Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/494

 FYZ

416

Average prices during

the season.

Juar

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New rice

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TJrd

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Arhar

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28 sers per rupee. 16 „ J9 „ 20 „

They commence at harvest at about 50 per cent, above these rates, and end in March at about 30 per cent. less. During this period, viz., from September to March, wheat continues to be' sold to the better classes ; but the other rabi grains, such as barley, mastir, peas, gram, are hardly to be found in the village markets, and are not articles of ordinary consumption. Their entry in the grain rates is, tljerefore, to a certain extent deceptive. In November chhoti juar comes into the market. In a year .when the harvest has been inferior, or there has been large exportation, these crops, with urd, kodo and kakun, will be exhausted in five or six months, by the end of January or February, and there may then be considerable scarcity before the next harvest comes into the market. The first staple of the spring crop ready is ker^o, or peas, about th6 1st March wheat and barley commence to come in about the 8th peas at once assume the principal place in the poor man's diet maize, juar and urd, if still in the market, are so dear that they can only be bought for seed. For three months at a time I see no record of their sale in the books of the large grain-dealers which I copied out, consequently their entry in grain rates is again delusive. Rice holds its place, it and wheat being in fact the only staples which are Barley, peas, arhar, masur, steadily consumed all through the year. and gram are now the ordinary articles of consumption. Prices of the first two used to be. the same, also of the* last two, about 27 sers for the former, and 25 for the latter.





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Of late years the cultivation of wheat for export, in order to pay the Government revenue, has been prevailing, tc the exclusion of the cheaper grains detailed above. The supply of the latter is not equal to the demand, and there is nearly always a scarcity of indigenous grain about the close of the second food season, which lasts from March "to 5th September. This, however, will be dwelt upon in another place; This is, of course, more marked ia times of scarcity. For instance, in 1866, a year of inferior harvest and good exportation, barley on 5th May was 22 sers fof the rupee; in two months it had come (by 5th July) to 15 sers wheat during the same time had only risen from 15 sers to 13, but peas from 21 J to 15|. I am not here referring to the stiU greater difference between hg,rvest and

seed-time prices.

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Famines in the Fyzabad division. The following is an abstract of information on the subject of 'famines, derived from official records for the The deputy commissioners of Fyzabad, Gonda, and division of Fyzabad. Bahraich state that the famine of 1769-70 did not extend to Oudh. tahsildar of Utraula, zila Gonda, alone reports to the contrary. He from enquiries made from some of the oldest inhabitants in his tahsil he finds that the Bengal famine of 1769-70 did extend to these parts exactly at the time it was felt in Bengal. On the other hand, the Raja of Manikapur, who owns a large estate in that tahsil, never heard of the

The

states that

famine.

Colonel Steel writes from Bahraich that, although the famine of

•