TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
173 
ings, however, were pleasant. At sunrise, the 
thermometer, for some days back, had been at 
78 degrees: in the course of the day it rose to 
88°, and was occasionally as high as 92°. The 
air at the same time was dry and pure, and 
favourably contrasted with the damp and sultry 
atmosphere of Calcutta at the same season. 
The cultivators in our neighbourhood were 
very busy ploughing and harrowing. We 
counted yesterday morning twenty ploughs 
and harrows at work within the space of a few 
hundred acres. The harrow, it appears, is very 
much used for breaking and pulverizing the 
soil, as well as for removing grass and weeds. 
The plough, with the assistance of an iron 
share, the only respectable part of the imple¬ 
ment, and which, as I have already said, is im¬ 
ported from China or Lao, turns up the soil 
well, but does not cut deeper than four inches. 
In the common husbandry of the country, ma¬ 
nure is never used, and indeed I believe in no 
case except occasionally with betel-vine gar¬ 
dens. Reaping is performed with the sickle ; 
corn is separated from the straw by the tread¬ 
ing of oxen ; and the straw is carefully pre¬ 
served for fodder. The cultivators, who are ge¬ 
nerally either the proprietors or renters of the 
fields they till, for hired servants are not often 
