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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 18, p. 90.

90 MUZAPIARArAGAR DISTRICT is made at Miranpur, but this is inferior to the products of other Districts; papier macho is prepared in small quantities at the same place. Two small indigo factories are still worked. The use of iron sugar-mills has led to the establishment of dep6ts for their supply and repair in many towns. The most important article of export is wheat, which has obtained a good name and commands a high price in the European market. Nearly 30,000 tons of wheat were exported annually between 1897 and igoi from Muzaffarnagar and Khatauh stations. Large quantities of unrefined sugar are also exported, usually by railway, but the trade with the Punjab is partly carried on by means of pack-camels. The other exports are rice and oilseeds. The North-Western Railway from Delhi to Saharanpur passes through the centre of the District from south to north, and has four stations. The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway just touches the District in the north-east corner, but hardly affects it. A light railway is under con- struction from Shahdara in Meerut District to Saharanpur, which will tap a rich tract in the west of the District. There are only 78 miles of metalled roads and 321 miles of un- metalled roads. All but 35 miles are maintained from Local funds. Avenues of trees are kept up along 150 miles. Good village roads are incompatible with easy canal-irrigation, and the local roads are often extremely bad, especially in the northern part of the Jumna Canal tract. They are best in the south of the District. The Ganges khadar also has poor communications. The Ganges is crossed by two boat bridges, and there are two main ferries over the Jumna. The Ganges Canal is used for the transit of grain and timber, but the rivers are little used as means of communication. Nothing is known of the history of famines in Muzaffarnagar before British rule, but it probably suffered less than the Districts farther south in the many severe visitations which devastated the Famine. Doab. Scarcity was felt in 1803, and again in 1824, and famine in 1837, when Ks. 40,000 of revenue was remitted. The Eastern Jumna Canal was opened in 183o, and the Ganges Canal in 1854. Owing chiefly to the latter, the famine of 186o-i was not much felt. The Anupshahr branch of the Ganges Canal was, however, commenced as a relief work. In 1868-9 the protection of the canals was even more marked, and large stores of grain existed, while distress was further relieved by the demand for work on the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi (now called the North-Western) Railway. Numbers of immi- grants poured in from Bikaner and Western Rajputana. Since 1869 the District has practically escaped famine; and high prices in 1877, 1896, and igoo were a source of profit to the agricultural inhabitants, though immigrants in distressed circumstances were numerous. The