INDIA. 530 INDIA. chiefly in the cnstcrn portion of ^[illl^as, where they vary in size, necording to the supply of •water and the irrifjable area whieh they eoni- inand. In many instances they are dry diiriufj; a part of the year, and crops are sometimes raised in them. This tank system is also carried on liy private enterprise. But since India has • been in the hands of the British the jrreatcst l)io<;ress in irri};ation has been accomplished through the extension of the canal system. This method also was vised in ancient times, but some of the more important systems had fallen into disuse when the British took posses- sion. Their construction requires heavy outlays of capital, and presupposes a stable form of pov- cmment. The numerous legal complications which rise out of such an undertaking, and tho relation of the Government to the land, together for their great length and capacity. Many of them are remarkable feats of engineering, owing to the dillieulties surmounted in their construc- tion, such as the crossing of other streams. Among the most famous of these are the (Janges Canal (q.v.). the Bnri Doab Canal, which waters a large district to the northeast of Lahore, and the Western 'hinina Canal, generally considered the oldest in India, which waters the region lje- tween the Sutlcj and .hnniia rivers, tributaries, respectively, of the Indus and (langes rivers. The following table sliows the area in the dilTerent provinces irrigated during the vears 18991900, the relative importance of the iHlfer- ent sources of irrigation, and the jiroportion of irrigated land to the total crop area. It will be seen that the Punjab is the most, and Assam the least, dependent upon irrigation: Area is Acres Under Irrigation N 1899-1900 Total area under crops Area irrigated By canals 1 By tanks By wells Other sources Total area irrigated Govern- ment Private Benical United Provinces of Agra Oudh 65,708,800 7.14.177 754 577 30,189,651 11,413,508 20,738.687 6,665.639 1.981,373 5.692 1.215.683 4.478.507 976 .394 1 fi-is 17K 553.,59.'> 80.453 134.0K3 3.434 102.587 14,079 lib 8.234.850
- » 700 025
Punjab 4.243,.524 310 823.729 1..325 307.198 810 20,049 4.154.598 9.37.-).983 5.0G9 3,419,703 252,161 17,043.937 5,321,818 129.864 176,187 7,228 7.211 64,188 43,776 799.021 255.204 391,844 202,541 51 120 Coorg
1 .'170 1 370 27.785.796l 2.648.160 26.289 145,608 72 i,832.527| 1.129.804 146.986 188.563 107 5.783.706 Hoinbay and Sindh 27.975,223 6,787.318 6,868 2,452.262 30,443 698.794 66,838 324 3.515.670 67,017 Pargana Manpur 324 Total 223,654,333 12,333,737 1.310,723 4,388,375 12.287,218 1,224,003 31.544,056 with the necessity of constructing certain sys- tems having no remunerative financial value, have all led the British Government to take the system almost wholly in its own hands. The execution of this method requires a fairly level area. The methods used for the application var}' in different localities. In the JIadras Deltas, dams arc constructed across the rivers at their entrance to the Delta region, and since their beds are almost on a level with the surface of the land, water is easily diverted into artiticial channels. They yield their main supply during the annual flood period, and the region deiiendent upon them is therefore limited to one crop. In the Lower Punjab and Sindh the channel of the Indus River lies so far l>eIow the surface of the riparian coiuitry that its waters cannot easily be diverted by dams. Through the high banks deep cuts are made, and 'inundation canals' are constructed, which convey the wal^-r of the river during the (lood period. By this means the land is watered suHiciently to produce one crop a year. The valleys of the Upper Ganges and I'pper Indus are also too deep and broad to admit of damming, nor would the inundation system of the Lower Indus answer the purpose. Some of the crops commonly raised, and which require irrigation, grow in tho-e seasons during which the rivers are at their lowest. For their irriga- tion, canals are dug so as to strike the rivers where they emerge from the mountains. The cliannels conduct the water along the water-shed of the plains, finally reuniting with the main streams. Some of these canals are notable both Crops. In 1899-1900 the area actually cropped was ISO, 150,454 acres, and the current fallow 57,IC5,9(iO acres. The estimated area of the cultivable waste for the same year was 10(i,- 404.704 acres, besides which there were 1,'J5,- 500,014 acres not available for culture, and U5,84.'i,924 acres under forest. The crop statistics for the year mentioned are given in the table on the next page. The kind of crops growTi is determined largely by the amount of the water-supply. In regions where the rainfall is excessive, or an alniiidani supply is readily obtainable, rice is almost the only crop. It is therefore conlined largely to the Deltaic regions, and especially to the Ben- gal Delta. Here the annual overflow of the rivers makes irrigation easy. From the table below will be s<>en the great importance of rice in Bengal, Lower Burma, and Assam. The <on- sumption of rice is not nearly so universal in India as is popularly supposed. It is not the cheapest food, and in many regions only the wealthy classes can afford it. while even in Ben- gal there are great numbers of the lowest cla-sses who use but little. Sir William Hunter estimates that it is the staple food of less than one-third the total population of India. The main crop is reaped in the early winter — Xovendicr to .Tanu- arv — but in Bengal there is also a summer crop. Throughout the dry, non - irrigated portions of India millet is the commonest food crop, and is the largest item in the food of the lower classes over the greater part of the country, being most used in the southern districts. Practically the
