1.2. Agriculture

In 1881, agriculture supported 820,127 persons, or 66 per cent, of the entire population. All varieties of soil—black, red, and light, from the richest to the poorest—are found. The agricultural stock in State villages amounted in 1881-82 to 113,187 ploughs, 75,501 carts, 369,782 bullocks, 284,295 cows, 131,244 buffaloes, 15,949 horses, 252,744 sheep and goats, and 8705 asses. The District contains many fine cows and bullocks, brought chiefly from Nimar and Berar. But the greater number of the cattle are small and poor, reduced during the hot season to the most wretched condition. The horses also are small, and of little value. To improve the breed, Government has introduced [Page 156] bulls and stud horses. Certain tracts have, from their rugged character and unhealthy climate, been excluded from the Survey operations. Out of 3,455,122 acres, the total area of Government cultivable land, 2,861,910 acres, or 82 -83 per cent., were taken up for cultivation in 1881-82. Of these, 179,962 acres, or 6.29 per cent., were fallow or under grass. Of the remaining 2,681,947 acres under actual cultivation (3478 acres of which were twice cropped), grain crops occupied 1,5 15.346 acres, or 56.5 per cent.; pulses occupied 117,286, or 4.37 per cent. ; oil-seeds occupied 247,390, or 9.22 per cent.; fibres occupied 759,346, or 28 -31 per cent., of which 758,134 acres were under cotton; and miscellaneous crops occupied 46,057 acres, or 171 per cent.

Irrigation is more extensively practised in Khandesh than in the Deccan and Southern Maratha country. The principal agricultural products exported are wheat, gram, linseed, sesamum, and cotton. Millet is retained for local consumption, and forms the staple article of food. Indigo and opium, once important products, are now no longer grown. Thirty years ago, the poppy was a favourite crop; but in 1853, the Khandesh opium factory was closed, and the further cultivation of the poppy forbidden. On the other hand, the area under linseed and cotton has increased from year to year. Two descriptions of foreign cotton, Dharwar and Hinganghat, have been successfully introduced. Cotton is seldom grown oftener than once in three years in the same field, whether of black or light soil, the intermediate crops being wheat and Indian millet. A Government farm has been established at Bhadgaon. Almost every year is marked by some partial failure of the crops. The District is liable to floods, the rivers overflowing the country for a considerable distance from their banks.

1.3. Attempts at Land Reclamation

Several attempts have been made, dating from 1829, at a re-colonization of the Pal tappa, a waste tract in the neighbourhood of the Satpura hills, which is said to have been formerly well inhabited. At the time of the British occupation in 1818, the whole was found to be an uninhabited jungle, excessively unhealthy, and infested with wild beasts. It is said to have been deserted about the middle of the 17th century, owing to famine ; and the remains of ancient buildings show that the village of Pal was formerly a place of considerable importance. Portions of the old fort and sardi are still standing, though much ruined; a handsome mosque with a fountain and reservoir still remain in good repair; and the lines of the old streets were traceable in 1870. Small mounds here and there mark the site of an old fort ; but most of the villages have so entirely disappeared that their sites cannot be ascertained. Several attempts have been made to colonize Pal, or some other village in the tappa, as a preliminary to the settlement of the whole tract. The experiment is still (1885) going on, but as yet, owing to the excessive [Page 157] poverty of the cultivators and other causes, it has yielded little or no results.

2.1. Agriculture

The rice of Kheri District is of excellent quality, but its cultivation is slovenly. There are two harvests in the year. The kharif or autumn crops consist of rice, kodo, kakan, joar, bajra, mas, and mug, sown from June to August, and reaped between the end of September and the beginning of November. The rabi or spring crops are barley, wheat, gram, peas, and arhar, cut between March and June. The people are employed principally in the cultivation of the soil as tenants. The agricultural stock, in 1882-83, consisted of 93,733 ploughs, 567,395 bullocks and buffaloes. North of the river Ul, land is hardly ever manured, and never irrigated, except the small gardens in which tobacco and vegetables are grown. Total irrigated area, 96,714 acres, all by private industry. South of the Ul, a fair amount of labour is bestowed upon the crops in this respect, although less than is usual in the rest of Oudh.

2.2. Natural Calamities

The District is liable to blights, droughts, and floods, the former, however, doing but little damage. Inundations are very destructive in Dhaurahra, Srinagar, and Firozabad parganas, from the overflow of the Chauka; and in Kheri and Haidarabad parganas, from the local rainfall causing the jhils and marshes to overflow into the neighbouring fields. Muhamdi, Magdapur, Paila, and Khairigarh have good drainage generally, and do not suffer from floods. Hailstorms seldom occur. Severe famines occurred in 1769, in 1778-84, and in 1837, while there has been scarcity in 1865, in 1869, and in 1874; all these were caused by drought. The price of coarse grain reached 7 sers during these famine times ; but whenever the cheapest wholesome grain in the market, whether it be kodo, maize, or barley, be priced for any length of time at a higher rate than 15 sers for the rupee, there will undoubtedly be famine.

