< I! IBP INDIAN AREA 





Panjib. 



: .-:. >. 



TRITK 



LOARB 



Cultivation 



while HIND and its Native States add to the Bombay Presidency 

 about half a million more acres. Lastly Bengal (inrludinn Kastern Bengal) 

 normally possesses about 1} million acres. Except Panjab, 



therefore, tin- area in the other provinces cannot be regarded as giving 

 any indication of expansion. 



The NATIVE STATES have < -..lit -. tivoly about 5 million acres under 

 wheat. The Final Memorandum issued by the Commercial Intelligence 

 Department estimates their area for 1906-7 at 5,176,000 acres, with a 

 production of 1,048,540 tons. The largest proport i -abad and 



Rajputana, which each have on an average 1 million acres, while Central 

 India has approximately 2 million acres. Included under these areas : 

 tion may be made of Gwalior, whirh during the past five years has had 

 from 298,872 to 726,674 acres under th, iihopal in'l905, 419,766 



acres; Indore, 287,681 ; Bandelkhand, 215,468; Bhagalkhand, 289,128 acres; 

 and, lastly, Kotah has annually from 100,000 to 300,000 acres of wheat. 



Panjab and North- West Frontier. One-third of the total cropped 

 area of the Panjab is usually under wheat, an area which represents about 

 29 '3 per cent, of the total wheat area of British India. According to the 

 Agricultural Statistics, the actual wheat area in the Panjab in 1904-5 was 

 7,681,700 acres and in the North-West Frontier 821,586 acres, the 

 having been 3,122,900 tons. In 1905-6 the total area for the two provinces 

 was 9,596,700 acres and the yield 3,790,000 tons, while the Final Memo- 

 randum for 1906-7 estimated the area and yield, as already mentioned, at 

 10,184,200 acres and 3,588,100 tons. As representative of distribution, 

 it may be added that during 19045 the following districts in the Panjab 

 had each over 300,000 acres of wheat: Lyallpur, 591,818; Ferozpur, 

 565,433 ; Lahore, 438,360 ; Attock, 407,768 ; Sialkot, 396,837 ; Gujranwala, 

 363,367; Amritsar, 350,397; Shahpur, 342,483; Gurdaspur, 330,586; 

 Jhelam, 325,793 ; Gujrat, 310,725 ; and Multan, 305,051. In the North- 

 West Frontier the areas are smaller, the chief being Peshawar, 299,347 

 acres ; Bannu, 209,136 ; and Hazara, 122,068. 



The crop is sown on what are known as rausli and rohi lands ; the 

 former are light, easily pulverised loams, very prevalent in Upper India ; 

 the latter, rich well-drained soils approaching what is known as dakar. 

 Dakar proper is as a rule too heavy and not sufficiently drained for wheat. 

 The crop occupies the soil for about six months the first sowings are 

 made by the middle of October, and the harvest operations are completed 

 by the latter end of May. The systems pursued vary to some extent 

 locally, but mainly in consequence of the nature of the soil and source of 

 water supply. The following particulars derived from Hoshiarpur District 

 Gazetteer (1905, 93-5) is representative of the Panjab generally. The 

 common wheat grown is a reddish bearded variety called kdthi, the kind 

 most commonly used for mixtures with gram and other crops. Tin- 

 number of ploughings given to wheat varies according to the crop that 

 precedes it. If it follows maize, the time for ploughing is short, and not 

 more than three or four can be given. If the two-year course is followed, 

 continuous ploughings can be given for ten months ; but even so, the 

 majority of fanners do not plough more than eight or ten times. The 

 best time for sowing is from the middle to the end of October, but wheat 

 can be sown up to the end of December. In the riverain villages the land 

 is often not dry enough to sow till November, and if the seed is sown too 

 early it is eaten by a small grasshopper called toka. The subsequent 



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