AGRICULTURE AND REVENUE 25%

This, indeed, is all that the cattle get during the winter in
many parts of the northern frontier, and it answers
admirably for fodder. In Baluchistan, and indeed in
most parts of Afghanistan, where wheat (or rice in small
quantities) is cultivated, the straw is collected and beaten
small, and is packed for winter consumption as ‘ bhusa.”
Every frontier officer knows the value of “bhusa.” It is
the commissariat stand by for all frontier expeditions and
takes the place of compressed hay and other fodders fairly
well, but it requires large transport.
During winter in the highlands the fruit trees (mulberries,
 walnuts, and apricots) are bare and rigid ; the
dreary expanse of flat terraced fields is brown and hard.
The wild roses and hedgerows take on a copper hue, and
the stony hills betray hardly a trace of green under the
stiff brown pines. This is the border time for action,
for raids on the nearest British settlement, for squaring
accounts with the wealthy “ bunniah ” ! of the plains, for
holding  jirgahs ” ? and arranging risings, which, however
ansuccessful they may be, keep the young tribesmen
occupied, thins the overgrown population somewhat, and
finds opportunity for the trial of the latest imported (or
stolen) weapon. Then the frontier tribesman stuffs his
pockets full of dried mulberries and walnuts ; slings on his
back as much of the thick Pathan “roti” (a very service-~
able form of bread, thicker than « chupatties,” and more
like English bread) as he can carry in addition to his sheepskin
 coat and his ammunition, and follows the warpath.
He leaves nothing for an enemy to destroy excepting his
easily-built house. Thus do the climatic and geographic
conditions of the frontier combine to keep the military
officials at Simla invariably busy in the winter time.
The hot weather crops of India (called “kharif ") are
as varied as the winter “rabi,”” The latter are generally
reaped by the end of April, earlier or later according to
the latitude. For about two months, till the end of
June, when all the glory of early summer is about the
highlands ; when the plains of Afghanistan are a waving
2 Clan meetings.
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1 Shopkeeper.