THE GEEAT MILLET 



Gujarat. 



Kharif. 



Madras. 



Areas. 



Districts. 



Mysore. 



SORGHUM 



VULGARE 



Madras 



1 J to 2|- subordinate pulses. The seeds are mixed and drill sown, the rows being 

 14 inches apart. In successful cultivation the crop is hand-weeded as well as 

 hoed once or twice. The crop will come into flower in August and September 

 and ripen in October and November. 



(6) The Kharif Juar of Gujarat. Usually alternates on black soil with cotton : 

 after removal of the latter, the land is repeatedly harrowed and scarified in 

 April and May, but no ploughing is, as a rule, given since judr likes a firm seed- 

 bed. In June or July the seed is drilled in rows 20 inches apart. When the crop 

 stands 9 inches high, it is again hoed and the plough passed between the rows 

 of seedlings. The principal crop is ready five months after sowing. 



(c) The Rabi Juar of Gujarat. In Broach this form of juar is called shialu. It is 

 drill-sown in September or October, after one ploughing and several harrowings of 

 the soil. The seed is sown at the rate of 7 to 8 Ib. an acre. The rows are 20 inches 

 apart, and the seedlings appear in the furrows. The crop is twice intercultured 

 with the bullock hoe. " As the ears begin to fill, the stalks are tied up to each 

 other so that they may not be lodged." This is only necessary in a good year, 

 with a heavy crop. Harvest takes place in February to March, or five to six 

 months after sowing. 



Madras. In 1905-6 there were 4,740,841 acres under the crop. The 

 areas in the chief districts in that year were as follows : Bellary, 725,444 

 acres ; Coimbatore, 704,593 acres ; Karnul, 678,290 acres ; Cuddapah, 

 414,359 acres ; Anantapur, 304,499 acres ; Guntur, 381,929 acres ; 

 Nellore, 356,589 acres ; Madura, 297,693 acres, etc. According to the 

 Season and Crop Report, the area in 1906-7 was 4,479,193 acres. Large 

 portions of Madras, being rice-producing countries, have only small areas 

 under judr (or cholam, as it is called in South India). 



Mysore has usually a little over half a million acres, chiefly in Mysore 

 and Chitaldrug districts. Of Mysore, the published averages of yield 

 have shown from 453 to 800 Ib. 



An exhaustive account of Sorghum in Madras has been written by 

 C. Benson, Deputy Director of Agriculture, and C. K. Subba Rao, Sub- 

 Assistant Director of Agriculture (Dept. Agri. Mad. Bull., 1906, No. 55, 

 58 et seq.}. These authors state that the outturn varies within wide 

 limits. " The punasa or early crops of Sorghum give a larger outturn of 

 comparatively poor fodder, but less grain, than the Mngdri or late crop. 

 The outturn of unirrigated Sorghum varies from 200 to 600 Ib. per acre. 

 Under irrigation, the yield on the average is double that amount. The 

 outturn of dry straw from an unirrigated crop on fairly good land is two 

 full cartloads per acre " (I.e. 117-8). 



" The chief characteristic of the climate of the principal areas in the Madras 

 Presidency where sorghum is an important field crop, is the lightness of the 

 rainfall. The only exception is that part of Nellore and Guntur adjoining, 

 where the annual rainfall is 30-40 inches. Elsewhere the usual fall is less than 

 25 inches and in some places as little as 20 only." There are two main seasons 

 for sowing, an early at the beginning and a late towards the end of the south- 

 west monsoon. The early-sown crops are raised chiefly on the lighter soils. 

 " On the mixed and more loamy soils, the middle season varieties are usually 

 found, and the late-sown crops on the heavy soils." The crop is regarded as an 

 exhausting one, and its growth, year after year, on the same land, is considered 

 bad practice, but is not uncommon. It is stated that " speaking generally, on 

 loamy or sandy soils sorghum, following castor or horsegram, is looked upon as 

 the best rotation, while the ryots will not grow sorghum if they can avoid it after 

 a crop of Italian millet or varagu." Again, " The commonest practice is to sow 

 sorghum mixed with other crops, which vary according to the nature of the 

 soil, the season and the local customs." 



" In the Deccan districts green gram and other pulses, gingelly and gogu 

 (Hibiscifs ranmibiititH) are mixed in small and irregular quantities with the 

 sorghum seed for an early crop and sown through the drill, while red gram, 

 anumulu (itoiidtos i>atiti), cow gram (1'ignn Catjdiig), and castors are sown in 

 lines amongst the crop." 



1036 



Early and 

 Late Crops. 



Climatic 

 Characteristics. 



Soils. 



Eotation. 



Mixed 

 Cultivation. 



