IIarvest operations are performed in India in a very slo venly and imperfect manner. This arises in part from the pr..ctice already adverted to, of intermixing a gnat va riety of crops, which ripen at different periods in the same field ; and partly from the indolent habits and the igno rance of the natives. The Hindoo peasant, in Hindostan Proper, is little able, with his body almost naked, to bear the inclemency of the morning air, at the period of the spring harvest; and he is as little willing, when the wea ther is more favourable, to exert himself. They also want method and regularity in conducting this business ; and their sickle, like all their other agricultural imple ments, is very rude, and very small; with this he picks out the ripest plants. In his other hand he holds a rope, with which he ties up and carries home all that he cuts down in the course of the day. His wages consist of the tenth of the coarser kinds of grain, and the twentieth ot the finer kinds. The sheaves by which he is to be paid are selected alternately by the reaper himself and the Ryot. When the season is far advanced, an ultimate and positive order to the Ryots for reaping the harvest is issued in the northern circars, which is called dumbalah deron, li terally, taking or seizing by the tail. Corn is very seldom put up in stacks ; indeed, the greater part of it is thrashed in the fields, either by the cattle treading it out, or, with respect to the smaller seeds, simply by the staff of the pea sant. It is winnowed by being thrown into the air, when there happens to be a little wind ; and after this rude and imperfect dressing, is stored up, in Benares, the western provinces, and the south of India, in subterraneous grana ries, and in Bengal and other parts, in jars of unbaked earth, or in baskets made of large twigs. If the quantity is very considerable, it is deposited in round huts, the floor of which is raised about a foot or two above the ground. Kilns of a small size, and a very simple construction, are used, in the damper climates of Hindostan, to dry the grain before it is ground. They are large earthen pots, sunk deep in the earth, and under them is a furnace for fuel. These pots are filled with sand, which are heated almost to redness, when it is taken out, and in this state mixed with the grain. A few minutes in this mixture fits it for grind ing, when it is cleared of the sand by means of a sieve." Tennant, xi. 393.
Having thus given an account of the most important parts of the arable husbandry of Hindostan, so far as it is conducted on the nungah and pungah lands, we shall briefly advert to the garden cultivation, and the principal implements by which all the three kinds are carried on, be fore we notice the pasture husbandry of this country.
The proper garden cultivation is most common, and carried on with the most attention, skill, and success, in the south of India. Near the town of Coimbetoor all kinds of soil are under this cultivation, and the rent varies according to the depth below the surface at which the water stands. In some garden grounds it is within eight cubits ; in others, it is not met with nearer the surface than 18 cubits. Such gardens as are watered by machines are called bagait, and are in great request, and pay a high Tent; since, from such gardens, a very large produce may be raised with more certainty than from those which are not thus watered. It is calculated, that a garden of 300
acres requires the labour of six people if it he watered from a well, but only three if it be watered from a tank. Many ot the crops, which in other parts of Hinclostan are grown in the fields, such as sugar cane, tobacco, &c. are cultivated in the south of India in gardens, as are also betel nut, black pepper, cardamons, plantains, Sz.c. In the western part of the district of Soonda, where the gar den cultivation is the chief and favourite object of the farmers, these are the common produce; and it is remark ed, both here and in the neighbourhood of Bednore, that the garden pippins are of better quality than those which grow spontaneously, in the proportion of ten to nine. In the neighbourhood of Bangalore, in the Raja, of Mysore's territories, the gardens are very fertile, possessing a soil in some places 20 feet deep. Here a gardener is a sepa rate profession from that of a farmer, and is considered of inferior caste.
The vegetable fields, which are common in the vicinity of most large towns, nearly resemble the gardens which we have been just describing. In the south of India, they are in their greatest luxuriance and beauty in the month of November, after the rainy season has ceased. In them are cultivated, among other vegetables, the brin jaal, a species of solaman, which bears a fruit as large as a pear ; it is eaten by the natives either baked or made into curry; a plant resembling the holyoak, the seeds of which are soft and mucilaginous, and are much used in soups, &c.; various species of cucumbers, water melons, Ste. Such vegetables as are common in Europe are sel dom met with in the south of India, where the climate is too hot for them. The potatoe, however, both the com mon and sweet kind, are grown of an excellent quality near Bombay. Guzerat and Bengal also supply this ve getable in great profusion. The onion of Bombay is famous throughout the East. Orchards of mango, pal mira, and other trees, are favourite objects with the Hin doos, who, besides being sheltered by them during the hot weather, and deriving profit from their fruit, regard, with a feeling of veneration and respect, the trees planted by their ancestors.
In the gardens belonging to the Mahomedan princes, which in some parts of India were made at a very great expence, a separate piece of ground was usually allotted for each kind of plant, the whole being divided into square plots, separated by walks. Thus one plot was. filled with rose trees, another with pomegranates, &c. The gardens of this sort most celebrated in India were those of Banga lore and Delhi. The former belonged to Tippoo, and were made by him and his father, Hyder Ali. As Bangalore is very much elevated above the sea, it enjoys a tempe rate climate ; and in the royal gardens were seen, not only the trees already mentioned, hut also the cypress, vine, and the apple, and peach : both the latter produced fruit. Strawberries were likewise raised ; and oak and pine plants, brought from the Cape of Good Hope, flour ished. The gardens of Shalimar near Delhi, which were made in the beginning of the 17th century by the Empe or Shahjehan, are said to have cost one million sterling, and seem to have occupied about one mile in circum ference. They were surrounded by a high brick wall ; but they are now entirely in ruins.