4 



TRITICUM SATIVUM. 



if buried deeply. But the two commonest methods of sowing are (I), by simply follow- 

 ing the plough and dropping the seed into the furrow made by it, the seed being covered 

 by the earth thrown up by the next furrow, and (2), by dropping the seed down a bamboo 

 fastened to the plough stilt. It is said that the advantage of each practice varies with 

 the condition of the soil, the former being best when the soil is very moist, and the latter 

 when the soil has somewhat dried. But as a matter of fact the practices are strictly 

 localized to tracts within which either one or the other is exclusively followed. The 

 amount of seed used per acre varies from 100 to 140 lbs. After the sowing is complet- 

 ed the field is either left in furrow, or is smoothed with the clod crusher, the latter 

 practice being said to save irrigation by enabling the water to spread quicker over the 

 surface. The field is then divided off into irrigation beds by scraping up little banks of 

 earth with a wooden shovel. 

 Irrigation. If the soil is sufficiently moist in October to allow of the seeds germinating pro- 



perly, the necessity of irrigation depends in chief measure on the occurrence of winter 

 rains. This is shown in the following table, in which the normal winter rainfall of 

 each Division is contrasted with the percentage which irrigated wheat (grown alone) 

 bears to the total : — 





Meerul 

 Division. 



Rohilkhand 

 Division. 



Agra 

 Division. 



Allahabad 



Division, 



excluding 



Jaunpur 



District. 



Benares 

 Division, 

 including 

 Basti and 

 Gorakhpur 

 Districts 

 only. 



Jhansi 

 Division. 



Enmann 

 Division, 

 including 

 Tarai 

 District 

 only. 



Normal rainfall between November 

 let and May Slst,* 



5-56 



473 



2-55 



2-26 



3-55 



206 



6-53 



Percentage of irrigated wheat to 

 total, 



53-1 



20-1 



74-3 



63-7 



71-0 



27-4 



32-7 



The high percentage of the Meerut Division is due to unusual facilities for irrigation 

 from canals. The percentage of the Allahabad Division would have been far higher did 

 it not include the two Bundelkhand Districts of Banda and Hamirpur, where irrigation 

 is rendered needless, as well as impossible, by the character of the soil. 



Should the soil be too dry for germination, a watering (called paleo) must be given 

 before sowing, and this — a comparatively easy matter in Canal Districts — occasions great 

 labour and delay in Districts which rely on wells for their water supply. The instance 

 of Rae Bareli in the rabi season of 1879-80 shows, however, that nearly the whole of 

 the usual crop area of a District can be sown entirely on well water, should the natural 

 moisture be insufficient as it was in that year. The number of waterings given to 

 wheat varies from one in Eohilkhand to seven or eight in the drier parts of the Doab, 

 but as a rule three or four waterings are ample even in the driest localities, and when more 

 water than this is used, it is probably merely a cover for bad cultivation, a state of things 

 common enough in Canal Districts, where water is charged for by the crop and not by the 

 amount used. Careful cultivators some times give their fields a weeding after the first 



* Calculated from the normal rainfall at each District head-qnarters in the Divisions. 



