HOWARD 63 



Saujraui Tract on the west. There is very little cultivation in the District, 

 much of the country being sandy desert and much of it only suitable for graz- 

 ing. The cultivation is mainly confined to the level plain of alluvial soil 

 lying between Nushki and C'hagai on which most of the rivers are situated. 



There is only one river with a perennial flow (/f water, the Khaibar or 

 Jo-i-Nushki which irrigates the land in the neighbourliood of Nushki (about 

 2,000 acres in 1 90.o). There are in addition numerous hill torrents which supply 

 flood water for the dry crop cultivation. These torrents are held up and 

 directed into specially constiucted channels by embankments which are gene- 

 rally made and repaired by a whole village or tribe who divide among them- 

 selves the water so obtained. There are a certain number of larezes both in 

 Nushki and Chagai but nrost of them are small and insignificant. The five 

 largest in Nushki irrigate about 600 acres (1905) while in Chagai the largest 

 hdrez only irrigates 22 acres. 



The average rainfall at Nushki is 4"5 inches derived from the winter 

 storms which come from Persia but these vary from year to year. Usually 

 no snow falls on the plains. The summer is very long, lasting f lom April to 

 October and the temperature in the plains is high. 



The soil in the cultis'ated tracts is alluvial and very fertile but, owing to 

 the limited amount of water, nine-tenths of the cultivation is dry crop culti- 

 vation dependent on the flood water brought down by the hill torrents in winter 

 and earlv spring. The best hhnslddha cultivation is found on the Bdlx, i.e.. 

 the land lying along the course of the Lora. Other dry crop lands lie round 

 Mai and Chagai. Most of the irrigated land lies round Nushki and Baghat 

 and is watered from the Kaisar river. 



The area under wheat is not known accurately but wheat represents 

 about 95 per cent, of the total produce of the District. Wheat is always 

 sown in fallow land and the land after a wheat crop is always left fallow 

 for a year or two. In September the land is irrigated, ploughed and levelled, 

 the seed being sown by drill at the beginning of October. The first irrigation 

 is given when the wheat is 6 inches high and the crop is either grazed by sheep 

 or cut for fodder in January. The second watering is given twenty days 

 later, the third when the ears are formed and the fourth when the grain has 

 set. The wheat is ripe in May or June. On unirrigated lands, the time of 

 sowing depends on the winter rains and may take place at any time 

 up to February. The seed is also sometimes sown in the dry land before 

 the rains. 



