Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/197

 RAE 189 with only one pur working. No asámis would rely on such a well for irri- gation though he might reserve alongside such a well a biswa or two for carrots and perhaps ten biswas or so for wheat, barley, or peas. The con- ditions of soil are seldom so favourable as to allow kachcha wells being dug with any certainty of permanence, but where practicable they are dug and sometimes last for many years; generally speaking only one pur is worked on a kachcha well owing to its limited diameter. The fact of a kachcha well being in a given locality not feasible is no reason why the con- struction of a pakka well in the same locality should be expensive, “ Under no circumstances could one pair bullocks or six men work- ing a pur irrigate a pakka bágha per day. Under favourable circumstances, with water at 12 to 15 feet below the surface, and land not sandy, three to four purs would water a bígha in a day; where water is far from the surface, and land sandy, six to eight purs would water a bágha per day; a second watering can be done in less time. With a dhenkli or a ghara a pakka bígha can be watered in from six to nine days. In this part of the country bullock labour only is used to work purs for irrigation. The cost of irrigation from wells, including labourers, bullocks and gear, varies from Re. 1 to Rs. 2-4-0 per bigham The ordinary cultivator having gear, &c., at his disposal merely pays in grain his hired labourers. “Generally several asamis work their purs in common, each man's holding being watered by turn, thus effectiag a saving; the pur, not the land irri- gated, forms the basis of their calculations, " Wages.—Wages are not paid in cash but in grain, which varies in quantity according to kind of grain; dhán, barley, peas, chana, or mindwa; the latter would not be accepted alone; the quantity also varies according to the work to be executed. The weeder and ploughman generally get from 14 to 2 sers, while the labourer at the lift in jhíl irrigation gets as much as 3 sers per day, if at work before dawn. When cash wages are given, I believe four pice and five pice per day are given for ordinary work. For other than ordinary work slightly higher wages are given. Men digging inside a well sometimes get two annas per day, I pay women and boys as weeders, earth carriers, irrigation coolies, or threshing-floor coolies at the one anna per y; able-bodied coolies from one anna eight pies to two annas each per day. At these rates labourers are procurable in any numbers all the year round, Carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, &c., get from three to four annas each per day. "With reference to the interest which capital expended on wells will pay, I refrain from giving any opinion, for the land under any charge is peculiarly unfavourable for experiments in this line. Our land is either the uneven nálas bordering the Gauges and the Sai, or úsar lands in which dhán is sown, with but patches here and there of good soil fit for winter crops. However, the many wells which we have constructed bave not only enabled us to keep up the rents of lands once rich but now exhaust- ed, but have also allowed our enhancing the former rent where the land was of first quality. There is an indirect as well as direct profit from con- rate