Abstract

The owner told me that he was intendin to make a better lift on the same principle next year. The cost working was about 6 annas a day less than the cost of irrigating t same area by the local picotah, and the cost of the machine itse. about Rs. 85. It requires only two boys to workit, one to drive the buffaloes and one to guide the water, while the picotah requires two men and three boys. In another village where Mauritius sugarcane cultivation has been extending I saw today for the first time in this District, an over-head picotah of the same design as one sees on the East Coast. The owner told me that this picotah raised twice the amount of water that the local picotah did, as the bucket was larger and it was lifted much faster. The drawback to it is that it requires four good male coolies to work and these are scarce at the present time, and demand 5 to 6 annas a day. I think myself that there is scope for the ordinary bullock-mhotein some parts of the District. Sugar-cane cultivation is extending, and would extend more if it could be watered in the hot weather and I am in consequence giving Mr. Sampson a good deal of trouble about this question.

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