C. A. BARBER 



173 



Now, this difference was so striking that a full study was made of all the 

 other North Indian varieties grown at the same time at Samalkota. It was 

 seen that four of them shared the abnormal joint length curve with Saretha 

 (Plate IV). The joint curves of Saretha, Chin, Khari and Pansahi were, 

 together, quite unusual in 1915-16, but perfectly normal in 1916-17 (Plate V). 

 A further examination was made of all the other measurements taken in the 

 unit observations, and other differences were noted in these two seasons in 

 various leaf and stem measurements. To clear up the difficulty, a reference 

 was made to the published rainfall and irrigation reports of these two years 

 at the Samalkota Farm. 



The conditions in the Godavari delta are peculiar. The water-supply 

 of the delta crops has two different sources : (1) The canals from the Godavari 

 river, depending on rain in Hyderabad and Bombay ; and (2) local rainfall, 

 consisting of thunder showers in May and September, and the two monsoons, 

 south-west from June to August and north-east from October to November. 

 In the absence of details for Samalkota, the following analysis of rainfall at 

 Cocanada and Ramachandrapuram, slightly nearer to the coast, may be 

 taken to represent the delta conditions. The figures are for the 45 years 

 before 1914. 



Table IV. 

 Rainfall in the Godavari delta. Averages for 45 years. 



Dec. ; Jan. 



Cocanada 

 Ramachandrapuram 



0-95" 0' 18" 

 0-76" 0-07" 



Feb. -Mch. 



0-35" 

 0-23" 



Apl. 



0-42" 0-52" 

 0-40" I0-62" 



May 



1-82" 



1-88" 



June July 



4-34" I 600' 

 01"! 6-54' 



Aug. 



3-48' 

 0-36' 



Sep. 



610' 

 7-31' 



Oct. 



8-75' 

 7-92' 



Nov. 



417" 

 3-69" 



The average monthly rainfall may be extracted from the above table, 

 for the periods mentioned above. The dry months, December to April, cold 

 at first but gradually increasing in heat after February, 0-45" ; May showers, 

 1-85" ; south-west monsoon, June to August, 5-62" ; September thunderstorms, 

 6-70" ; north-east monsoon, October and November, 6-14". 



The canes are planted early in the year, during the middle of the dry, hot 

 weather, and are irrigated by the Godavari canals. But the latter are closed, 

 every year, for cleaning out the silt, for six weeks during May and the fii'st 

 half of June, in preparation for the flood water caused by the south-west 

 monsoon in the area drained by the river. During this stoppage of the canal 

 water, unless there are local showers in the delta (many miles from the collectmg 

 area of the river), the canes suffer a set-back, and many of them die. If the 



