100 ENVIRONMENT AND MILLING QUALITIES. 



which receive drainage water from the higher lands, are generally 

 planted in rice and these lands are often inundated and always 

 waterlogged for long periods during the growth of the rice crop. 

 The rice plant however thrives under these conditions and is able 

 to take up its supply of nitrogen under waterlogged conditions, 

 most likely in forms such as ammonia which are not suitable for 

 other crops. In wet years like 1909 in Bihar the waterlogged and 

 marshy conditions, associated with rice culture, may be said to have 

 spread beyond and above the paddy fields and to have affected the 

 wheat lands. This naturally influenced the soil processes and 

 consequently the supply of available nitrogen for the wheat crop. 

 Gram, however, being able to supply itself with nitrogenous food- 

 material, was not affected and could thrive where a cereal like 

 wheat to all intents and purposes starved. 



From the economic standpoint the results of this experiment 

 point to the great importance of drainage in the alluvial soils of 

 India and the need of the limitation as it were of rice conditions to 

 the areas which produce this crop. Where canals are used for 

 watering the wheat crop it is also essential that the fields should 

 be level so that all parts are equally watered. Where low areas 

 exist, the surplus irrigation water drains into and waterlogs these 

 areas and the result is a small crop of poor quality. On the black 

 cotton soils of the Central Provinces it is often observed that the 

 lowlying areas of the wheat fields often yield a larger proportion of 

 spotted and soft grains than those parts which lie higher or are 

 better drained. This partial waterlogging, which is more frequent 

 in the black cotton soils than in the alluvium, is probably one of 

 the chief causes of the unevenness in the consistency of the wheat 

 often grown in Central India. The greater unevenness of the 

 fields in Peninsular India probably follows from the fact that 

 the levelling beam (sohaga) does not seem to be in general use 

 in these regions. It is most important from the point of view 

 of the miller that samples should be uniform in consistency other- 

 wise a lower price is obtained for the wheat. The cultivator 



