UNITED PROVINCES OF AGRA AND OUDH. One of the nine major provinces of British India, and second only to Bengal in population (49,614,833 in 1931). Marching with Tibet and Nepal along its north and north-east borders, it covers a corn pact area of 112,191 sq.m.; and imbedded in it are the three Indian States of Rampur, Tehri-Garhwal and Benares. Including them, the province comprises the whole of the upper part of the Gangetic basin, from the Himalayas and the Punjab border to the Vindhyan plateau and the rice lands of Bihar, an area roughly corresponding to the Hindostan of the old Muslim chroniclers. To this it adds the great semi-circular tract, watered by the Gogra and the Gumti, which was formerly the kingdom of Oudh.
The flora of the forests is rich and varied. The sal tree yields the most important timber ; the hard wood of the shisham is also valuable ; and several other timber-trees afford materials for fur niture or roofing shingle. Among the scattered jungles in various parts of the province, the mahua tree is prized alike for its edible flowers, its fruits and its timber. The fauna comprises most of the animals and birds common to the Gangetic plain ; but the wild elephant is now practically unknown, except when a stray specimen loses its way at the foot of the hills. Tigers are now found in any numbers in the tarai only. Leopards still haunt the cane-brakes and thickets along the banks of the rivers ; and nilgai and antelopes abound. Game birds consist of teal and wild duck, snipe, jungle fowl and peacock.
The Ganges and its great affluents, the Jumna, the Ram ganga and the Gogra, rise in the Himalayas, and meet within the province. In addition there are the following secondary streams:
the Kalinadi and the Hindan flow through the Doab; the Chambal intersects the trans-Jumna tract ; in Bundelkhand the principal streams are the Betwa and the Ken ; the Ramganga, rising in Garhwal, pursues a tortuous course through Rohilkhand; the Gumti flows past Lucknow and Jaunpur to join the Ganges; the trans-Gogra region is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Rapti. These rivers are constantly modifying the adjacent lands.
Climate.—The climate as a whole is hot and dry. The Hima layan districts of course are cool, and have a much greater rainfall than the plains. They are succeeded by a broad submontane belt, the tarai, which bears the reputation of being the most un healthy in all India, and in many parts only the acclimatized aborigines can withstand its deadly malaria. The plain country is generally warm and dry, the heat becoming more oppressive as the general level of the country sinks towards Allahabad and Benares, or among the hills of Bundelkhand. The rainfall varies from 3o to 44 in. in the plains, increasing gradually towards the Himalaya. The temperature in the hot season ranges from 86° to 115° F, and even higher, in the shade.
Minerals and Agriculture.—Owing to the loamy nature of the soil, few minerals of any kind are found ; and the chief under ground product is the abundant nodular limestone (kankar) which is used for road-making. Iron and coal exist in the southern hills, but not in paying quantities, and there are traces of old iron workings in the lower Himalaya. The course of tillage corn prises two principal harvests : the kharif, , or autumn crops, sown in July and reaped in October or November ; and the rabi, or spring crops, sown in October or November and reaped in March or April. The great agricultural staple is wheat, but millets, rice, barley and pulses are also largely cultivated. Speaking broadly, rice and oilseeds predominate in the eastern and sub-Himalayan districts, millets and cotton in Bundelkhand and wheat in the greater part of the Gangetic plain. Sugar-cane, condiments and tobacco are locally important ; and a little tea is grown in the submontane districts of Almora Garhwal and Dehra Dun.