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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 23, p. 57.

AGRICULTURE 57 the total population, and general labour 5 per cent. Rajputs and Musalmans hold most of the land, their estates being often of con- siderable size. Brahmans, Kurmis, Ahirs, Chamars, and Pasis are the chief cultivators. There were 548 native Christians in 19oll, of whom '525 were Methodists. The American Methodist Mission was opened in 1864. Sitapur, though naturally very fertile, is still backward compared with Southern Oudh. Holdings are large, rents are to a considerable extent paid in kind, and high-caste cultivators, who do not Agriculture. labour with their own hands, are numerous. Along the Guma is found a tract of light soil which is inferior ; but east of this the centre of the District is,composed of a good loam, stiffening into clay in the hollows. The sandy soil produces bdjra and barley, while in the richer loam sugar-cane, wheat, and maize are grown. In the lowlands west of the Chauka rice is largely grown, as the floods are usually not too severe to injure the crop. Between the Chauka. and the Gogra, however, the autumn crop is very precarious, and during the rains the gdq ar, or lowland, is swept by violent torrents. In this tract even the spring cultivation is poor. The land tenures are those commonly found in Oudh. About 48 per cent. of the whole area is held by laluhddrs, and sub-settlement holders have only a small share in this. Single zaminddrs hold i i per cent., and joint zaminddrs and palliddrs the rest. The main agricul- tural statistics for 1903-4 are given below, in square miles :- Tahsil. Total. Cultivated. Irrigated. Cultivabl _. waste. _ 570 -_05 _ -. _ Sitapur 88 ^6 Biswan 565 40 36 4.5 Sidhauli . 502 362 98 5t Misrikh 613 432 94 94 Total 2,250 1,625 316 252 Wheat is the most important crop, covering 416 square miles, or a fourth of the net cultivated area. Pulses (294), rice (250), gram (240), kodon and small millets (210), barley (208), and maize are also largely grown. Of non-food crops the chief are poppy (27), sugar-cane (43), and oilseeds (41). There has been a very considerable cultivation during the last forty years, amounting to about 35 per cent., and waste land is still being broken up as new tenants are obtained. In addition to this the area bearing a double crop has trebled. Improvements in the methods of agriculture and the introduction of better staples are noticeable, but are not proceeding very rapidly. In the autumn, rice is taking the place of the inferior small millets; but increase in the area under