The intense heats which succeed the rainy season, and which act upon the soil when full of moisture, produce, in Bengal, a luxuriance of vegetation which is unknown in any other country in the world. The lands are easily cultivated, and yield abundant crops without any other manure than what has been depo sited by the waters of the inundation. The princi pal food of the natives, and, consequently, the princi pal object of the husbandman, is rice ; but very good wheat and barley, though much smaller and lighter than in Europe, is also produced. A great variety of different kinds of pulse is raised during the inter. vals of attention to the white grains, such as pease, cliches, pigeon pease, kidney beans, &c. ; and these constitute a very valuable article in Bengal husband ry, as they require very little culture, and thrive readily on the poorer soils. Maize, millet, panic, and other small grains, which are chiefly the food of the poorer classes, are very generally sown, especially in the hilly regions and western districts ; and there is a very extensive culture of mustard, sesamum, lint seed, and palms christi, to supply the vast consump tion of oil by the natives of the country. The plough of Bengal is drawn by a single yoke of oxen, guided by the ploughman himself ; but three pair of oxen are assigned to every plough, and these relieve each other till the daily task be completed. Several ploughs in succession deepen the same furrows, or rather scratch the surface, as it has no contrivance for turning the earth, and the share has neither width nor depth to stir a new soil. A second ploughing crosses the first, and a third is sometimes given gonally to the preceding. These frequently repeat ed, and followed by the substitute for the harrow, which is generally nothing more than the branch of a tree, pulverise the surface, and prepare it for the seed. For the extirpation of weeds after the crops have risen above the ground, the labourers employ a short-handed' spade, and place themselves at their work in a sitting posture. There are two seasons of reaping in the year ; one in April, called the little harvest, which consists of the smaller grains ; and another, called the grand harvest, which is wholly of nee, though in some places three crops of this grain are raised in one year. But nothing can be conceived more tedious and injudicious than the mode of reap ing. A mixture of different crops is frequently sown together in the same field ; and, as these ripen in succession, the husbandman must either gather them singly, which occasions great destruction to the later plants by their being repeatedly trodden down, or must wait till he can reap the whole at once, which causes an equal loss in the more early grains by over ripeness. The corn of every description, after being' i reaped, is carelessly piled up without any defence from the weather, to be trodden out by cattle, or threshed by the staff of the husbandman at his convenience ; and the grain, ;trier being winnowed in the wind, is stored in jars of unbaked earth, and bas kets made of twigs or glass, or is hoarded above ground in round huts, the floor of which, on account of the dampness of the climate and the moisture of the soil, is raised a foot or two above the surface.
With an excellent soil and climate, with almost every variety of cultivated grains, and with a compe tent number of labourers at a small expense, the im perfection of Bengal is great beyond what might have been expected. Sufficient attention is nut paid to the most proper periods.of sowing. No care is employed in selecting the best' varieties of each kind of grain. The most valuable crops are not stea dily preferred in' cultivation. The impleMents arc 'scanty and incompetent. The rotation of crops is not understood. The dung of the cattle is dried for fuel ; and, except in cultivating the sugar cane, mul berry, tobacco, and poppy, no manure is applied.
The lands are not duly fallowed and cleane,d. Drill husbandry, though known in the more remote coun. tries, is not practised in this province, even in the cul ture of the sugar cane. There are no inclosures in the country ; no capital among the agriculturists; and no roads kept in repair. The former unsettled, state of the country•exposed the cultivators of the soil to perpetual pillage and oppression. The' hus bandman has at no time any thing resembling a secure lease, or permanent interest in the fields. Even the genial nature of the climate, and remarkable fertility of the soil, have contributed to prevent that exertion of ingenuity and application of labour, which, in more' barren regions, and u.ider more unpropitious skies, have brought the cultivation of the soil to the high est state of improvement. All these circumstances. have operated so strongly as obstacles to the progress. of agriculture in Bengal, that this most useful and first practised of human arts must be considered as still in its infancy, or as having greatly degenerated. - There is one circumstance, however, peculiar to the lower districts of this province, which frequently renders abortive the utmost skill and diligence of the husbandman ; viz. an excess or a deficiency in the an nual inundations. When their increase is gradual, the growth of the rice keeps pace with the rise of the wa ters, is thus always above its surface, and is frequent ly reaped in boats ; but when the inundations rise too . rapidly, or much above their ordinary level, the rice is overtopped and destroyed by the flood. The im mense and expensive dykes mentioned above, and which are intended to guard against such disastrous occurrences, are frequently found to be very feeble barriers against the gathering stream of the Ganges:, Its huge volume of water, bursting through the strongest, or rising' over the highest, of its banks, spreads far and wide over the level plains, sweeps away every thing in its course, and covers the richest fields with a bed of barren sand. The fatal effects a dry season are 'still more extensive and destructive ; and in order to' provide some source of relief, under the pressure of such a calamity, numerous reservoirs, called tanks, of an oblong square shape, frequently more than an acre in extent, are constructed through out the country. These being filled with water in the rainy season, afford the inhabitants, during the dry period, a supply of water for domestic uses, su.
perior in quality to that of the Ganges ; and, by means of irrigation, form a grand instrument of fer tilizing the parchedfields. In the higher parts of Bengal, this practice is, at all seasons, an indispen sible requisite in husbandry ; and as it is there always necessary, it is more effectually and industriOusly ad ministered. " Towards the end of the rains, the fields are well ploughed in the ordinary manner ; but, before sowing the seeds, they are divided into little square plots, resembling the chequers of a back gammon table. Each square is surrounded with a shelving border, about four inches high, capable of containing water. Between the square chequers, thus constructed, small dykes are formed for convey ing a rivulet over the whole field. As soon as the water has stood a sufficient time in one square to im bibe moisture, it is let off into the adjoining one, by opening a small outlet through the surrounding dyke. Thus one square after another is saturated, till the whole field, of whatever extent, is gone over." (Ten nant's Indian Recreations, vol. ii. p. 167.) In the flat countries, however, these means of remedying the occasional deficiencies in the fall of the rains, and the flow of the rivers, are not provided with sufficient care ; and the reservoirs, water courses, &c. are more generally in a progress of decay, than of improve ment.