Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/221

 BAST/. the southern than in the middle

in

There are two

in the northern.

21

and

belt,

middle than

the

in

autumn crop,

harvests, the kharif or

The kharif

crops are sown and are harvested

I

May

or June, as soon as October and November, and some of the rice in September, or even as early as the end of August ; cotton, of which very little is grown in the District, is not ripe

and the

the

rab't.

first

rain has fallen,

for picking

till

mainly sown April



in

Besides cotton and

February.

include jodr, locally

in

known

the kharif crops

rice,

The

as joudhri, moth., etc.

rabi crops are

October and November, and reaped in March and

in

they consist of wheat, barley, oats, vetch, and peas, and ddl or

arhar. the minute sub-division of the land, and the absence of large

From

towns, the population maintains

mile

throughout

the

its

villages the average of inhabitants cent,

average density of 592 to the square over nearly two-thirds of the

and

District,

is

Of

under 200.

the houses, 99 per

mud, and the average value of an ordinary

are built of

agricul-

His annual expenditure is about p^'9, 7s. Rice and the cheaper grains form the staple of food, with, in some places, fish. As the cold is never severe, clothing and shelter do not cost so much as in many other Districts. Among Hindus, the cost of living for a family of four persons (man, woman, and two children) would be approximately (i) for those in the first class, or having incomes over having incomes between £,20 and £100 a year, about £20 to ;^6o ; and (3) for those in the third class, or with incomes under £20 a year, from £6 to ;^i2. For the Musalmans the cost would be rather more,
 * ^ioo a year, ^^90 to ;^i8o; (2) for those in the second class, or

turist’s

personal effects

is

los.

—

as their habits are

The

buffaloes from

more expensive. to

14s.

^3, and of cows from

rates of interest in force are

personal only,

ranges from

bullocks for agriculture

price of

—

from 16 to 37 per cent.

valuables, from 6 to

1



to to

£^.

£4, of The

on the security of and on personal security transactions, on the security of

in small transactions,

from 10 to 12 per cent.

effects,

los.

in large

2 per cent.





on personal security (banker lending

to banker), from 6 to 9 per cent. ; and on the security of land, from Coolies and 9 to 18 per cent. The rates of wages are as follows

unskilled town labourers, 2^d. to 3fd. a day



—

agricultural labourers,

bricklayers and carpenters, 6d. to 2s. a day. 2^d. to 3d. a day Female labourers are paid about one-fifth less than men. The ordinary Wheat, 20 lbs. for prices of the chief food grains average as follows and dd/, 26 lbs. Prices have been rather less affected rice, 15 lbs. IS. in this District than in others more centrally situated, and nearer the main line of railway ; but even in Basti they are rising steadily.





Land

—



Tenures

.

—None

of the District

is

permanently

settled.

The

tenures of land are the usual zaminddri, pattiddri, and bhaydchdrd.