320 



RICE. 



miles ; unfortunately, there is no reliable information obtainable on 

 this point in any district, so that it is difficult to arrive at even an 

 approximation as to the area under rice cultivation. 



Eice being the staple food crop of Bengal and Burmah, it is im- 

 portant to ascertain as nearly as may be the average out-turn per 

 acre. The conclusions which I draw from a very careful study of a 

 mass of statistics on this subject are as follows : — 



1st. That very good land in very exceptional years will give an out- 

 turn of 48 maunds per acre, and in such exceptional places as Hid- 

 gellee even as much as 54 maunds. 



2nd. That the out-turn of the same land in an ordinary good year 

 may range from 86 to 40 maunds per acre. 



3rd. That the out-tm*n of ordinarily fair low land in a really good year 

 may range from 30 to 36 maunds. 



4th. That this same land on an average of say ten years will give a 

 yearly out-turn of from 18 to 24 maunds. 



5th. That poor or high sandy land will give in a good year 18 maunds. 



6th. That the same land on an average of say ten years will give a 

 yearly out-turn of 12 or 13 maunds. 



7th. That the average out-turn for a number of years of all classes of 

 land will be about 15 maimds per acre. 



These conclusions have reference only to crops depending on the 

 rainfall or irrigated from som'ces the supply of which is not assured, 

 and it appears to me that a never-failing supply of canal water would 

 eliminate the unfavourable years, and would thus raise the average 

 yearly out-turn of the irrigated crops from 15 maunds to between 24 

 and 30, according as the lower or higher estimate of a favourable out- 

 turn is accepted. 



Doubts having been frequently expressed as to the value of, or neces- 

 sity for, irrigation for rice crops, a great number of experiments to 

 ascertain the out-turn of irrigated and unirrigated crops were carried 

 out in 1873 by Mr. Apjohn in the Midnapore district. The results 

 may bo here briefly stated thus. The unirrigated lands gave an out- 

 turn of about one-fifth of a bumper crop, lands irrigated in October 

 and November gave nearly half a bumper crop, and lands irrigated 

 from June and July gave six-sevenths of a bumper crop. The crops 

 irrigated from the beginning of the season exceeded in value the 

 altogether unirrigated ones by rupees 16 per acre, the value being 

 obtained from the selling price of the paddy and straw on the ground. 



Now, inasmuch as the year (1873) in which these experiments were 

 made was one of deficient rainfall, the comparison is decidedly favour- 

 able to the canals and unfavourable to the uniiTigated crops, and this 

 proportion of out-turn, viz., 4 J to 1, cannot, and will not hold in 

 ordinary years. 



This much, however, may be safely inferred— /rs^Zy, that in bad 

 seasons the canal-irrigated crop will be say 4^ times better than the 

 unirrigated one ; and secondly, that in ordinary years the canal-irri- 

 gated crop will compare with the unirrigated one as 6 to 5 at least. 

 This increase may not appear great when merely one acre is considered, 

 but becomes of vital importance when the area of cultivation is reckoned 

 in hundreds of thousands of acres. 



