The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-15 00:00:00

AGRICULTURE IN TILE PFN,TAUB.

The state of agriculture, the prospects of tea
planting, of flax cultivation, and the development
of the resources of the Punjaub generally, is a sub-
ject of paramount importance.
Some years ago the Punjaub Agricultural Society
instituted a series of inquiries regarding the state
and practice of agriculture in that country. The
result of the inquiries proved that with the excep-
tion of Rawulpindee, the countries Trans Indus,
and the hill districts of Kote Kangra and Simla,
the face of the country was one uniformly level
plain, varied only by depressions several miles in
length, forming the five rivers which flow through
the plains and unite in Scinde. These low lands are
full of fine alluvial deposit, and are enriched by par-
tial inundations every year. They are tracts of
great natural fertility, and abundance of the best
water for irrigation is obtained a very few feet
from the surface. The ground between one basin
and the other of adjoining rivers is higher by
several feet, and comparatively dry and unproduc-
tive. Portions toward the south are either not cul-
tivated at all, or are barren and covered with jungle
and sandy waste, yet the soil is friable, and has for
the most part a fair admixture of loam and sand,
requiring the command of water only to fit it for
the highest cultivation. Nearing the hills, and
eastward of a line drawn from the point of junction
of the Sutlej and Beas rivers through Umritsir,
Wiizeerabad, and Jhelum, the whole surface is a`
scene of uninterrupted fertility and richness, to the
base of the lowest range nfiaills which 4110-49-
' plans of the north-east. The cultii'ated products
of the countries, though such differences exist in the
levels of the surface, are much the 'same in all.
Wheat, barley, sugar-cane, maize, and millet, are
the staples of the whole country, with some cotton,
hemp, tobacco, pulses, and vegetables of several
sorts.

We will not now allude to the modes of culti-
vation adopted by the natives ; our object is to
refer to the report of the Punjaub Government on
the improvement which has lately taken place
in the cultivation and preparation of carel.
The mutiny seriously affected some portions of the
country ; several villages were entirely destroyed,
others partially or wholly deserted, and for a time
the fields were left untilled. But matters soon re-
turned to the state they were in before the troubles.
The villagers flocked back to their residences, the
plough was at its wonted work again, and cultiva-
tion began to extend beyond its former boundaries
and to encroach on the jungles. The report states
in one district, Goozerat alone, close upon eleven
thousand acres of jungle have been brought under
the plough during the past year ; in Per gunnah
Taran Taran of the Ihnritsnr district, there has
been an increase of cultivation of upwards of five
thousand acres.

Oil seeds have lately formed an object of cultiva-
tion, particularly in the Ferozepore and Mooltan
district ; it is grown not for home trade, but for
export to Kurrachee, where the demand is appa-
rently increasing. The growth of tea at Holta,
lin the Kangra district, need only be mentioned.
Cotton seems to flourish in the sub-montane dis-
tricts, such as Umballa, Hoskearpore, Goozerat,
and Peshawur. Flax has also been introduced
and grown abundantly. Aboricniture has been
carried on with some vigour in the districts of La-
hore, Googranwalla, and Goordaspore, where an
aggregate of near 150,000 trees has been planted
by the district officers. It is gratifying to hear that
the natives are beginning to take an interest in the
cultivation of trees, several new groves of mangoe
and other useful trees having been planted by the
zemindars in the Trans and Cis Sutlej States. The
Punjaub has always been noted for the absence of
trces of large growth; this is owing to two causes,
the appropriation of saplings for purposts of build- ,
ing during the Sikh rule, and also to the devasta-
tion caused to groves and trees wherever found, by
contending armies, before the annexation of the'
country by theßritish. Efforts have for many years
been made to re-place the forest once existing, and
encouragement in rewards and titles have been
held out by the administration to all who will
plant a grove or assist in improving the irrigation
of the country. The happiest results have followed
these efforts, and the most encouraging is new re-
corded in the report, that the zemindars are lend-
ing their aid to the good cause.

`The destruction of forests is said to cause a cessa-
tion, or a very considerable diminution, in the fall
of rain in a locality. We may suppose, on the
same argument, that an increase of tree cultivation
will increase the fall of rain in a locality where
before the rain fell but seldom. The fall of rain in
the Punjaub is exceedingly small. We learn from
the report that during the past six years the greatest
annual fall was twenty-six inches in 1856, and the
smallest, eighteen inches, in 1857. It is to be
hoped that the anticipated result from the planting
of trees will be realised, by which means the
labours of the husbandman will be greatly assisted,
and his dependence on well-irrigation diminished.
The introduction of canal irrigation more generally
than was the case during the Sikh domination has
been a great assistance to the cultivator, and has
brought a vast amount of land under the plough
which had hitherto been lying fallow.—From the
North-West Gazette.