supplies the seed at the rate of six
seers per biggah, being almost double the quantity made use of in
Bengal, but which is necessary to make up for the destruction of the
plant the year following by the frost, white ants, hot winds, grass
cutters, and, I may add, the village cattle, which are let loose to
graze on the khoonte during the latter period, when not a blade of
grass or vegetation is to be seen anywhere left.

The Bighowty system is a sadly ruinous one, as, independently of the
attempts to assimilate Assaroo, at five rupees four annas, with
_Jumowah_, at nine rupees per biggah, which is very easily effected
if the planter is not very vigilant, he is obliged to maintain an
extensive and imposing establishment of servants, not only to
enforce the sowings, weeding, and cutting, but also to look after
his khoonte, and protect it from being destroyed by bullocks and
grass cutters, or from being ploughed up clandestinely by the
Zemindars themselves.

The Kush Kurreea system again has its evils, as the planter never
gets plant for the full amount of his advances, and hence often
leads to his ruin.

_Soils._--Indigo delights in a fresh soil; new lands, of similar
staple to others before cultivated, always surpass them in the
amount and quality of their produce. Hence arises the superior
productiveness of the lands annually overflowed by the Ganges, the
earthy and saline deposits from which in effect renovate the soil.
The further we recede from the influence of the inundation, the less
adapted is the soil for the cultivation of indigo. The staple of the
soil ought to be silicious, fertile, and deep. Mr. Ballard, writing
on the indigo soils of Tirhoot, says that high "soomba," or light
soils, are generally preferred, being from their nature and level
less exposed to the risk of rain or river inundation; but they are
difficult to procure, and, moreover, require particular care in the
preparation. Next in estimation is "doruss," a nearly equal mixture
of light earth and clay; a soil more retentive of moisture in a dry
season than any other. "Muttyaur," or heavy clay soils, are
generally avoided, although in certain seasons, with mild showers of
rain, they have been known to answer. The safest selection I should
conceive to be an equal portion of soomba and doruss. In a countr