Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/365

SIT 357 Patwá (Hibiscus sabdariffa) sanai or san (Crotalaria jimcea). These are well known and call for no detailed notice here ; suffice it to say that there are very many varieties of rice, and this crop is the staple of the eastern portion of the district. The name paddy, by which it is very generally known among Europeans, appears to be like many other Anglo- Indian words of Dutch origin. No Munshi has ever been able to tell me anything about it more than that; "it was an English word;" while the ordinary European asserts that “ it must be a native word," and although Professor Forbes in his dictionary states, I know not on what authority that it is a Hindi word, I hazard the opinion that it is Malay from the fact that in Batava there is one variety of the crop known as "paddi rawa' or mountain rice. Til, like some of the rabi oilseeds, is not grown alone but in the same field with other crops. Urd, múng, and moth are pulses. Patwa is grown along with either arhar (a rabi crop) or juár. It has a yellow flower, and from its fibre, as also from that of san or sanai (the common Indian hemp) string and rope are made- II. The rabi or spring crops- Wheat (Triticum vulgare). Língeed (Linum usitatissimum). Gram (Cicer arietilum). Castor oil or Rendi (Ricinus communis). Barley (Hardeun diatichon). Peas (Pisum sativum). Láhi (sinapis), Masur (Errum lens) Mustard (Sinapis nigra). Arhar Cajanus indicus). Sargon (Sinapis glanca). Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius). Of these the first in the list covers the greatest area and then come barley and gram. Lábi and linseed (alsi) are occasionally sown by then- selves, and not like til and other oilseeds, in conjunction with some other crop. This tinum linseer is the common flax. Castor-oil is produced from a plant which often reaches to the proportions of a tree. It is not as a rule grown in fields, but as a hedge round some other crop. Arhar is planted in July along with juár in the same field, but is not cut until six months later than that crop or in March-April. It bears the dál so well known to the eater of poláos and khhichris. Safflower is planted along with wheat, and produces familiar dyes. Oil is expressed from its seeds which are then given as food to the cattle. Sugarcane.-Besides the above, which are the staple kharíf and rabi crops, there is a considerable quantity of sugarcane grown in the district producing one crop in the year, and being of several kinds, as described in the following note by Captain Young, late Settlement Officer. Speaking of pargana Maholi, he says,---- There are four very well marked rent-rates which appear universal in the pargana, and they are regulated entirely by the season at which the cane is sown, or more strictly by the length of time during which the land is occupied by the crop between preparation for sowing and actual development. “The local names attaching to the cane are derived from the crops which immediately precede the sowing except in the fourth instance in which this rule does not apply. They are as follows - “1.—Chaneri, where sown in a field from which chana has been cut; II. -Maseri, where sown after a crop of m'sh; III.---Dhankari, where it