The Gazetteers Department

A number of agricultural implements are in use in the district. Most of these are made of indigenous materials with local labour. Their shape and form were dictated by the necessities of the time when they were invented and, a little, if any change has taken place since then. Ploughs, harrows, seed drills, levellers and hoes are the important implements connected with the various phases of agricultural operations that are used in the district. Besides these several hand tools which are in use are khurpi, phavade, kudli, tikas, zadi, kurhad, sabbal, etc. The age old wooden plough is recently heing replaced by the iron plough and the old mot by the oil engine in the district. A few improved implements, such as iron ploughs, blowing fans, threshing and separating appliances have also been introduced. A description of some of the major implements is given below:—

Plough.—The ploughs are of two kinds, a light plough drawn by one pair of bullocks, and a heavy plough with a shorter body which is drawn by three or more pairs. The wooden plough (nangar) is made of babhul (acacia arahica) wood by local carpenters. It comprises four essential parts, viz., the main body (khod). beam (dandi), plough share (phad), and stilt (rumhane). The main body is the central part to which the others are attached It gives the necessary weight for the penetrating action of the ploughshare. It is about three feet long and consists of a head and shoe. The head is thicker while the shoe is tapering to a point, flat at the top and triangular at the bottom. The share made of iron is sharp at the end and is fixed to the shoe. It is about two feet long and projects about six inches beyond the point of the shoe. It is attached to the shoe by means of an iron-ring. The beam is generally made of babhul or tiwas, which is fixed to the body in a particular angle and is about 3.048 to 3.658 metres (10 to 12 feet) long. The stilt which is fixed with a short grip or handle (muth) is attached to the beam at the back end. It is used for handling the plough by the plough-man. The voke is tied to the front end of the beam by means of a thick rope. The lighter plough stirs the soil to a depth of 6 inches, and the heavy plough to twice that depth.

A number of progressive cultivators, owning big holdings possess iron-ploughs. The iron-plough opens a rectangular clear furrow by throwing the soil over with the wooden board attached to it. It is preferred to the indigenous type because it makes the soil more loose and friable. Iron-ploughs are worked with two to five pairs of bullocks depending upon the size of the plough and the texture of the land.

Harrow.—The harrow (wakhar or bakhar) serves the purpose both of plough and harrow. It is an indigenous implement and used for crushing of clods and making the soil arable. It is like a large scraper and made of babhul and tiwas. It comprises five main components, viz., head, prongs, iron blade (pas), beam (dandi) and stilt (rumhane). The iron blade is attached to the two prongs fixed to the head. It is about 2' to 3� long. The wakhar is guided by means of a single upright wooden stilt. The yoke is attached to the beam by means of a thick rope. It is drawn by one pair of bullocks and could harrow from one to two acres in one day, depending on the state of the soil.

There are two types of harrows prevalent in the district viz., the heavy harrow (moghada wakhar) and the small one. The heavy harrow is usually used when the soil has baked very hard, or when the land is infested with a thick growth of weeds. The moghada is drawn by two pairs of bullocks, and turns up the earth in clods and brings weeds to the surface. It is often used for the first harrowing. The cross harrowing is then done by the light wakhar drawn by one pair of bullocks. It is also used for preliminary harrowing, for covering the seeds sown and for inter-culturing the broad spaced crops.

Seed Drill.—The seed drill (tifan) is also an indigenous imple-ment used for sowing operations. It is made of babhul wood by village carpenters. The seed drill consists of four parts viz., three coulters, a beam (danda), three bamboo tubes and a bowl (chale). The head is the central part to which are attached three coulters at the bottom, stilt on the upper side and beam on the front side. Pointed drills, made of iron, are attached to the coulters. The bowl (chale) is connected with the three coulters by three bamboo tubes. Seeds are put in the bowl from where they pass through the rubes into the furrows made by the coulters.

The following seed-drills are prevalent in Buldhana district. (1) Tifan.—It is a three coultered drill used for sowing kharif jowar.

(2)Argada.—It is either three or four coultered bowl to which bamboo tubes are not attached. But bamboo pipes, each fixed with a small bowl on the top (locally known as sarate) are tied by ropes to each of the coulters of the seed drill. It is used for sowing of cotton and groundnut.

