276 THE JULLUNDER DOAB. 



too, its fall is most uncertain. For several successive seasons it. 

 will occur scanty in the extreme ; and on the other hand, for a 

 like number of years it is abundant. Since the occupation of the 

 country by the British government it bas been well supplied with 

 rain, which bas rendered grain exceedingly cheap, and gone far to 

 settle it in tbe quiet state in which it now reigns. Were cauals 

 intersecting the Doabs in all directions tbe elements would not 

 be watched with anxious care by the Zemindars, as plenty would 

 be diffused even without raiu, and with it happiness and content- 

 ment throughout the length and breadth of the land. All the 

 Doabs have their own peculiarities and distinguishing characters. 

 The first and richest in cultivation is the Jullunder Doab, which 

 almost throughout its length and breadth presents in the cold 

 weather a sheet of the richest cultivation. The crops cultivated 

 in the autumn are wheat, barley, chunna, (Cicer Arietinum), Torea, 

 ( Siuapis glauca), Tirra, (Brassica erucastrum), Bakla, (Faba vulgaris), 

 Mithre, (Trigonella fcenum graecum), &c, Kussoomba, (Carthamus 

 tinctorius), a well known dye. But the crop to which the 

 Zemindars look forward to for tbe payment of their revenue is 

 sugar, which is extensively cultivated throughout the Jullunder 

 Doab. On an average one-fifth of the laud may be said to be 

 under cultivation with it, pointing out the richness of the soil 

 and the industry * of the agricultural population. Most of the 

 sugar is raised for exportation principally to Amritsir and Lahore, 

 from whence it is sent to tbe south to Bhawulpore, and north to 

 Cabul. In many places the soil of the Jullunder Doab consists of 

 a rich black loam, and would, were irrigation available, be 

 admirably adapted for the cultivation of cotton. At present 

 cotton is there cultivated, but in small quantity and of an inferior 

 kind ; this applies to all the cottons in tbe Punjab examined by 

 us ; all were short stapled and of inferior quality. Wheat is also 

 grown for home consumption, the markets of Lahore and Amritsir 

 being principally supplied from the eastward and southward, as 

 Amballa and Saharunpore districts, Futteh Ghur, &c. Partly 

 for want of water and partly by its saline nature, (Shore Ke Zemin) 

 there is an immense tract in the Kuppoorthulla Rajah's country 

 lying waste. This belt is about ten miles long and three miles 

 broad. In some places where the land had, as in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Kuppoorthulla, been well broken up and irrigated, 



* To obtain a good crop of Sugar-cane requires most careful cultivation, 

 it being necessary to plough the land many times and manure it strongly. 



