580 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGEMENT. 



Every effort is being made to encourage wlieat culture in India. Lou j», 

 linos of railway have been built with the wheat transportation in view. 

 The Governiiieut has given special privileges to those taking up new 

 IjMidfi, especially in the Terai. This is a tract of land from 20 to '60 

 lui'ics in width along the base of the Himalayas. It is most excellent 

 land for wheat. I have seen it yield 40 bushels to the acre, and of.tiie 

 fiiii Nt berry. This Terai is, however, a sickly spot, and it is almost im- 

 ]><:ssilth> i'or any one to live in it during the rainy season. The caltiva- 

 tors, usually from the mountains, go to their homes in June, before llie 

 rains ser in, and return in September, in time to sow the lieUls which 

 they had plowed before going away. 



IRRIGATION. 



Great efforts have been made by the Government to utilize water for 

 irrigation jiurposes. In the south of India tanks are numerous. In 

 Mysore the number is reckoned at 38,000 and in the ]\Iadras presidency 

 twice that number. Some of them are large and might be called lakes. 

 One in Mysore, the largest in India, is 40 miles in circumference. There 

 are also many canals. The Ganges Canal, leaving the Ganges Eiver at 

 Hurdwar, which, including its branches, is about 900 miles in length, 

 irrigates 1,200,000 acres, and cost £3,000,000 ; the Agra Canal, which 

 leaves the Jumna River at Delhi, irrigates 225,000 acres and cost 

 £800,000 ; the Bari Doab, in the Punjab, from the river Ilavi, 465 miles 

 in length, irrigates 250,000 acres and cost £1,500,000 ; the Soano Canal, 

 from tlie river Soaue, in Western Bengal, irrigates 300,000 acres ; the 

 Sirhind, on the Satlej, cost £2,750,000; the Caveri irrigates 820,000 

 acres, costing £116,000; the Kistna, 235,000 acres, costing £463,000; 

 the Godaveri, 530,000 acres, costing £736,000 ; the Orissa, 9«,000 acrofi, 

 costing £1,450,000. Many of the rivers and streams are tnrued from 

 their channels during their flow. In the Punjab about 900,000 acres are 

 irrigated in this way and in Sindli 1,800,000 acres. The most impor- 

 tant method of irrigation is by wells, and they are very numerous in 

 every locality. The i)crmanent wells, lined with brick, cost from $40 

 to $250 each, according to the depth, one 30 feet deep and 5 feet in di- 

 ameter costing about $100. The temporary wells without curbing are 

 abundant, but usually last only for one season. Persian wheels and 

 leather buckets are used for these wells. A Persian wheel and two 

 pairs of bullocks will irrigate 20 acres, but these wheels arc only 

 adapted for wells less than 20 feet in depth. A leather bucket and one 

 pair of bullocks will irrigate an acre in five or six days, or 4 acres a 

 month. In the Punjab, out of 21,000,000 of cultivated acres, over 

 5,000,000 are irrigated, as follows : 



MoUiod. A CI 09. 



I'y wolls — .. 



l-'oiennial canals 



Inundatlone 



Sru:tll canals and streams. 

 Ponds 



3,176,000 

 74f', 000 

 9.VJ, 000 

 042, 000 

 143, OUO 



TotAl I ^.,034 000 



