1849.] Statistics of the Circar of Dowlutahad. 491 



generally met with ; the number could have been readilj' extended 

 had the European gardens been explored, but the object being to 

 give only such as were indigenous to the soil European vegetables 

 have been purposely omitted, though all the varieties that are usually 

 cultivated in India thrive most satisfactorily. The province has 

 long enjoyed much celebrity for the delicious nature of its fruits, 

 particularly its grapes, figs, and oranges, A favorable range of 

 temperature together with a rich permeable top soil, a lower one 

 not too retentive of moisture, and an abundant supply of water 

 in flowing streams, or close upon the surface, all conduce to the 

 strength and vigour of vegetation. To diminish the injurious ef- 

 fects of the high winds often prevailing, it is customary to surround 

 the gardens with a high hedge composed principally of the milk 

 bush and other trees of a compact foliage which oppose a screen 

 to the force of the wind, and deprive it of much of its desiccating 

 power. The variety of pot herbs, pungent aromatics, legumes and 

 roots, with a few exceptions, receive little or no care in their culture, 

 and may almost be considered as spontaneous productions. 



2. Plants used as food and fodder for domestic animals and 

 cattle. 



There are several varieties of indigenous grasses that afford ex- 

 cellent fodder, the management of which is left entirely to nature ; 

 tracts of lands situated upon the hills near Dowlutabad are set apart 

 as rumnahs for the use of the cantonment of Aurungabad ; the 

 better kinds of grasses of the hills are called by the natives the 

 shaira poonea, marayel, koonda, and goondalee, but the most valu- 

 able of all is the hurriallee, which with the seepree, and kurreeyel, 

 are common to the plains and rich valhes. In seasons of ordi- 

 nary occurrence as much grass may be purchased for a rupee 

 and a half as will provide fodder for a horse for a month, a bullock 

 will eat about a rupee's worth, and a camel nearly twice that 

 quantity, but in dry seasons cattle are hard pressed for fodder, 

 and from the improvident habits of the ryot, no provision for 

 such a calamity is ever made, so that their cattle perish in conse- 

 quence. Possibly guinea grass if judiciously introduced, might be 

 a valuable assistance, if its cultivation did not involve too great an 

 expense. Lucerne is raised in gardens, but only in small quantities. 

 The ryots generally feed their oxen upon the dry stalks of the 



VOr XV. NO. XXXVI, ^ 1 



