122 



Oranges and Lemons of India. , 



Rs. 3, 2 annas per bigah, or Rs. 5 per acre. In addition 

 to the above, there is the owner's rate for irrigated 

 lands, which is half the water rate, or for gardens would 

 be Rs. 2, 8 annas per acre. The owner's rate is paid 

 by the owner of the land, and the water-rate by the 

 cultivator. Of course, they may, or may not, be one 

 and the same person. I should mention that the 

 above rates are for gardens irrigated by flow; if 

 irrigated by lift, the water-rate and owner's rate is 

 two-thirds of those noted. The gardens about Delhi 

 are, however, almost entirely irrigated by flow. The 

 depth of water from the soil varies a good deal. A 

 large number of the Delhi wells are filled with canal 

 water, to make them sweeter drinking. In these, and 

 in the wells situated in irrigated lands, the water is 

 nearer the surface than in wells at a distance from the 

 canal. Speaking roughly, the water would be in the 

 wells of the neighbourhood about 25 ft. from the 

 surface of the ground. The Delhi soil is, generally 

 speaking, rausli, or loam." 



It is probable, as cultivators say, that canal water is 

 not so good for the suntara orange tree as well water, 

 but I take it, not because it is canal water, but because 

 it is cheap, and, therefore, too much of it is given. 



I was shown a plot in one garden, which was said to 

 have been planted some twelve or thirteen years ago 

 with suntara orange trees, and irrigated by canal water. 

 All the trees, they said, perished in about ten years. 

 The plot was then replanted with sherbetee nimboo 

 (sweet lemon). Cultivators say the latter does not 

 mind canal water. 



In another garden, newly formed, I saw orange trees 

 which had been planted some four or five years before. 

 They were all in a most wretched condition. I saw 

 water lying on the surface, and was told that canal 



