Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/173

KHE 165 village vernacular; the former shows itself among the early sowings, its ravages are marked by the plant becoming shrunk and stunted in growth, the leaves become gere and yellow, and the plant oventually decays away, affording, if it has lingered a while, very little (if any at all) of produce. The cultivators attribute this disease to a species of infusorial worms which corrode the tender roots, and not to any agency of the soil, for side by side may be commonly observed two beds, one teeming with luxuriant plant full of rich foliage, whilst the other may have only a few lank diminutive plants possessing not the slightest shadow of verdure. The khurka' occurs latc in season, and attacks the plant in its healthiest state this blight arises from excessive damp produced by a sudden change of atmosphere attended with rain and damp wind, specially affecting fields which have just before been already seasonably irrigated. There is do mistaking the effect of such transition; the bright green colour yields to a dark sombre tint which transfuses itself alike over the leaves, the stalk, and the capsule: a sensible decrease is at once observable in the produce, which before long ceases altogether, for the malady completely saps the vitality of the plant. The other causes which prove injurious to the plant and materially affect its productive powers are either natural visitations, such as a fall of hail, a severe frost, inopportune showers of rain, or excessively stroog winds during collection, or the causes may be, as in too many instances they truly are, from a defective system of tillage.”—Gen noe's " Notes on the Cultivation of Poppy, pages 49." Tobacco.-In Oudh tobacco is almost always grown on high dry lands; village sites are much liked, and the rough ground amidst ruins, where the soil is much mixed with mortar, lime, and brick rubbish, and saline constituents, is believed to be peculiariy suited to the growth of good tobacco. A piece of land of this description, or approaching to it, being selected, the ground is carefully worked up by repeated ploughing. It is manured with old dung, that of sheep and goats being preferred, and with saliferous eartht, where the soil happens to be naturally deficient in salt. The seed is sown broadcast about the middle of August in a nur- sery, and the seedlings are protected from excessive heat or rain by layers of straw or dry grass. About the end of September or beginning of Oc- tober the seedlings are planted out in rows, a space of about eighteen inches being left between each plant. Earth rich in salts is sometimes applied to the roots of the plants when they are set out. The plants are irrigated at intervals of a week or fortnight, according to the state of the weather, the water used being preferentially that of brackish wells. Sweet water is supposed by the cultivators to be injurious to the plants. When five or six leaves have formed on the stein the tops are pinched off, and all the shoots are thereafter carefully removed as they appear. places the crop is gathered by the removal of the leaves as they ripen, the stems being left to produce a second crop, when they are cut down, and a second crop is taken from the shoots which spring from the stool. This second crop, called dubbe, is of inferior quality and is consumed only by the poorer classes. The first crop is generally gathered about the end of February, the second in April and May. 22 In some