26 



SORGHUM VULGARE. 



Dibtributlon. The area under juar is larger than that under any other kharif crop with the excep- 



tion of rice, and amounts to nearly 36,93,000 acres, 31 1 lakhs acres of which are in 

 the 30 temporarily settled N.-W. Provinces Districts, forming 13 per cent, of their total 

 cropped area, and 25 per cent, of the area under kharif crops. 



It is, however, almost entirely confined to the Districts of Eohilkhand, the Doab 

 and Bundelkhand, and comparatively rare in the east of Oudh and in the Districts of 

 the Benares Division, where its place is taken by rice. This is shown by the subjoined 

 figures : — 





Meerut 

 Division. 



Rohilkhand 

 Division. 



Agra 

 Division. 



Allahabad 

 Division, 

 excluding 

 Jaunpur 

 District. 



Benares 

 Division, 

 including 

 Azamgarh, 

 Gorakhpur 

 and Basti 

 Districts 

 only. 



Jhansi 

 Division. 



Tarai 

 District. 



Percentage of area 

 under jnar-arhar 

 and chari in the 30 

 feniporarili/ settled 

 N,- W. Provinces 

 Districts. 

















To total kharif 

 cropped area,... 



29-24 



10-73 



37-95 



40-67 



0-52 



42-27 



1-50 



To total cropped 

 area, 



14-26 



5-65 



20-74 



22-14 



0-25 



28-85. 



1-01 



Seasons. Juar is a kharif crop, being sown at the commencement of the rains and cut during 



November. When grown for fodder and irrigation is available, it is often sown in the 

 hot weather, before the commencement of the rains, that it may be got off the ground 

 as soon as possible, since it is generally followed by a crop in the succeeding rabi ; this 

 rarely if ever happens with juar when grown for its grain. No particular rotation ap- 

 pears to be followed, but it frequently alternates with rice on clay or loamy soils not 

 subject to flooding. 



Mixtures. It is comparatively rarely sown alone, being, as a rule, mixed with several other 



crops, of which arhar {JJajanus indicus) is the chief. The oilseed called til or gingelly 

 {Sessamim indicmn) and the low growing pulses mioig, urd or mash {Phaseolus mungo and 

 radiatus) and lobia or raiods {Vigna caiiang) form an undergrowth in most juar fields, 

 yielding but a small return if the juar prospers and overshadows them, but occasionally 

 forming the principal part of the crop if the juar suffers from failure of rain, which it 

 feels more keenly than its deeper rooted associates. 



Soils and manuring. Loamy or clayey soils are preferred, where possible, and perhaps the best crops of 



juar in the Provinces are borne by the heavy black soil of Bundelkhand. So far indeed 

 as soil is concerned juar in the kharif answers to wheat in the rabi, the place of barley 

 and its mixtitres being taken by the bulrush millet {bajra — PeniciUaria spicata). Manure 

 is but rarely given, unless the crop be grown for fodder, when it is generally succeeded 

 by a rabi crop, and the land requires therefore artificial stimulation. 



The number of ploughings varies from one to four ; land which has borne a crop 

 in the preceding rabi not being held to requii-e so much tillage as land which has lain 

 fallow since the end of the kharif preceding (Bareilly). Clods are usually broken before 

 sowing by the use of the log clod crusher. 



