultivator ; but as the ploughs are 3733 in number in 

 the Talook, at two bullocks to a plough, the proportion should be 2'89 



* About ten shillings. 



+ The Duklnm brpgah is tlnoo-fouvtlis of an English acre. The rapeo i« ralued jit 

 lwosL\\Ungs. 



