Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/528



516 PABNA. immemorial; but up to about 1865 little or none had been exported. The European demand, however, at that time so stimulated the cultivators, that, without any direct interference, they had themselves placed as much as 192 square miles under this crop by 1872. Since the latter date the cultivation has somewhat fallen off, but jute still forms the source to which the petty farmer looks to pay his rent, and indeed has caused the withdrawal of rice land from cultivation to a certain extent. Neither manure nor irrigation is commonly practised or required. The principle of the rotation of crops is acknowledged in the maxim that jute, sugar-cane, betel-leaf, and turmeric can none of them be continuously grown on the same field. It may be broadly stated that there is now no cultivable spare land left in the District. The average produce of an acre of land, yielding two crops, is estimated to be about 21 cits., worth about £3, 7s. The rates of rent in Pabná vary extremely on different estates. The average rate for rice lands may be said to lie between 3s. and 6s. per acre, but some landlords obtain as much as 12s. A general attempt at enhancement led to the disturbances which have been already described. There is little that is peculiar in the land tenures of the District. A class of cultivators exists in the District known as bargáits or bargadors, who cultivate land under the jotdurs or larger husbandmen, the latter giving half the seed and the land rent-free. The bargáit provides the cattle, implements, half the seed, and the labour, and in return keeps half the produce. All the present landowners are supposed to owe their title to sales from the Rájá of Náttor, which have taken place since the introduction of British rule. The number of permanent under-tenures of the patní class is comparatively small. It is supposed that about half the cultivators have won for themselves occupancy rights, by the continuous cultivation of their fields for more than twelve years, but this supposition would be strenuously contested by the landlords. The ordinary rates of wages have approximately doubled within the past forty years. Since 1849, the wages of a common coolie have risen from 2 d. to 4 d. or 5d. per diem; of an agricultural labourer, from 2 d. to 4d. ; of a carpenter or smith, from 4.d. to is. The wages paid at Sirajganj are considerably higher than the rates current in other parts of the District, especially for women and children, who are largely employed in the jute factory. For unskilled labour at that busy mart, men sometimes receive ios. a month, women 7s. 6d., and children 5s. The prices of food-grains appear to have risen in a yet greater degree than wages. Common rice, which sold in 1850 for is. 8 d. per cwt., fetched 35. 9d. per cwt. in 1870, and an average of 5s. 4d. for the five years ending 1883–84; during the same period of 34 years, barley rose from is, 8.}d. to 45. 9d., and wheat from 25. 41d. in 1850 to an average of 5s. 9d. for the five years ending 1883-84. The highest