DISTRICT SELECTIONS. Elichpu'r.* The kharif crop consists of bájri (holcus spicatus) in small quantity, holcus saccharatus (red jawári), panicum sativum (rála), paspalum frumentaceum (kodon); of legumes, phaseolus aconitifolius (mot), and several other species of phaseoli, the pods of which are eaten sometimes as potherbs. The rabi crop comprehends-of grains, wheat (triticum) of several varieties; barley (hordeum distichon); of legumes, pisum sativum (pea), cicer arietinum (gram); besides linum usitatissimum and crotalaria juncea, flax-plants. The various oil-plants are also cultivated. Carthamus tinctorius (kusamba), verbena sativa; on the hills sesamum orientale (tíl)—the two latter belong to the kharif. Cucurbitaceous plants are cultivated in the rains and cold season. The potato is small and watery, but the yam is excellent. Melons grow plentifully in the nallas in the hot weather; the various plants used as condiments are produced, and some edible roots, the chief of which is the carrot. The greens are amaranthus, various species; the beta Bengalensis (palunka), the basella alba et rubra (púi), the trigonella foenum græcum (methi), anethum sowa (dill); of portulaca (kurfa) two or three species. The common people also use the leaves of several species of jungle plants as greens; and in seasons of dearth almost every vegetable that is not poisonous is eaten. The many grave diseases which are ever the sequel of famine owe, in all probability, much of their severity to the use of such unwholesome articles of diet. Of the fruits, besides the mango and tamarind, there are oranges, often sweet and well-flavoured; grapes, always indifferent; plantains, pomegranates, guavas, mulberries, and others of less note. Cotton is the great staple of the valley, and sugarcane is extensively cultivated in garden grounds. Melgha't. Thirteen different kinds of grain are produced in Melghát. Out of these the most valuable are the very finest wheat and rice grown in large quantities. Of gram (chana) there is a large yield, besides eight descriptions of dál, masúr and úríd being the chief. Potatoes are produced at Chikalda and the higher plateaus equal to any grown elsewhere. Attention is given also to oil-seeds. Cotton is grown, but the total yield is very small. Tobacco is grown for home consumption rather than exportation, but still a good deal of it is cultivated. * From Dr. Riddell's description of Haidarábád Contingent Stations. Agriculture. District Selections. Agriculture. District Selections. The tea-plant thrives, and in one garden at Chikalda grows luxuriantly. Coffee, too, has been tried, but hitherto the result has been inadequate to the expense. Horses are not bred in Melghát; ponies are used, but they are generally imported from Berár. With such immense pasturage as the taluk affords, it is natural that great numbers of horned cattle should be kept. The trade in ghí (clarified butter), the produce of buffaloes' milk, is a very considerable one, largely benefiting the gaulís. Goats and a few sheep of kinds, imported from towards the Narbada, are to be found; and pigs in some number are to be seen about Korkú villages. Fowls also are reared in very considerable numbers. 7. Rála. 8. Gánja. 9. Ajwán. 10. Indigo. 11. Til (two kinds, and other kinds of small grain resembling grass-seed). 2. The cold weather, or rabi, produce 7. Tobacco (before the rains cease), transplanted from irrigated beds. 8. Mustard. Some of these may be produced in market gardens by irrigation; but the common garden produce is Fibres. The fibres are-1st, the "san tág" or "san," Indian hemp (B. crotalaria juncea); when ripe the plants are pulled up, tied into sheafs, and put out in an upright position to dry. The seed is then beaten out, and the plants conveyed to a pool of water or running stream, and allowed to steep for about three days. They are then taken out in small quantities, a sheaf at a time; each plant is broken near the root, and the fibre's full length drawn off and thrown across a temporary line to dry. It is then carefully washed to clear the fibre from the bark, and tied into hanks. There is no export trade of this material; the produce is barely sufficient for home consumption; it is worked up into ropes, twine, sackcloth, and gunny-bags for grain, &c. It is cultivated on the lighter soils and in the vicinity of streams and rivers, principally to the south of the Bálápúr taluk. The "ámbádi tág" (B. Hibiscus cannabinus). This plant is cultivated in a mixed field, and is treated very similarly to the "san" plant when ripe; it requires about fifteen' days soaking to enable the fibrous bark to be removed with facility. The ámbádi fibre is considered superior to the san, being much finer, and individually stronger. It is not so suitable for ropes, because it stiffens when wetted; it is put to the same uses as the san, but is not so extensively cultivated. Seldom is a field devoted to ámbádi alone. The leaves are eaten as vegetable (sour greens). The wák, palás root fibre (B. butea frondosa), used for coarse cordage, principally at the Pola feast. The roots are dug and detached, then bruised by striking with a peg on a block; this admits of the fibres being withdrawn. They are gathered and twisted by hand into coarse cordage, which lasts about two months with care. Horses. Horses and Cattle. The horses in this district are so few in number, and so inferior in quality, that they hardly merit any notice. They belong to the breed known as dakhani. One or two with a jágirdar, and as many with a well-to-do deshmukh, and they are all told.