(3) Dusa or Kathani Tifan.—It is sometimes used for sowing kharif crops, especially cotton. It consists of an ordinary wakhar, our two tines about 21 inches apart are substituted for the blade. Through the bamboo tubes (sarates) drawn in the wake of these tines the seed is dropped. Two wakhars are usually worked behind the dusa to cover the seed with soil. With one man to drive the bullock and two women to drop the seeds into the sarates, about 4 acres of land can be sown in one day. Sowing is sometimes done with the wakhar, in which case only one sarate is used. It is generally used for sowing operations of wheat, gram, coriander and mustard.

Interculturing Implements.—The implements used for interculture are the dawra or larger hoe, and tassa or dhusa, the smaller hoe, which are miniatures of the wakhar, and are used solely for inter-culturing. Dawra which has constructional design like the harrow is used for inter-culturing cotton, jowar, mug, udid, groundnut, etc., while sometimes the small wakhar is used for inter-culturing broad spaced crops, viz., chillis, brinjals, banana and jowar.

The body of the dawra is about 16 inches long and the blade is 10 inches long and 2 inches deep. With two dawras drawn by one pair of bullocks two men can inter-culture from 2� to 3 acres of cotton daily. The blade of the tassa is of the depth as that of the dawra but is 4 inches longer. For inter-culture the cotton grower therefore uses the dawra while the plants are small and when they are grown up the tassa is used so as to pare away the seed growing near the rows and at the same time to ridge up earth against the plant. In Mehkar and Chikhli tahsils in the district a hoe with two blades each 6 inches long is used for inter-culture. The blades are 3 inches apart so that when at work the weeds on the two sides of the row of plants are pared at the same time.

Harvesting Implements.—The principal tools used for harvesting in the district are sickle (koyata or vila), kudali and zadi. For harvesting of jowar, bajra, tur, mug, udid, wheat, gram, groundnut, etc., sickles of different shapes are used. For digging, trenching and ridging soil and for uprooting crops, kudli and zadi are used.

Threshing Implements.—There are very few implements used for threshing of grain. Of these tivar, datale, basket, chaff-cutter and blowing fan could be mentioned. Datale (a tool having five or six teeth fixed on a small head piece) is used for stirring and separating grains from the chaff or husk, at the time of threshing. A special broom is also used for separating chaff from the heap of grains.

Hand Tools.—There are a number of hand tools used in the district for various agricultural operations. The axe (kurhad) is used for cutting wood. The small axe called the pharsi is used for chopping down twigs of trees. The pick axe (kudli) is used for digging. The spade (phavade) is used for removing earth. Weeding hook (khurpi) is used to remove the weeds. This is especially useful when it is not possible to operate bullock drawn hoe. Its blade is very small, about 0.05 to 0.09 m. (two-three inches) in length and is also used for stirring the soil. Crowbar (pahar or sabal) is used for digging holes in the soil. Budding knife is used for preparing orange nurseries. Many farmers now use rotary dusters, hand sprayers and bucket sprayers for spraying or dusting crop with insecticides. All these hand-tools are generally manufactured locally.

Water Lifts.—Water is lifted from the well for irrigation by a leather bag called mot. It is the chief contrivance for lifting water from wells. Mot is made of tanned hide by local cobblers. The two ends of mot are tied by two separate ropes to the yoke. There is actually a double yoke, about four feet in length. The bullocks yoked to the mot are driven forward and backward over the ramp. The two ropes (called nada and samdur) pass over the two revolving wheels. Iron mots are also in use but are very few in number. The old mot is slowly being replaced by a number of water pumps worked either on oil engines or on electric motors. This has facilitated well irrigation on a large scale.

Bullock-cart.—The bullock-cart popularly known as the bailgadi is widely used for transport in rural and semi-urban parts of the district. At a number of places these are the only means of transport of agricultural produce and appliances. The bullock-cart is very useful in carrying large quantities of grass and manure and transporting of field produce to the markets. The frame of the cart is like an isosceles triangle tapering towards the front side. The frame is supported on two cart wheels. A few planks are fixed on the frame with some space in between. There are about four holes on two sides of the frame for fixing vertical props. The entire frame is covered by a mat made of thick bamboo traps. The frame is made of cither shadada or sag wood. The axle is fixed in a rectangular block of wood of the right size. The axle is tied with the front angle of the frame by a tight string or an iron rope. Its whole body is made of wood (generally of babhul) except the rims, the axle and the bush

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