Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/371

SIT 363 three rupees instead of two rupees or two rupees eight annas. If working by the day at raising water from wells or tanks he receives two annas, near the towns and in rural neighbourhoods, near Mahmudabad, 14 pan- seris of urd or juár, and sers of parched gram or Indian-corn, thus in all 81 kachcha sers; and as 21 kachcba sers equal one regulation ser, it will appear that his wages are almost four sers pakka. Such grain at present (January, 1874); is worth ten panseris or 224 sers for the rupee ; the labourer will then receive grain worth 24 annas or Rs. 4-12 per working month of 28 days; but this is an exceptionally high rate. In this district, however, labour is harder than in Bara Banki; here they have the deorha not the duna system of relief-that is to say, six men working at a well will only have a relief of three men instead of six. Nine men then will be employed instead of fourteen at a dodandi well , four pulling up the leathern bag, with two for a relief, one attending to emptying the bag, one to the water channel, and one to the proper distri- bution over the crop. In Biswán wages at irrigation are one anna and a kachcha ser of coarse grain per day; this will be Re. 1-12-0 in cash and 11 sers grain, now worth 8 annas or Rs. 2-4, per month of 28 days. Ploughmen are generally paid by receiving one-sixth of the crop. It is very remarkable that the price of labour should vary 100 per cent. between Biswan and Mahmudabad, Agricultural capital and operations.—The soil cspecially towards the east is very sandy, but it is easily cultivated. The cottier tenant requires hardly any capital; a plough costs 20 annas, a hoe 10 annas, a sugarcane mill 4 to o rupees, a pair of oxen 25 rupees. A cart is not needed ; it would stand him Rs. 60; ordinary agricultural implements and stock would not cost above Rs. 40. Irrigation --Water lies at a considerable dista nce from the surface in the greater part of tlie district; the levers then which are so commonly used in Bara Banki, and the earthen pitchers wound upon a pulley used in Kheri are not common here. According to the survey it is the worst irrigated district in Oudlı lear- ing out of the comparison the moist sub montane districts which hardly require water at all. The irrigated area is 154,840 acres, the unirrigated 759,258, but doubtless there was some concealment of the irrigation capa- bilities of the parganas at the time of survey in order to obtain a light land assessment. Irrigation from tanks and rivers which cover 5-71 per cent of the surface is not much used, the water is costly, and unlined wells, which will admit of a leather bag, are only found in a belt running through the centre of the district. Nine men working such a well as detailed above will irrigate 1 to 2 kachcha bíghas a day. In Mahmudabad two kachcha bíghas are equal to seventeen biswas of a regulation bígha nominally, really to about fifteen; consequently a kachcha bigla equals about 1,140 square yards or 44 to the acre in Biswán a kachcha bígha is equal to 1,008 square yards). The