24: REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



years, being chiefly determined by the requirements of the 

 breeding herds. Areas which promise to be suitable for 

 future experimental work, have been treated uniformly 

 with regard to cultivation and cropping, the produce of 

 each acre weighed separately and the lands otherwise kept 

 under close observation. Two blocks of 9 acres each were 

 selected as suitable for the permanent manurial and rota- 

 tion experiments referred to below. 



The rainfall for the year 1907-08 was 32-35 inches (the 

 normal being about 45 inches) and was badly distributed. 

 There was a long break in the rains in July and August, 

 and from the latter part of September till early January 

 there was no rain. Cold weather sowings were made 

 under very dry conditions, but the rains in the latter 

 part of the cold weather were good. Notwithstanding 

 the generally unfavourable conditions, the crops both 

 kharif and rabi were excellent. The rainfall from the 

 1st of June 1908 to the 31st of March 1909 (which covers 

 the kharif and rabi cropping seasons) was 18-23 inches. 

 The monsoon arrived a full month later than usual and was 

 very scanty, but kharif crops turned out to be little under 

 the average. Rabi sowings, however, were made with 

 very short moisture, and as practically no rain fell till the 

 crops were in ear, the yields were reduced to less than Jth 

 of the normal. The experience of the last two years 

 would seem to fix the minimum rainfall with which good 

 kharif and rabi crops can be successively grown on the 

 same land, as somewhere between 20 and 30 inches, if 

 moderately well distributed. A considerable proportion 

 of the rainfall is lost by surface drainage in heavy falls, so 

 that the actual crop requirements are comparatively small. 

 But it is only on very fine grained soils, such as the north 

 Behar alluvium, where evaporation can be reduced to a 

 minimum by suitable cultivation, that full advantage can 

 be taken of the actual rain absorbed by the soil, and again 

 suitable cultivation presupposes good cattle and efficient 

 moisture-conserving implements which in this part of 

 India are in the hands of few. 



