Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/234



222 NARSINGHPUR. 60 lbs. Rotation of crops is not practised; but when the soil shows signs of exhaustion, gram or some other pulse is substituted for wheat for two or three years. Cultivators dare not leave their lands fallow, even for a single year; for the ground would be immediately occupied by rank kúns grass, which no exertions can eradicate till it has run its course of about ten years. Irrigation and manure are used only for sugar-cane and vegetables. Of the total adult agricultural population in 1881 (115,530, or 31.64 per cent of the District population), 2455 were returned as landed proprietors, 17,061 as possessing rights of occupancy, 10,759 as tenantsat-will, 42,857 as assistants in home cultivation, 39,716 as agricultural labourers, while the remainder is made up of graziers, tenants of unspecified status, estate agents, etc. Area of cultivated and cultivable land available for each adult agriculturist, 7 acres. Of the total area of the District, 1916 square miles, only 1708 square miles are assessed for Government revenue. Of these, 979 square miles are cultivated, 193 square miles are cultivable, and 536 square miles are uncultivable waste. Total amount of Government land revenue assessment, including local rates and cesses, £44,716, or an average of is. 5 d. per cultivated acre. Total rental paid by the cultivators, £95,894, or an average of 3s. ozd. per cultivated acre. The rent rates per acre for the different qualities of land are returned as follows:-Land suited for wheat, 5s, 6d.; for rice, 4s. 3d.; for inferior grain, Is. 7.d.; for sugarcane, 5s, 6d.; for cotton, 3s. 6d.; for oil-seeds, 45. 4d. The ordinary prices of produce per cwt. in 1881 were as follows:--Wheat, 5s. 3d. ; rice, 8s. iod.; and cotton, 38s. 2d. The wages per diem of a skilled labourer average about gd. ; of an unskilled labourer, 4 d. to 5d. a day. Commerce and Trade.—Narsinghpur and Gadarwará are the only trading towns of the District. A considerable traffic, however, chiefly in English cloth, lac ornaments, and copper utensils, takes place at an extensive fair, which is held yearly in November and December on the sands of the Narbadá at Barmán Ghát, 14 miles from Narsinghpur. Hitherto, the only export of consequence has been cotton. The inanufactures consist of brass and bell-metal vessels at Chichli; a kind of stamped cotton fabric at Gádarwará; and tasar silk and saddle-cloths at Narsinghpur. The mineral resources of the District give rise to an important industry among the Gond inhabitants. At Mohpáni, il miles from the Gadarwara railway station, excavations for coal have been made with success in the gorge by which the Chita-Rewa leaves the Satpura table-land. The method of subterranean work pursued is that known by the name of pillar and stall ;' and the produce is a strong non-coking coal, fairly effective as a steam fuel. A small vein in Sihorá Ghát, on the Sher river, also supplies coal, said to be hard and jetty, and free from pyrites of iron. The most valuable iron