The family of Dursun Sing, like good landholders in all parts of
Oude, assigned small patches of land to substantial cultivators,
merchants, shopkeepers, and others, whom it is useful to retain in
their estates, for the purpose of planting small groves of mango and
other trees, as local ties. They prepare the well and plant the
trees, and then make over the land to a gardener or other good
cultivator, to be tilled for his own profit, on condition that he
water the trees, and take care to preserve them from frost during the
cold season, and from rats, white ants, and other enemies; and form
terraces round them, where the water lies much on the surface during
the rains, so that it may not reach and injure the bark. The land
yields crops till the trees grow large and cover it with their shade,
by which time they are independent of irrigation, and begin to bear
fruit. The crops do not thrive under the shade of the trees, and the
lands they cover cease to be of any value for tillage. The stems and
foliage of the trees, no doubt, deprive the crops of the moisture,
carbonic gas and ammonia, they require from the atmosphere. They are,
generally, watered from six to ten years. These groves form a
valuable local tie for the cultivators and other useful tenants. No
man dare to molest them or their descendants, in the possession of
their well and grove, without incurring, at least, the odium of
society; and, according to their notion, the anger of their gods.
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