Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/176

 168 KHE or maize. When no manure is applied land is fallowed after eveiy five oi seven years generally for three harvests, that is, for a year and a half; then another turn of cultivation commences, but in Khairigarh, possibly owing to the abundance of the cattle, most of the land has been cropped without the artificial application of manure for many years. Profits of cultivation.—The Kuurmis and Kachhis are to a certain extent skilled labourers, and are generally tolerably well off; but the following calculation will show that the mass of the low caste cultivators are con- stantly living from hand to mouth, and living very badly too. There are to cach head of the agricultural population 1:5 acres, and this will give different results according to quality of land. In good land, such as will bear wheat, the rent of such a plot will be Rs. 7, in addition to the owner's labour; and at least a quarter of the population are too young or too old for any labour. About three rupees will be required to pay for carts, plough, bullocks, and other material. Rs. 10 then will be the cost of production to the tenant, and he will receive about Rs. 17 per acre* or Rs: 25-8-0 on each area of 1.5 acres, which is the portion of an agricultural inhabitant, lcaving a balance of Rs. 15-8-0 for his annual expenses. It appears then that the income of each member of an ordinary peasant family will be less than Rs. 16 per annum, from which he or she must defray the whole cost of food, shelter, clothing, and firewood. If the peasant is in debt, as is the case nine times out of ten, he will get be. tween Rs. 12 and 13, or Rs. 62 for a family of five, consisting of a grandfather or grandmother, father, mother, and two children. Such a family will consume five sers per day of coarse grainſ such as is above described; this will be 45 maunds in the year, and its cost at the village price at least Rs. 52. Ten rupees therefore will be left for salt and salt tax, for clothing, house-rent, and thc payment of village registrars, waich- men, &c.,--a sum evidently quite insufficient. Proper cost of suitable food.—If, however, we enquire, not what the Kheri peasant does eat, but what he should eat, then another calculation may be used. The actual cost of prisoners' food in all the Oudh jails was Rs. 17-13-7 on a four years' average, and their clothing came to Re. 1-9-0, or Rs. 19-6-7 in all. On this scale, therefore, the family of five would cost Rs. 97 per annum for food and clothing; but they only possess Rs. 62. Calculating that each child requires only half the sus- tenance of an able-bodied man, each adult will cost Rs. 18-8-0, and each minor Rs. 9-4-0 ; thus the aggregate expenses of the family of five will be Rs. 74 for food and Rs. 7-13-0 for clothing-Rs.81-13-0 in all. In other words, to defray the cost of good food and clothing, the peasant farmer of Kheri must exhaust all his means and incur a debt of twenty rupees each year. be able sell Ec. 1 worth of chopped straw. t Such a family would require threc and a half sers of wheat according to jail allow- ancee; this would equal probably six sers of kodo, certainly four, in food value,
 * 800 lbs. of wheat at 60 lbs. per rupee; this will amout to Rs. 16 per acre, and he may