Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/51

II.] "If it rains at the end of the month of Māgha, the king and his country become blessed.

"If it rains in Fālgun, the millet Chīnākāon (Peanicum miliaceum) grows abundantly."

"Khanā says, the paddy thrives in the sun and the betel in the shade."

"If the paddy gets profuse sunshine by day, and showers by night, it rapidly develops. Khanā says, the drizzling rain in the month of Kārtic, does immense good to the paddy."

"Hear, O son of ploughman, in the bamboo-bush put some smut of paddy, if you do so near the root of the shrubs, they will soon cover two Kuḍas of land (about 174 cubits square)."

"O son of ploughman, plant patol (Trichosanthes diœca) in a sandy soil, your expectations will be fulfilled."

"Sow the seeds of mustard close, but those of rye (Sinapis ramose) at some distance from one another. Cotton plants should be put at the distance of a leap from one another and jute should, by no means, be planted near them, for cotton plants will perish if they come in contact with the water from the jute-field.""

There are numerous rules of this nature laid down on agricultural matters, with special application to the products of the soil of Bengal. The books serve to this day as infallible agricultural manuals to the ploughmen of Bengal. The short sentences rhyming with one another are soon committed to memory; so every child and every woman knows them in rural Bengal.

The following rule is enjoined for building a residential house:—