Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/88

 80 PAR to repay the cultivator, requires at least one watering. Arhar again is never irrigated, and may be seen anywhere and everywhere; besides being an important item of food, the stalks are extensively used in the construction of the frame-work supports of the village thatch roofs, specially where the bamboo is not, or is with difficulty procurable. Juár and bájra are kharíf millets. The former is sown at the commencement of the rains; the latter about two months later. Both, however, ripen at the same time, and are reaped early in November. The stalks of the juár or jundhri constitute valuable fodder for cattle. It is chopped up into small lengths, and about seven sers go to a feed. Sugarcane.—The cultivation of sugarcane is rapidly extending, and has probably iocreased during the last ten years, not less than twenty-five per cent. Three kinds of cane are cultivated.viz., saroti, kúswar, and kátára, all varieties of the Saccharum officinarum. The last named is used for eating only; four or five stalks, according to the size, being procurable for a pice. Gur is made from the juice of the other two kinds, and is of the best quality in pargana Patti. One bigha of good cane should, as a rule, produce fifteen maunds of gur, the average value of which is from thirteen to fourteen sers for the rupee. This represents a total value of Rs 72 for the produce of an acre. Deducting the expenses according to the following scale:- Rent of one acre Seed Herding sheep and manuring Sowing and ploughing Seven waterings dressings Rp. a. p. -- 12 129 4 0 0 3 3 3 4 12 9 22 6 6 8 129 Total 66 0 0 the cultivator may reckon on a clear profit of Rs. 16, which is a higher retorn than can be looked for from an acre of wheat, barley, or other ordi- nary crop. It is not therefore to be wondered at that the cultivation of sugarcane should prove somewhat attractive, and long may it continue so; for the higher the standard of cultivation the better the prospect of a speedy improvement in the circumstances and condition of the agricultu- ral classes, whether owners of the soil or mere tenants-at-will. Regarding sugarcane Mr. King bas left the following remarks on record : "Sugarcane has been almost confined hitherto to the Patti tahsil, which is credited with 6,930 bighas of the crop out of 9,933 bíghas in the whole district. Since the assessment, however, a great impetus has been given to this branch of agriculture, and in the Partabgarh tahsil a considerable quantity is now grown. In Bihár* the white-ants are said to prevent the grain being grown, and this appears to be true; for it is not unusual to see in a village several fine stone sugarcane mills, although cane has not been grown within the memory of man. Judging from the number of these deserted evidences of a former cultivation, i should say that in Bihár there had been, some seventy or eighty years • Now the Kunda talisil.