CHAPTER XIV
AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
Classification by Zones.— In order to give an intelligible account of the huge area embraced by the Panjab, N.W.F. Province, and Kashmir it is necessary to make a division of the area into zones. Classification must be on very broad lines based on differences of altitude, rainfall, and soil, leading to corresponding differences in the cultivation and the crops. For statistical purposes districts must be taken as a whole, though a more accurate classification would divide some of them between two zones.
Classes of Cultivation.— The broadest division of cultivation is into irrigated and unirrigated, the former including well (chdhi), canal {nahri), and dbi. The last term describes a small amount of land watered from tanks or jhils in the plains and a larger area in the hills irrigated by kuhls or small artificial channels, "Unirrigated" embraces cultivation dependent on rain (bdrdni) or on flooding or percolation from rivers (saildb). (See Table II.)
Harvests.— There are two harvests, the autumn or kharif, and the spring or rabl. The autumn crops are mostly sown in June and July and reaped from September to December. Cotton is often sown in March. Cane planted in March and cut in January and February is counted as a kharif crop. The spring crops are sown from the latter part of September to the end of December.
