Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/389

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NORTH-IIESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH. 377 Districts. The total export of wheat increased from 2,922,573 maunds in 1879-80 to 4,599,140 maunds in 1882-83 Other Food Staples.-- Rice is largely grown, but the imports as a rule balance the exports. The imported rice comes from Calcutta; the exported rice goes to Rajputána and the Punjab. This staple is mostly grown in the sub-Himalayan region, and in the eastern Districts of the Provinces. Area under rice in 1882-83—2,876,210 acres; exports, 569,196 maunds ; imports, 795,535 maunds. Barley is seldom grown alone, except in the Benares Division; in Rohilkhand it is generally mixed with wheat, and in Agra and Allahabad with gran. It requires less manure and irrigation than wheat. Barley was sown, either alone or with wheat and pulse, over 4 million acres in 1882-83. Maize is largely cultivated everywhere except in Bundelkhand. It requires good soil with plenty of moisture. About million acres were under maize in 1882-83. Millets and pulses, comprising joár, bájra, urt, and moth, were raised on 21 million acres in 1882–83. Two or more of these are sown on one field, a method that fornis the cultivator's insurance against total loss, as the chances are some one of the crops will coine up. As a rule, the heads of joár and bijra are cut off and carried to the threshing-floor before the stalks are cut. Gram, for food, as well as fodder for cattle, is sown with wheat and barley or alone, over 4 million acres. It is a hardy crop. Of Non-food Crops, cotton forms perhaps the most important staple, being grown on 5.8 per cent. of the total cultivated area, and 1 per cent. of the area under autumn crops. It is cultivated most extensively in Aligarh, Muttra, Agra, and Banda Districts, where it occupies generally over 10 per cent. of the total cultivated area. Area under cotton in 1882-83, 403, 170 acres. The oil-seeds are rape, mustard, linseed, and til; the first three grown for the spring and the last for the autur harvest. Cotton-seeds are seldom used for oil, though very generally for fattening cattle, much in the same way as oil-cake is u Europe. The export of oil-seeds in 1882-83 was 4,667,058 maunds. The principal sugar-cane growing tracts are Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Rohilkhand, and the portion of the Benares Division lying between the Ganges and Gogra. It is a curious fact that the cane is no longer an important crop in the Districts south of the Jumna, although the presence of old disused stone mills points to sugar having been formerly manufactured there. Area under sugar-cane in 1882–83, 883,323 acres. Special Crops—Tea.—The cultivation and manufacture of tea in the North-Western Provinces is confined to the sub-montane tracts in Kumáun, Garhwal, and Dehra Dún. Two indigenous plants (Osyris Nepalensis and Eurya asp.), very similar in appearance