* The ponies are more numerous, and better of their kind; but so long as the males are left entire, and allowed to graze loose about the commons, there is little hope of regulating or improving our local breeds. In the plain country of Berár oxen draw, beside the plough, all ex- Cattle. *"Less than 100 years ago it was thought necessary to fortify Calcutta against "the horsemen of Berár, and the name of the Marátha ditch still preserves the memory "of the danger." Under this single flash from one of Macaulay's most brilliant passages, Berár is lit up for a moment as a country of Cossacks or Turkomans; whereas your true Berári sits best behind (or on) fast-trotting oxen, and the province can have supplied very few mosstroopers to the Bhonsla. Agriculture. District Selections. Agriculture. District Selections. been neglected, the breed of the Berár bullock has been fostered, and has become notorious all over the Dakhan for beauty, strength, activity, and endurance. Their characteristics are a broad prominent forehead, with horns usually short, far back, and pointed backwards; compact build, with long barrel, majestic carriage, and long stride. Their colours, too, have fancy names, and are usually choice. They used to be specially sought after for the Haidarábád Subsidiary Force and the Contingent bullock batteries. As a rule, the pure Berár cow is an indifferent milch, as she rears a sturdy calf. The cause of this may be that the udder does not become enlarged by the milk being allowed to gather, for the calf draws it off continually. Although there yet remain very fair specimens, yet the Berár stock has been largely intermixed with a smaller breed, principally, it appears, from above the gháts. Extensive crossing of the two kinds may be traced in the shape of head and set of horns now constantly seen. The smaller sort of bullock is cheap to feed, and very hardy. Possibly the rapid contraction of the common pasture lands, owing to the increase of cultivation, may be injuring the breed of cattle; but the practice of using irrigation to grow small patches of green karbi and other food for cattle is a first step in the right way towards immense improvement of our farming stock. Gardeners now feed their cattle to a great extent with the leaves and tender branches of the pángra, a tree used for staking the high fences in pán and plantain gardens, which require to be sheltered from the wind and sun. The plant grows freely from cuttings, and on being pruned yields lateral sprouts and leaves in great abundance. Bulda'na. The district is rich in agricultural produce. The kharíf crops In a seasonable year, when there has been neither deficiency nor excess of rain, and neither blight nor worm have attacked the fields, there can be no sight more gladdening to the eye than the many-coloured sheet of cultivation which, almost without a break in it, covers the valley of the Púrna. In the Bálághát the crops are also very fine, especially wheat; but the cultivation is more patchy, and does not, therefore, present the peculiarly rich appearance which distinguishes the valley. The enormous wealth which the high price of cotton threw into Berár during the war in America, though partially frittered away by indulgence in extravagant weddings and other ceremonies, has nevertheless given a great start to agriculture, and been freely expended in reclaiming waste land. Situated as the district is in the neighbourhood of the great cotton market of Khamgaon, which is only a mile and a half beyond its north-eastern border-nearer to Bombay than any of its Berár neighbours, and having about twenty-five miles of railway with three stations in its northern taluk-markets for its agricultural produce are casily found, and it gets to them on favourable terms. Horses. At present the district cannot boast of its horses; the animals which by courtesy obtain that name are merely large tattús or galloways, and even these are uncommon, and mostly to be seen in the hands of the village Márwáris and the specially well-to-do people. Recently a Government stallion has been maintained, his services being gratuitously given to the owners of mares, in the hope of improving the breed of horses. The experiment seems to take with the people. Ponies and small galloways are sufficiently numerous to meet the requirements of the population. The best are obtainable at U'tráj Peth, Mahár Bhaira, A ́nvi, and Amrápúr, in the Chikli taluk. Cattle. The district is noted for the goodness of its cattle, which bear a better repute than those bred in the neighbouring Bombay provinces of Khandesh and Ahmadnagar. Bullocks, though small, are handsome, active and fast. The cows are also good. The buffaloes do not deserve special commendation. The abundant supply of sarki or cotton-seed, and karbi or the stalks of the jawári (of both of which cattle are remarkably fond), as also of oil-cake, has no doubt a great deal to do with the successful breeding of cattle in the district. Fields intended for the kharif crops must be ready for sowing Mode of husbandry. by the end of May, so that advantage may be taken of the first regular monsoon fall of rain in June, immediately after which sowing should take place. The ryot commences preparation of his fields in January, and works at them throughout the hot weather. Surface ploughing must be done early, before the intense heat has caked the soil, for once caked it is, with the means available, almost impossible, and certainly damaging to cattle and ploughs, to break it up. The seed sown, it germinates rapidly, and the young crops are weeded at intervals of a fortnight. Harvest operations commence in November, and are carried on till March. It is during this time that the want of labour makes itself felt. In order to save his food-crops the ryot lets his cotton stand unpicked, and it gets damaged by leaf and dust. If, on the other hand, he turns his attention to his cotton, and lets his other 11 BG + Agriculture. District Selections |