| NORTII-JI'ESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDI. 375 Mughal capital, and the former provincial head-quarters, 160,203 ; (4) ALLAHABAD, at the junction of the two great rivers, the modern administrative centre and a great commercial town, 148,547; (5) CAWNPUR, a creation of British rule and an important military cantonment, 151,444; (6) BARELI (Bareilly), the capital of Rohilkhand, 113,417; (7) MEERUT (Merath), the commercial centre of the Upper Doub, and a principal military station, 99,565; (8) FARUKIABAD, 137 ; () SHAHJAHANPUR, 74,830 ; (10) MIRZAPUR, 56,378; (11) RADABAD, 67,387; (12) SAHARANPUR, 59,194; (13) ALIGARH, 730; and (14) GORAKHPUR, 57,922. Eighteen towns have a population between 50,000 and 20,000. Other places of interest in the Provinces are—the lill sanitaria of NAINI TAL, LANDAUR, and MUSSOOREE (Masúri); the sacred town of HARDWAR; the ruined sites of KAYAUJ and HASTINAPUR; Akbar's deserted capital of FATEHPUR SIKRI; and the ancient temples and fortresses of MAHOBA and KALINJAR. Most of the great towns lie along the banks of the Ganges or the Jumna. Agriculture. Out of a total area of 106,104 square miles in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 52,192 square miles (33,402,880 acres) were returned in 1884 as under cultivation; 20,164 as waste but cultivable; and 33,748 as uncultivated waste. The Census of 1881 returned the area under crops at 34,586,880 acres; and the male agriculturists at 10,506,868; giving an average of 3.29 cultivated acres to each male adult agriculturist, namely, 3:43 acres in the North-Western Provinces Proper, and 2*99 acres in Oudh. In Hamirpur and Jalaun Districts the average rose above 7 acres. No part of India bears finer or more luxuriant crops than the North - Western Provinces and Oudh, and the natural fertility has been much increased by a magnificent series of irrigation works. The course of tillage comprises two principal harvests—the kharif or autumn crops, sown in June and reaped in October or November; and the rabi or spring crops, sown in October or November and reaped in March or April. The hewant, a subsidiary third harvest, is reaped in December. A fourth subsidiary harvest, the caid, is reaped in May. The great ag staple is wheat, but millets and rice are also largely cultivated. The chief commercial crops include indigo (in the eastern Districts and Rohilkhand), cotton, sugar, opium, oil-seeds, and tea. Rice and sugarcane grow chiefly in the river valleys or in irrigated fields; wheat is raised on the uplands by the aid of canals and wells; millets and cotton grow on the drier soils; while tobacco, potatoes, vegetables, and other rich crops occupy the manured plots in the neighbourhood of the villages. The mode of tillage is simple, scarcely differing from that in vogue during the earliest period of which the Vedas give information.
