As elsewhere, there is a belief amongst the Khasis that some people's touch as regards agriculture is unlucky.
(2) Thung dieng ne bet symbai haba ngen bnai, ym haba shai u bnai.
Plant trees or sow seeds not when the moon is waxing, but when it is on the wane.
(3) Wei la saw bha ka bneng sepngi jan miet phin sa ioh jingrang lashai.
A red sky in the west in the evening is the sign of fine weather to-morrow.
Cf. our English proverb "a red sky in the morning is a shepherd's warning, a red sky at night is a shepherd's delight."
Crops.
The varieties of rice found in the Khasi Hills are divided into two main classes, one grown as a dry crop on high lands, and the other raised in valleys and hollows which are artificially irrigated from hill streams. The lowland rice is more productive than that grown on high lands, the average per acre of the former, according to the agricultural bulletin, as ascertained from the results of 817 experimental crop cuttings carried out during the fifteen years preceding the year 1898, being 11.7 maunds of paddy per acre, as against an average of 9.4 maunds per acre (resulting from 667 cuttings made during the same period) for the latter. [16] The average out-turn of both kinds is extremely poor, as compared with that of any description of rice grown in the plains. The rice grown in the hills is said by the Agricultural Department to be of inferior quality, the grain when cleaned being of a red colour, and extremely coarse. The cultivation of potatoes is practically confined to the Khasi Hills, there being little or none in the Jaintia Hills. The normal out-turn of the summer crop sown in February and harvested in June is reported by the Agricultural Department to be five times the quantity of seed used, and that of the winter crop, sown in August and September on the land from which the summer crop has been taken, and harvested in December, twice the quantity of seed. The winter crop is raised chiefly for the purpose of obtaining seed for the spring sowings, as it is found difficult to keep potatoes from the summer crop in good condition till the following spring. The usual quantity of seed used to the acre at each sowing is about 9 maunds, so that the gross out-turn of an acre of land cultivated with potatoes during the year may be taken at 63 maunds, and the net out-turn, after deducting the quantity of seed used, at 45 maunds. The above estimate of the Agricultural Department rests chiefly on the statements of the cultivators, and has not been adequately tested by experiment.
Since the appearance of the potato disease in 1885-86 there has been a great decrease in the area under potato cultivation. In 1881-82 the exports of potatoes from the district were as high as 126,981 maunds. From 1886-87 the exports began annually to decrease until in 1895-96 the very low figure of 8,296 maunds was reached. The figures of export for the last nine years are as follows:—
1896-97 16,726 maunds 1897-98 7,805 maunds 1898-99 9,272 maunds 1899-00 5,422 maunds 1900-01 29,142 maunds 1901-02 38,251 maunds 1902-03 36,047 maunds 1903-04 50,990 maunds