Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/514



502 OUDH. of natural grasses, much land is brought under the plough which would elsewhere be laid down in pasture. The average area of cultivation to a family is about 5 acres, ranging from 3 acres in Parrábgarh to 8 acres in Sítápur. The total number of cultivated acres in Oudh in 1883–84 was returned at 9,819,786 acres, under the following crops : —Rice, 1,907,599 acres; wheat, 1,405,105 acres; other food-grains, 5,929,677 acres; oil-seeds, 175,955 acres; sugar, 146,779 acres; cotton, 56,790 acres; opium, 100,299 acres; indigo, 16,857 acres; fibres, 12,645 acres; tobacco, 10,739 acres; and vegetables, 57,341 acres. In the same year, the average rent per acre was as follows :-For rice, os. ; wheat, 13. 3d. ; inferior grains, 8s. 43d. ; indigo, IIS.; cotton, gs. 9d. ; opium, 198. 6!d. ; oil-seeds, 8s. 1od. ; fibres, 8s. 3d.; sugar, 175. 7}d.; and tobacco, £1, 25. The rent for wheat land was highest in Bara Banki District (£1, is. 4d. per acre), and lowest in Kheri District (75.); for rice land, highest in Bara Banki (175. 9d.), and lowest in Kheri (4s. 5d.); for cotton, highest in Partábgarh (13s. 9d.), and lowest in Gonda (6s. Id.); for opium, highest in Sítápur I, 75. od.), and lowest in Kheri (16s.); for ordinary inferior food-grains, highest in Bara Banki (12s.), and lowest in Bahraich (75.). The average prices in Oudh per maund of 80 lbs. were in 1883— wheat (first quality), 3s. 9!d. ; wheat (second quality), 38. 8d. ; rice (first quality), 75. 43d. ; rice (second quality), 5s. 6 d. ; sugar (refined), £1, 5s. 6d. ; sugar (raw), 6s. 7d. ; salt, 75. 6d. ; ghi (clarified butter), £2, 75. 2d.; cotton, £1, 9s. ; linseed, 5s. 6d. The agricultural stock of Oudh in 1883 included 5,133,805 cows and bullocks; 1,263,541 sheep and goats; 517,681 pigs; 82,496 ponies; 15,770 horses; 54,185 carts; and 1,228,841 ploughs. Skilled labour is paid at the rate of about 6d. a day; unskilled, 4d. a day. The hire of a cart with two bullocks is is. 2d. a day; of a camel, uid. a day; of a score of donkeys, 45, 8d. a day. A plough-bullock can be purchased for £1, 155. 3d. ; and a sheep for 25. 2d. Land Survey and Settlement.—The two great historical facts in the land history of Oudh are the first British annexation in 1856, and the pacification after the Mutiny. Oudh became a British Province only a few nionths prior to the rebellion; and the present revenue settlement, 'made upon the battle-field,' possesses rather the character of a political amnesty. When the British first took possession of the country, in February 1856, it was determined to effect a settlement of the land revenue, village by village, according to the system prevailing in the North-West Provinces. The desire was to deal directly with the actual occupants of the soil, whether petty proprietors or coparcenary communities, and to avoid the interposition of middle-nen. But the great tálukdárs of Oudh, whose position was thus too much ignored, were