Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/489

 These are said to be vegetable roots and remains, which, by reason of the clay surrounding them, do not readily decay and amalgamate, unless manure is added, when they are absorbed and disappear. This spotted soil is also called " kábis" and "-senduria," the latter, from its colour approximating that of red-lead (" sendur").

"Matiár-uparwar-kupsa" is the same as the last, but lying at a higher level and yielding less. These two last natural soils are sometimes found amongst the conventional "majhár," but more generally in the "fardah," never amongst the "goind," because manuring, as above explained, changes their nature.

"Bíjar" is much like "úsar," but with this distinction, that the latter produces reh or sajji in the dry season, and the former does not. It is as hard as "matiár" and intermixed with very fine gravel. It is only cultivated when it contains an unusual admixture of " matiár," and its crops, which are confined to the different kinds of rice, suffer from the least drought.

The name "matiár" seems common to most of the districts of Oudh, and to bur bordering districts of Azamgarh and Jaunpur. The same name prevails in the west portion of Gorakhpur ; to the eastward it is called "bhánt." So well does it retain moisture, that indigo sowings go on in March and April, when the hot winds are blowing. It is a common practice to roll the seed in with a roller to keep in the moisture. "Matiár," when irrigated, is held to be the most productive of all soils ; when unirrigated, perhaps the worst.

The low moisture-retaining lands are here called "khalár" (as already stated); the uplands, "uparwár;" sloping lands, "tekar;" and rugged, uneven lands, "bihar." Salt and saltpetre are made from poor "úsar" soils, and from the most barren in Oudh carbonates of soda are taken, which are used in making soda and glass. I am told that in the Ghazipur district lands that can be set aside for this purpose yield as much profit as the culturable soils.

3rd class. In this class, as its name indicates ("balwa" or "bhúr"), are included the different degrees of arenaceous soils. In the neighbouring Aramgarh district these soils have the same name as here ("bhúr"), but in the other bordering district of Jaunpur they are called "balsundar."

Conventional soils (that is, estimating the lands according to their distance from the homestead).—These lands are of three denominations: 1st, jamái or goind; 2nd, kauli or majhár; and 3rd, fardah or pálo. The words "jamái," "kauli," and "fardah" are those that were found in common use amongst the people, and have Arabic derivations, the first signifying yielding a good money rent; the second, commanding a money rent according to "kaul" or agreement; in the third the rent is sometimes paid in kind, at others by a low money rate, and a single crop is the result. The jamái and kauli lands here are commonly spoken of by the peeple as the "per" or trunk of the tree, the fardah lands being mentioned as the