INDIAN AREA 



CICER 



ARIETINUM 



Cultivation 



Production 

 and Yield. 



Hu.'!i"t in 

 Chi-f Ai 



Ar-.n. 



Total 

 Production. 



'M-iiu'iil, the United Provinces and the Panjab, also the adjacent 

 of the Central Provinces, Central India and Rajputana) con- 

 itute the great grain-producing area of India. It has been repeatedly 

 out th;i( ;i lint- drawn from Bombay to Patna would approximately 

 Iiuli.-i into two sections, the northern being the great gram area 

 and the southern that in which gram is a very subordinate crop. 



Production and Yield. The yield of gram to the acre is annually 

 port'-d by the various Governments and Administrations. It is shown 

 vary greatly according to suitability of soil and climate ; the highest 

 urns are in the provinces of chief production. In Bihar (the upper 

 n of Bengal) the yield comes to 855 Ib. per acre, for land not irri- 

 in the United Provinces, 800 Ib. ; in the Panjab, 634 Ib. ; while 

 i bay, under similar conditions, the yield is only 410 Ib. and in the 

 orth-W.-st Frontier Province still less 406 Ib. But irrigated land gives 

 it hitjhrr vield than unirrigated : in Bombay as much as 1,200 Ib. have 

 n recorded ; 950 Ib. in the United Provinces ; 835 Ib. in the Panjdb, 

 d 632 Ib. in the North-West Frontier Province. Taking the nine chief Mean Yield. 



ucing provinces and accepting for a calculation of total production 

 e mean of the published returns for 1901-2, on unirrigated cultivation, 

 arrive at the figure of 600 Ib. as a possible safe average for all India, 

 worked out to 10 million acres, or considerably under the present 

 would show a total production of 53 million cwt. But that very 

 e amount would in all probability be under rather than over India's 

 1 supply, since this pulse is largely grown as a mixed crop and also 

 a garden vegetable, tracts not likely to be fully covered by its recorded 

 reage as a field crop. 



It may be useful to take up the provinces one by one and exhibit 

 the features of their gram-cultivation etc., that may be of interest : 



Bengal. Gram requires the same land as wheat, barley, linseed and 

 peas. It cannot be grown on sandy soils but requires a moderately heavy 

 clav-loam. Five or six ploughings are given, commencing towards the 

 of the rains. About the latter half of October to the first week in 

 vember it is sown, and the crop ripens in February to March. The 

 ntity of seed required ranges from 27 to 36 seers, more being needed 

 en " broadcasted " than when " drill " sown. The plants are pulled up 

 by the roots, made up into loads, and carried to the threshing-floor. The 



w and the husks of the pods form excellent fodder. The yield is Fodder, 

 ted to be about 9'7 maunds (or, say, approximately 800 Ib.). The cost 

 cultivation (according to the Report of the Dumroon Experimental 

 for 1902-3) has been put at Rs. 15-1-8, and the money value of 

 crop at Rs. 44-12-3 an acre. [Cf. Buchanan-Hamilton, Slot. Ace. 

 \j., 1833, 174, 184 ; Basu, Agri. Lohardaga, 1890, 34 ; Barclay, Fungal 



Agri. Ledg., 1895, No. 20, 381.] 



Burma. Cultivation is important only in the upper districts. In 

 iktila (Settl. Rept., 1896-8, 10) it is said the land is prepared in October 

 the seed sown in November after having been soaked in water for 

 a day and then sown broadcast. The crop ripens in February. The 

 plants are tied up in bundles, dried in the sun, and threshed out either by 

 sticks or by being trodden under foot by cattle. The harvest-time, all 

 over the province, is from February to April. One basket of seed to the 

 acre the yield being 15 to 20 baskets. There are three groups of districts 

 according to date of sowing, viz: (1) September to October: Lower Range in Time 



297 



Bengal. 



Seasons. 



Cost of 

 Production. 



Burma. 



Seasons. 