3.1. Agriculture

Of the total area of 4,093,718 acres, 667,696 were in 1882 held as indm or rent-free; of the remaining 3,426,022 acres, 1,461,964 acres were under cultivation, of which 12,615 acres were twice cropped; the whole untilled but cultivable area was returned at 964,108 acres, and the uncultivable waste at 879,126 acres. In 1882-83, of the total area (Government and inam) of 4,093,718 acres, 1,886,063 acres were under actual cultivation, of which 14,123 acres were twice cropped; cereals occupied 1,264,608 acres; pulses, 111,841; fibres, 202,874; dyes (chiefly indigo), 122,975; oil-seeds, 112,385; sugar (palm or palmyra), 6680; condiments and spices (mostly chillies), 55,105; drugs and narcotics (principally tobacco), 20,170; orchard and garden produce, 3201; and starches (chiefly potato), 357 acres. The staples raised in the District are rice, maize, ragi, pulses, hemp, flax, cotton, tobacco, gingelly, oil-seeds, chillies, wheat, garlic, indigo, and various kinds of fruit. There are three classes of crops grown — namely, punasa (early crop), sown in May or June, and reaped in September; pedda (great or middle), sown from July to September, and cut between November and February; and paira [Page 231](late crop), sown in November and December, and gathered in February and March. Rice of all kinds is sown in regar or black soil. The area under rice in 1882-83 was 351, 330 acres, or 18 per cent, of the whole cultivated area. The price of the best rice per maund (80 lbs.) was, in the same year, 5s. 3d.

3.2. Natural Calamities

Famines occurred in 1423, 1474, 1686, and 1793, but of these there is no detailed account extant. The great famine of 1832-34 caused a decrease of 200,000 in the population- It was worst in the Guntur portion, and was due to the failure of both the monsoons, causing, it is said, a loss of revenue in Guntur District estimated at £2,2 70,000. Prices rose enormously. Public works were opened, but the bulk of the people would not avail themselves of them, and wandered away to other Districts. The loss of population was only in part due to deaths. Kistna District was but slightly affected by the great South Indian famine of 1876-78. [Page 232] Although the cultivated area temporarily fell off by 14/2 per cent., the local scarcity did not reach famine point. Inundations of the sea overwhelmed the town of Masulipatam in the years 1779 and 1864; and in both cases they were due to a storm-wave forced on to the coast by the violence of a cyclone. The reported loss of life on each occasion was between 20,000 and 30,000 persons. In the last cyclone, the salt water penetrated to a distance of 17 miles inland.

4.1. Agriculture

According to the Punjab Administration Report for 1883-84, out of a total District area of 2,364,887 acres, 1,156,385 acres were under cultivation, 159,545 acres were grazing land, 738,156 [Page 410] acres were cultivable, and 310,801 acres were uncultivable waste. Of the cultivated area, 548,688 acres were artificially irrigated, 239,808 acres from Government works, and 308,880 acres by private individuals from wells, etc. The great crop of the District is the rabi or spring harvest. The principal staples of this harvest, and their area in 1883-84, are as follow :—Wheat, 393,070 acres, now the great agricultural product of the District since the opening up of the formerly sterile tract of the Manjha by the Bari Doab Canal. The best variety is grown in the villages around Lahore city. Gram occupies 188,459 acres; barley, 34,597 acres; mustard seed, 13,729 acres; and vegetables, 10,626 acres. The kharif or autumn harvest is mainly devoted to inferior grains and fodder for cattle. Rice occupies 15,609 acres, the best kinds being grown along the banks of the Degh, and in the bangar tract of Sharakpur tahsil. Joar is the principal kharif crop, and occupies 62,809 acres; Indian corn, 46,643 acres; moth, 34,793 acres. Of non-food crops, cotton is the most important, and is cultivated on 33,961 acres. It is grown in the lowlands of Chunian and Kasur between the old bed of the Beas and the Sutlej. It is, however, of inferior quality, and is mainly employed for home consumption. The principal fruits cultivated in the District are—mangoes, peaches, oranges of superior quality, mulberries, plums, loquats, melons, guavas, pine-apples, phalsa (an acid berry), pomegranates, sweet limes, and plantains

4.2. Natural Calamities

Famines, due to drought, occurred before the British occupation in 1759, 1783, 1813, and 1833. Since the British assumed administration, the greatest scarcities have taken place in 1860 and 1867; but Lahore District suffered comparatively little, except from the exportation of its produce to other quarters. Grain rose to 7 sers per rupee, or 16s. per cwt. Poorhouses and famine relief works were set on foot, but they proved useful chiefly to the starving refugees from Malwa, Hissar, and the eastern Districts. The construction of the Bari Doab Canal will probably serve in future to protect the naturally fertile uplands of Lahore from drought. Hail-storms, locusts, and rats sometimes cause considerable damage to the standing crops.

