Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/183



NAGPUR DISTRICT. 171 tobacco on 815 acres, besides vegetables of different kinds on 4539 acres. Of the adult male and female agricultural population in 1881, 5988 were returned as landed proprietors; 98,006 as tenant-cultivators, of whom 17,681 were tenants-at-will, 14,209 were tenants at fixed rates or with rights of occupancy, 61,215 were assistants in home cultivation, and 104,293 were agricultural labourers. Estate agents, farm bailiffs, shepherds, herdsmen, etc., bring up the total adult agricultural population of Nagpur District to 209,568, or 30 per cent. of the District population; average area of cultivated and cultivable land, 8 acres per head. Of late years, the condition of the husbandmen has generally improved. The rent rates per acre in 1883 for the different qualities of land are returned as follows: - Land suited for wheat or inferior grain, 28. per acre; for rice, 25.; for oil - seeds, 1S. d.; for cotton, 25. 2 d.; for sugar-cane, 25. 4d. Total amount of Government assessment, including local rates and cesses levied on the land, £88,058, or an average of is. 63 d. per cultivated area. Total rental paid by cultivators, including rates and cesses, £127,559. Average produce per acre—wheat, 300 lbs. ; rice, 504 lbs.; inferior grain, 306 lbs. ; oilseeds, 144 lbs. ; cotton, 100 lbs.; sugar (gúr), 500 lbs. The prices per cwt. were—rice, 6s. rod. ; wheat, 55. id. ; linseed, 7s. 6d.; cotton, raw, 125. 3d. ; refined sugar, £1, 165. Skilled labourers received up to is. per diem ; unskilled, as low as 4 d. On the forest lands, which cover an area of 320,000 acres, most of the fine timber has been felled ; but under the present system of conservation, the saplings are making progress. Of forest fruit-trees, the most important is the mahuá, from the flowers of which is distilled dárú, the spirituous liquor most used in the District Commerce and Trade.—The principal exports consist of raw cotton, grain and other agricultural produce, and cloth; the principal imports are salt, sugar, English piece and miscellaneous goods, cattle, hardware, and cutlery. The exports considerably exceed the imports in value, and therefore large quantities of gold and silver are sent into the District from Bombay. The manufacture of common cotton cloth is declining, owing to the competition of machine - made goods from England. Kanthi is by far the largest entrepôt for wheat, rice, and other grain ; but the cotton produced in Nagpur mostly finds its way to Hinganghát in Wardhá District, or to Amráoti in Berár, from whence it is transported to Bombay. There are over 200 miles of made roads in Nagpur. The chief lines are the northern road to Jabalpur (Jubbulpore), the eastern road to Bhandára, the southern road to Chándá, and the northwestern road to Chhindwárá. The Nágpur branch of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway leaves the main line at Bhosáwal, and terminates at Sítábaldi, the western suburb of Nagpur; it has a station also at Bori.