1851.] 



Statistics of the Sircar YelgunthuL 



29 



from the commencement to the conclusion of these processes being 

 fifteen days for the abee crops, ten for the poonas. 



When the seed is put in, the water is allowed to run off, and 

 the ground is merely kept moist until it has sprung up ; water is 

 then turned on, and continues running until the harvest. Trans- 

 planting is not the general practice, and is adopted only to a very 

 limited extent. During growth the fields are weeded three different 

 times and in four months to four and a half, the crop is fit for the 

 sickle, when reaped, it is stacked on the field, then trodden by 

 oxen to separate the paddy from the straw, the former after win- 

 nowing which is performed by women throwing up the grain, or 

 pouring it out of baskets held as high above the head as possible 

 with their faces to the wind, is divided amongst those who have 

 an invested interest in it and borne away : the latter is carted to 

 the house of the cultivator ; before the ryot removes what is left 

 to him, he sets apart what seed he thinks he shall require for his 

 next operations, puts it into a basket made of straw well plaistered 

 with cow-dung, and places it raised from the ground, in the driest 

 part of his house. 



It requires fifteen men or twenty women to reap one beegah in 

 one day. 



upon the land ; the seed is put in with the hand, after four months 

 it is cut, eighteen inches of the stalk being left in the ground, and 

 stacked, when the reaping is completed the heads , are cut off the 

 straw, and the grain trodden out by cattle, winnowed and removed 

 in baskets to the house of the cultivator, the time of winnowing 

 occupying fifteen days. 



These two are the staple articles of food and obtain the greatest 

 amount of attention. Muckka (Indian corn) is grown only round 

 the houses of villagers and zemindars frequently exempt the house 

 occupier from taxation upon it. The soil is prepared with the 

 hand, and the seed put in by dibbling, the amount sown is very 

 insignificant, but it helps to eke out the daily food of the proprietor 

 at a season when other grain is scarce. 



The dry crops. 



The ground is prepared by three ploughings, the 

 weeds collected, burnt, and the ashes scattered 



