Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/20

 INTRODUCTION.

The average

yield

is

20 per cent, greater than that of th^e and the grain is smalleir, better flavoured,

at least

early autuinn varieties, and commands a rather higher price. The taste of the native differs diametrically frona that of the English m^arket, and the consideration in which the different kinds of rice are held varies The only other hen wat crops which inversely with their size, the Idhi, a rnustard, from whose seed oil is exare deniap,d notice of about 700tt)S. per acre, and valuable on a traqtedwith yield account, of the high price it commands, and two small species of pulse, the mling and mdsh, which are dried/ split, and eaten with rice. Sugar, which shares with rice, whep-t, and oilseeds the fi?rst' pl9.ce among Oudh products, occupies the land the whole year^

dpwn in March, and not cut till the following February, requires much labour and several waterings, but the profits in

bejing laid

It

ordinary years ajmply repay the outlay^ and the produce of a single The- stalks- are acre will often be sold or more than Es. 100. chopped into short lengths, and the juice expressed in a rough wooden mill by a heavy pole turned ;by oxen. The sugar is then separated frojn the watery elements by evaporation, and the result is the, coarse gur, which is formed into cakes like balls of clay, and in that shape taken to the market. The dry refuse of the The stalks is stored to feed the cattle during the hot months. spring crops, whose cutting commences in the middle of March, about a month after the sugar is off the ground, are sown in Octofew ber, immediately after the conclusion of the heavy rains. inferior crops may be gathered in before, but it is not till thefires of the Hpli are out that the sickle is laid to the wheat. This is of two principal varieties, the bearded and the bald, and an average good crop will yield ten maunds to the bigha, or l;300H>s. to, the, acre,, while it occasionally and in exceptionally favouredloqalitieswill reaph an extreme limit of nearly twice that amount. In appraising these averages it should be borne in mind that they are for ordinary good crops on fair land without exceptional advantages, and without, on the other hand, any fatal drawbacks. For, estimating, the food-supply of the province from the total area under cultivation, or as a basis from which to deduce rents, they would be exceedingly misleading, and it is not too much to say that any estimate of the kind. is worse than useless. In a purely, agricultural province like Oudh, where the almostcomplete absence of raip, for eight months in the year allows^ no growth of natiiral grassps, very much land is brought under the plough which in countries otherwise situated would b©' reserved for pasture. The, methods ;of cultivation vary immeu'sely .for, the same crop, and only lands where a harvest may b&^ .

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