Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/367

 SIT 359 melons, are to be seen at almost every village. Haldi gives the well known yellow dye turmeric. Pán (Chavica bettepiper) or the leaf used with the betelnut (supári) as a quid for chewing is met with here and there; the pán field presenting the curious appearance of a crop growing on a sloping ridge of earth, and covered over by a trellis work and mats to keep off the rays of the sun. It is a creeper growing somewhat higher than the tallest English pea, and is propagated by cuttings. The plant lasts four or five years. Price of staple crops. --The average price during the last five years (1866-1870) of the principal grain crops was as follows :- Wheat Barley S. 18 31 ch 16 12 Gram Bájra S. 24 25 eh, 10 1 And we may here add concluding our notice of this part of our subject that unlike other crops the ears of the bájra and juár are taken off by the hand, and the stalk left standing to be subsequently cut down and chopped up into "karbi," the common fodder of horned cattle. Cultivated fruit trees...-Besides the wild fruit trees already mentioned the district has the following well known cultivated fruits. Guayas. Melong. Plantuins. Papitas. Custard apples. Pummelos, Oranges and lemons, Karaundas. Rents.—Rents as a rule are paid in kind, only about one-tenth of the whole being cash payments. The zamindar's share varies from one- fourth to one-half , both extremes being exceptional, and the former to be found only in what was the Rája of Chahlári's taluqa in pargana Kundri. The variations are caused by the difference in the allow- ances made to the tenants. For instance the division is made thus: the tenant is allowed 5 sers out of the maund as kúr, and the remaining 35 is divided half and half between him and his landlord; the latter thus getting 173 sers against the other's 22), and the tenant then contributes Ž or 2 sers towards the patwari's allowance. In other estates, in addition to the 5 sers kúr, certain of the tenants have a let off which is called "charwa" of from 5 to 7 sers; and thus out of the maund the landlord gets from 121 to 15 sers, and the tenant 25 to 274, subject to the patwari's deduction as before. Various proportions of the batái.-These allowances and deductions vary as I have said very much. In some estates the tíkur system prevails, that is to say, the tenant keeps two-thirds of outturn, or in other words 263 sers out of the maund, without any reference to kúr or charwa, but subject to the 2 or 2 sers deductions for village expenses, including the patwari's remuneration. In pargana Gundlamau, again, the system is quite different from the above. The landlord first takes five sers out of the heap of grain for every maund therein. The maund is then divided into two equal portions; and the shares stand thus :-