Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/175

 KHE 167 rule, only small earthen pots can be used for conveying the water to the surface. In Muhamdi the under-soil is more tenacious, and large leather bags holding from ten to twelve gallons can be applied, but over a large part of the district these small wells are dug at a cost of two rupees each, They will water about two acres in a month, and then fall in. They require one man and a boy at a monthly expense of Rs. 5-10-0 to use them; hence it is apparent that well-irrigation throughout much of the district in Magdapur, Srinagar, Aurangabad, Atwa Piparia, part of Muhamdi, Haidarabad, Kheri, aud other places costs Rs. 3-13-0 per acre.* The expense of irrigation from tanks varies from Re. 1-12-0 to Rs. 3-0-0) per acre, according to the distance of the fields and their elevation above the water. If a second watering is required the cost will be doubled ; but rain generally falls in January. Very little land is therefore irrigated, only 91,134 acres, or 11 per cent of the cultivated area, being watered, 55,950 from wells, 25,850 from tanks, and 9,334 from streams. Such are the official returns, but the settlement officer thought that double that area can be, and is, irrigated from existing sources. The machinery for raising water.--Irrigation in Kheri is conducted in four different ways. From wells the water is drawn up either by dhenkhlis (earthen pots fastened to the long arm of a lever pivoted on an erect pole) or by gharas...-two earthen pots on a rope running in a groove over a wheel which are alternately pulled up, or by purs (leathern bags ) holding from ten to twenty gallons pulled up by men or, very rarely, by bullocks. From tanks or rivers the water is obtained by beris (quadrangular plaited straw baskets slung on ropes). The cheapest and surest supply of water is from wells which will bear the use of the largest bags. These are called in this district chaujania, because four men pull them up: they are found in parganas Muliamdi, Kasta, Pasgawan, Kheri, and part of Paila. Throughout inost of the district water is procured by ghara wells, a tedious and expensive process; for the friable soil in which these wells are sunk is always tumbling in, and has to be scooped out from the bottom several times a day. Perhaps a quarter of the irrigated land is watered at an average cost of Rs. 3 per acre, and the rest at Rs. 5, for two or three waterings such as are generally required for wheat. South of the Ul much of the land is very well manured, particularly by the Kurmis of northern Paila, Haidarabad, and the Muráos of Kheri and Mulamdi. It is misleading to give any actual weight of manure laid on the field, because the habits of the people largely add to the supply. Rotation of crops.—The usual rotation of crops on loam is sugarcane, wheat, and then gram or másh; on the sandy soils barley succeeds bájra or juár for many years continuously. In the rice lands (matiár or there is often no second crop, as the soil is too hard for winter ploughing: rice is grown year after year in the kharíf, and moth or linseed sometimes succeeds it. Manure is only given every third year, and hardly ever to barley clay)
 * One rupee cost of well, two rupees thirtecu agnas of labour,