Oqtober, 1909,] 



348 



Miscellaneous. 



to such au extent that prospects were 

 exceptionally good. However, three 

 or four days of extraordinary frost 

 in the beginning of February, 1905, com- 

 pletely changed these happy conditions. 

 All ndvanced crops were utterly ruined, 

 and where the peasants had no irriga- 

 tion to water the fields, their plight was 

 very serious. They simply had nothing 

 to look forward to, until the following 

 monsoon would enable them to sow 

 kharif grains. In Bundlekund the rain 

 did not come at all, and thus misfortune 

 followed misfortune. The case was, how- 

 ever, very different with the irrigating 

 tenants. The ruined wheat fields were 

 quickly ploughed into the soil, and sown 

 with " zaid" crops, i.e., " chehna " (Pani- 

 cum miliaceum), vegetables, melons, etc. 

 The cultivation of " chehna " proved to 

 be a very sound enterprise, as it ripened 

 in two months, and produced five or six 

 maunds of grain to the acre. Other 

 tenants got the land ready for sugar, it 

 they had the necessary manure. Others 

 prepared it for April sowings of maize, 

 jugar, cotton, and hot weather rice. 

 Maize sown at this period produced 

 cobs in July, and fetched ready 

 money in the local markets. Early 

 cotton plants were well advanced, when 

 the monsoon arrived, and were there- 

 fore not liable to injury from flooding. 

 This form of cultivation is largely re- 

 placing the indigo of the Jumna and 

 Ganges Canals, and requires every en- 

 couragement. It enriches the land and 

 produces a better class of fibre. Irri- 

 gation was also the cause of other 

 benefits in this phenomenal frost cala- 

 mity of February, 1905. Fields that had 

 recently taken water escaped almost 

 entirely. I was Chief Engineer of 

 Irrigation at the time in the United 

 Provinces, and remember well having 

 to run the Canals, although the execu- 

 tive staff wished to have them closed 

 for urgent repairs. The water thus 

 given had a most beneficial effect in 

 resuscitating crops that were seemingly 

 killed by the excessively low temper- 

 ature. After a short peri' d of, so to 

 speak, hibernation, they recovered, and 

 gave very fair returns. In Muzaffar- 

 nagar and Saharanpore, where frost is a 

 common occurrence, the cultivators are 

 constantly on the lookout for it in the 

 winter months, and freely irrigate the 

 young crops to prevent mischief. They 

 attribute the protection to the thicker 

 and stronger growth of the irrigated 

 plant. This idea is similar to that 

 held by cultivators of unirrigated soils. 

 They rejoice exceedingly when pro- 

 pitious rains arrive before the frosty 

 season. Experience proves that the 

 young rabi is much strengthened by the 



damp, and thus able to resist subsequent 

 low temperatures. So far I have only 

 dealt with the case of the calamitous 

 frost in 1905, and have shown that the 

 irrigating tenant was in a position to 

 retrieve his losses by fresh sowings. But 

 the same reasoning applies to other 

 agricultural disasters^ Hardly a year 

 passes, in which the Gazettes do not 

 record the devestating effects in some 

 parts of the country from locusts, hail or 

 rust. In the report on the famine of 

 1895-96-97, it is recorded that the drought 

 of the=e years merely completed - the 

 agricultural ruin, caused by the 

 excessive winter rains in 1892-93-94. 

 In the last-named seasons immense 

 sheets of spring crops were destroyed by 

 blight. Lowlying lands were too wet 

 for cultivation. Even where the wheat 

 and barley had ripened, and had been 

 cut, the unseasonable rain and storms 

 damaged the grain on the threshing 

 floors. Independent of these well-known 

 calamities, cultivators of tracts near 

 forests or jungles frequently find their 

 fields eaten up in one night by a herd 

 of Nilgai' or Deer. Here, again, the 

 case of the owners is black indeed, if 

 they have no means of resowing crops 

 until the following monsoon. I have 

 recounted all these calamities, tc show 

 how many trials beset a cultivator, and 

 how speculative are his chances of har- 

 vest profits, unless he has the means of 

 renewing his sowings without delay. 



Insuring Advantages of Irrigation 

 {i.e., Diversity of Cropping). 

 4. All wise agriculturists agree in the 

 advantage of cultivating a variety of 

 crops, i.e-, " in not carrying all the eggs 

 in one basket." The Indian peasant 

 follows out this idea in a rough way, 

 by sowing various mixtures, which is 

 not always the best form of insurance, 

 as it depreciates the market price of his 

 grain. Thus, rice and kodo, gram and 

 wheat, peas and barley are cultivated at 

 the same time, and in the same field. 

 There are many other combinations, but 

 the main idea is, that dry weather will 

 suit one plant, and a rainy season the 

 second ; hence some measure of success 

 may be expected. Where irrigation 

 exists, the position of the cultivator is 

 much sounder. Continuous and heavy 

 rain, which is disastrous to cotton, 

 millets, and cold weather cereals is 

 advantageous to sugarcane and rice. 

 Without irrigation these valuable crops 

 are rarely attempted, except in low- 

 lying lands. This form of insurance is 

 very sound, and is proved by the fact, 

 that remissions are almost unknown 

 where sugar-cane and rice are cultivated 

 and irrigated. They flourish mostly in 



