42 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



Results of water-saving experiments on wheat (Pusa 12) at 

 Gungapur, Haripur and Sargoclha in 1916-17 — contd. 



Similar results were obtained during the last cold wea- 

 ther at Mirpurkhas in Sind by Mr. T. F. Main, Deputy 

 Director of Agriculture in Sind. 



In the ordinary way, the Punjabi cultivator irrigates 

 four times for wheat — once for the preliminary prepara- 

 tion and three times afterwards. So inexpert are his 

 methods that the first watering does little more than ger- 

 minate the crop and carry it through the seedling stage. 

 At an early period of development, a second watering is 

 necessary often followed by two more — one after the New 

 Year and the last to complete the ripening process. When 

 water is short, only two waterings are given after sowing. 

 At Gungapur, a yield of over twelve maunds to the acre was- 

 obtained on the rawani only, a result which one of us was 

 informed in 1916 was quite impossible. Very good wheat 

 crops can be obtained on the Canal Colonies with two irri- 

 gations and it is possible to save one-third to half the water 

 now used. Similar results are possible on the rest of tlie 

 alluvium and to a considerable extent also on the soils of the 

 Peninsula. Translated into money, this result runs into 

 large figures. The annual revenue derived from Govern- 

 ment irrigation works in India is about £5,000,000 sterling. 



