CEREALS 97 



no rotations are practised, hence it is a common com- 

 plaint in many places that yields are declining, a complaint 

 which indicates the present time as one of necessary 

 transition from extensive to intensive methods of 

 cultivation. 



Cultivation in the Dry Zone. 



The central or dry tract of Burma is a climatic island, 

 which owes its peculiar weather conditions partly to the 

 presence of the Arakan Mountains, and partly to its 

 inland position. The mountains not only rob the mon- 

 soon of its moisture, but deflect its course, so that in all 

 parts of the dry tract the prevailing monsoon wind is 

 south-east instead of south-west. This is the region of 

 dry crops of sesame (of which Burma possesses the 

 largest acreage in India), sorghum, maize, beans, and 

 cotton. Here, except in the irrigated areas, which the 

 British Government has been sedulously extending since 

 the annexation, rice is a crop of secondary importance. 

 The country is one of broken uplands, with small valleys 

 in which the monsoon water collects. On the higher 

 grounds sesame, jowar, and cotton are planted. Hence 

 in this central tract it is in the irrigated areas that we 

 must look for extensive acreage under rice, and these 

 areas, in which the cultivation is mostly all of recent date, 

 are now helping considerably to swell the export trade. 

 The main irrigation systems instituted or maintained by 

 the British Government are as follows : 



Mandalay... ... ... 77,955 acres. 



Shwebo ... ... ... 158,292 ,, 



Minbu ... ... ... 91,186 ,, 



Kyaukse ... ... ... 136,568 ,, 



The first three have all been formed since the 

 British occupation, but much of the irrigation in Kyaukse 

 owes its inception to the Burmese kings. Cultivation 

 of paddy on these areas is practically similar to that in 

 the non-irrigated tracts of Lower Burma, but in Kyaukse 

 two crops per annum are often taken, or the crop is 

 rotated with sugar-cane or sesame. Most of the soils 

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