Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/93

 PAR 85 are sufficient for all the autumn produce. This scale is, as regards the rabi produce, all very well in theory, but is largely departed from in prac- tice. As an example, we will suppose the cultivator has just reaped a late kharíf or agahni crop. It is manifest that he has only time left for, at most, four or five ploughings before it becomes necessary to put in the seed for the rabi. This inconsistency in practice and theory is met with the reply, that a maximum yield is never looked for at both har- vestis. Let a good juár or such like crop be secured, and the cultivator is satisfied with balf the possible ontturn of barley or peas six months later. He is seldom, however, satisfied with the certainty of a short out- turn of a valuable crop, as wbeat, &c., and prefers to forego the kharíf har- vest entirely, so that he may bestow on the land the requisite number of ploughings for a valuable rabi, and, indeed, it is no exaggeration, with reference to this district, to say that such lands are tilled twenty times, and even more, before they are sown. When the native capitalist con- sents to experiment with prepared manures and steam ploughs, com- bined with a proper observance of fallows, we may look forward to a brighter future for the science of agriculture in this country. At present, however, while labour continues so cheap, such experiments would hardly prove remunerative. Agricultural implements.—The rude implements of husbandry in vogue in this district differ but little; except perhaps in name from those ordina- rily used in the upper provinces of India. Enemies of produce.—Of the injurious influences to which wheat and barley are liable may be mentioned first, excessive cloud and vapour, hail, the blight, and mildew known as dhára and girwi, and the worm. Frost, excessive vapour, and hail are general enemies of all the rabi crops. first is specially fatal to arhar, peas, and gram. Blight and mildew are the natural consequences of a continued easterly wind with cloud and damp. Sugarcane is liable, when the plants are still young, to the ravages of an insect called bhungi, which eats up and destroys the leaf. At a later stage the roots are sometimes attacked by a grub called diwár or tára, while at a time when the plant has escaped these, and bids fair to ripen well, it not unfrequently withers away ander the blighting influ. ence of a disease called kári which dries up the juice and causes the stock to look black. Gram is liable, as was manifested last year, to the ravages of a caterpillar called gadhela, wbich lies concealed during the day and at night sallies forth and literally eats up the entire plant. The pods of peas and arhar, when fully formed, are often attacked by a species of wire worm, which pierces the shell and destroys the fruit. Řice, when nearly ready for the sickle, is liable to the devastation of a fly called gándhi, hy which the grain is rendered useless. Rice also suffers from a blight called khaira, which turns the ears an orange colour and destroys them. All the oil-seeds, except the alsi or linseed, are prone to the ravages of a fly called "máhun," which attacks the plant when a few inches high, and covering it with a glutinous slime effectually prevents it from arriving at maturity. Owing to the “máhún" there is little or no mustard in the dis- trict this year. The