Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 1).djvu/167

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
xiv]
AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
147

trumba, drdwi), amaranth {chauldi, ganhdr, saridra), and a tall chenopod (bathu) are grown in the mountain zone. Buckwheat is common on poor stony lands.

The only comparatively flat land is on the banks above river beds, which are devoted to rice cultivation, the water being conducted to the embanked fields by an elaborate system of little canals or kuhls. This is

Fig. 51. Preparing rice field in the Hills.

the only irrigation in the mountains, and is much valued. The Submontane Zone has a rainfall of from 30 to 40 inches. Well irrigation is little used and the dry crops are generally secure. Wheat and maize are the great staples, but gram and chart, i.e. jowdr grown for fodder, are also important. Some further information about Kashmir agriculture will be found in a later chapter. For