5.1. Agriculture

The total area of Lucknow District, after the recent transfer of pargands Mohan Auras, Kursf, Dewa to neighbouring Districts in 1881, is 989.6 square miles. The area under cultivation was estimated by the District officer in 1882-83 at 426,000 acres, or 665 square miles. This estimate includes land counted twice over as yielding two harvests in the year. The actual cultivated area in 1883-84 was only 332,463 acres, of which 139,998 acres were irrigated, entirely by private enterprise. Of the remaining area, 139,046 acres were returned as cultivable, and 155,210 acres as uncultivable waste. There are three harvests in the year, the rabi in spring, the kharif in the rainy season, and the henwat in the autumn. For the rabi, the chief crops are wheat, barley, gram, peas, gujai (a mixture of wheat and barley), and birra (a mixture of barley and gram, gram predominating). The land under these crops amounts to 150,026 acres, wheat heading the list with 72,329 acres, or more than one-fifth of the whole cultivated area. For the kharif, the crops are rice, millets, sawan, mandwa, kakun, and Indian corn or maize. For the henwat, the crops are jodr and bdjra, mash, mung, moth, [Page 498] masfir,and lobia. In addition, there are the valuable tobacco and opium and kachhiana or vegetable crops ; of which tobacco takes up 1527 acres, opium 5623 acres, cotton 910 acres, and the spices, as zira (cummin seed), sannf (aniseed), dhaniya (coriander seed) 402 acres. Irrigation is carried on from rivers, tanks, and wells.

5.2. Famines

Famines or severe scarcities have occurred in Lucknow in 1769, 1784-86, 1837, 1861, 1865-66, 1869, 1873, and 1877-78 — all caused by drought. In 1866, the price of wheat rose to 12 sers per rupee, or 9s. 4d. a cwt. ; and in 1869 to as high as 9 sers per rupee, or 12s. 5d. a cwt. Maize and gram were quoted at from 13 to 12 sers per rupee, or from 8s. 7d. to 9s. 4d. a cwt. in 1866 and 1869. At the height of the scarcity of 1873, cheap grain of some kind was to be had at from 18 to 16 sers per rupee, or from 6s. 3d. to 7s. a cwt. During the famine of 1877-78, Lucknow was one of the Districts most severely affected, and numerous Government relief works were opened.

6.1. History

The three earliest Nawabs of the Oudh dynasty were soldiers and statesmen, all of whom took the field in person against English, Marathas, and Rohillas, or against the great nobles whose feudal power had reduced the central authority to a mere name. Under their government, therefore, Lucknow received few architectural embellishments of an ornamental kind. Only works of military utility, such as forts, wells, and bridges, engaged their attention; though the city continued to grow, as the head-quarters of the ruling house, and several wards were added on its spreading outskirts.

With Asaf-ud-daula, the fourth Nawab, a new political situation developed. He lived the contented and servile ally of the English. By their aid, Oudh had acquired Rohilkhand, and might acquire Benares; and he felt himself independent of his own people. The grandeur of Lucknow dates from the reign of this Nawab. Yet his works did not degenerate into the mere personal extravagance of his successors. He built bridges and mosques, as well as the Imambdra, the chief architectural glory of Lucknow. Though inferior to the purest Muhammadan models of Delhi and Agra, the Imambara, taken together with the adjoining mosque and the Rumi Darwdza, forms a group of striking magnificence and picturesque splendour. Asaf-ud-daula’s erections are simple and grand, free from the base admixture of bastard Greek and Italian features which disfigure the later style of the Oudh dynasty. The Imambara, constructed during the great famine of 1784, as a relief work for the starving people, now covers the remains of its founder. Tradition relates that many of the most respectable inhabitants, compelled by want, enrolled themselves amongst the workmen; and that to save their honour and keep their identity unknown, their names were [Page 507] called over, and their wages paid, at dead of night. The building consists of one large hall of immense size and magnificence. It measures 167 feet in length by 52 in breadth, and cost, according to local computation, no less than a million sterling. The gaudy decorations which once covered its walls have now disappeared; and as the mausoleum stands within the walls of the fort, it serves at present as an arsenal for the British garrison. The building is as solid as it is graceful, being raised upon very deep foundations, and without a single piece of woodwork in its construction. Mr. Fergusson, though he has little to say in favour of any other architectural work in Lucknow, praises the admirable vaulting of the Imambara, and observes that the mausoleum, ‘when not too closely looked into, is not unfit to be spoken of in the same chapter as the earlier buildings.’