217 
J. L. Kipling, Bombay. 
Series of Sketches of Cotton Cultivation in Western 
India, and of the leading members of the Ma- 
rathi Village System in the cotton districts. By 
J. L. Kipling, Esq. Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, 
School of Art and Industry, Bombay. (From the 
London Exhibition of 1872.) 
753 (5,208). The “Nagur.” —The “nagur” is a 
heavy plough used in breaking up stiff land, and 
where, as in fallows, “ kundar ” or couch grass has 
taken firm root. The projecting iron bar shown 
in the sketch takes the place of the coulter of an 
English plough, while the elegant curves of the 
English plough-share are represented by the rüde 
| hollowing of the under surfaces of the block which 
Supports it. Yet the “nagur” is a very effective 
implement, it is cheaplymade, and easily repaired. 
Six bullocks- are required for the draught, and 
each pair is attended by a driver. 
754 (5,209). The “Bukhur.”—The “bukhur” is 
the plough in common use when the land is fit 
and easily workable. It is perhaps the most use- 
ful implement employed in the cotton field and in 
general cultivation. Practically it is a wide dutch 
hoe, with a blade of about 1 (one) foot 10 (ten) 
inclies wide, set in two feruled pegs depending 
from a heavy block of wood, from which a pole 
ascends to the yoke, and fitted with a short handle 
sloping backwärds. The parts are separately car- 
ried to a field, and there joined up, while the 
simple rope gearing is so eontrived that the stress 
of the draught pulls all tightly together. An im 
portant feature in the simple maehine is the 
bamboo carried by the driver, used to stimulate 
the animals, but mainly to steady the plough. 
Two indentations are cut in the upper face of the 
main block of the “ bukhur,” and in one of these 
the point of the bamboo is rested. It will thus be 
seen that the cultivator in this sketch is not grace- 
fully posing himself, since his weight, though 
comparatively slight, as he leans on his bamboo, 
is of vital importance as a steadying power. 
755 (5,210). The “Düsah.” — For sowing cotton, 
which requires a wider spaee between the^ rows 
than cereals, an arrangement called the “ dusah ” 
comes into play. This consists of the block of the 
«bukhur ” {vide sketch No. 2) and all its gear, 
with the exception of the iron blade and the iron 
feruled pegs which carry it. For these last two 
sharpened “babool” pegs are substituted, and 
two bamboo tubes fitted with “ babool ” feet are 
dragged behind at a distance of about four feet. 
Down these tubes the cotton seed is dropped as 
the contrivance straggles creaking along. The 
furrows traced by the wooden pegs of the “buk 
hur ” are slightly deepened by those of the “ surki 
ka surta,” as the following bamboos are called. 
The bamboos are fitted at top, each with a seed 
cup like that in the “ mogledah ” or “ teefun ” 
(vide sketch No. 4), and the seed drops behind the 
point of the wooden foot on which they rest. After 
this follows the “bukhur” proper, lightly held, 
which covers up the seed. 
756 (5,211). The “ Mogledah.”—This excellent seed 
drill is used in slightly modified forms in the 
greater part of Western India. In Guzerat, for 
instance, it has four or five “ nallis ” or pipes, and 
is called “ phurko.” In the Deccan, where it is 
occasionally prettily carved and ornamented, it is 
called “ tipanin Khandeish “ paribhar,” and in 
the Southern Marathi country “kurgi.” It is 
everywhere, however, an ingenious and useful 
contrivance. It is not used for cotton, which re 
quires wider spaces between the rows than cereals. 
From a heavy block of wood depend three strong 
limbs projecting forward, and each fitted with a 
down-pointing iron shoe ending in a spike. From 
holes in these arms asoend bamboo tubes (usually 
three), meeting in a seed cup or hopper of turned 
wood. The parts are carried separately a-field, 
and the forward pull of the bullocks draws all 
tight. The driver or ploughman, as with the 
“ bukhur,” “ dowrah,” &e., steadies the whole 
with a bamboo resting on the main block of the 
contrivance. Six, or sometimes only four bullocks 
are used for the draught. It will be seen that the 
three teeth of the drill draw three tolerably deep 
furrows into which the seed, supplied from the 
waistbelt of a man walking alongside, drops 
through the bamboos. I believe in the Khandeish 
form the seed störe is carried on the body of the 
drill in a kind of bücket of twisted rope. It is 
seldom that the ploughman or driver either of this 
drill, the “ nagur,” or the “ bukhur,” leans very 
heavily on the loosely fitted handle of these im- 
plements. They are used to steady the draught, 
but never with any effort like the vigorous two- 
handled steering of an English agriculturist. It 
may be worthy of note that seed drills have been 
in use in this country from time immemorial. 
757 (5,212). The “ Dowrah.”—The “ dowrah ” is a 
“ bukhur ” in miniature—a bullock hoe in actual 
fact—drawn between the rows of growing plants, 
stirring up the soil and uprooting the weeds. A 
pair of bullocks, usually muzzled to prevent their 
cropping the leaves, draws two of these imple- 
ments, each attended by a driver, who guides the 
“ dowrah ” between the rows while they pull on a 
common yoke. As in the case of the “ bukhur,” 
a bamboo carried by the driver, and rested on the 
block, serves the double purpose of quickening the 
bullocks and steadying the implement. 
758 (5,213). Weeding by hand.—Besides the turn- 
ing up of the cotton soil with the “ dowrah ” or 
bullock hoe, weeding by hand is also extensively 
practised. This is done entirely by women, who 
are paid in kind at the rate of four pounds of 
grain (worth about two annas) per diem. A rüde 
iron knife called “khoorpah” is the only tool 
used. The same women also perform the picking 
when the cotton is ripe. At the close of the day 
each picker carries her day’s gatherings to a corner 
of the field, where the “ ryot ” divides it into ten 
and sometimes into twelve equal portions, of which 
she selects one as her wage. Over this Operation 
much talk and deliberation are expended, and the 
System is alleged to have an injurious effect on the 
cotton, for naturally the picker, being paid only 
for quantity, is careless how much leaf, dirt, and 
unripe cotton she collects so long as her heap is 
large. 
759 (5,214). The Berar “ Cliurka.”—The Berar hand 
gin is identical in principle with that of Kattya- 
war, Guzerat, and Khandeish, but it has not the 
driving wheel peculiar to those districts, which 
gives a higher speed to the upper iron roller, and 
in consequence is more effective. The Berar 
“rechi,” as it is locally called, consists of two 
rollers, one of iron of the thickuess of a kitchen 
poker, and one of wood, generally “tiwas” or 
“behr,” or sometimes “babool” about as thick a