'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎178] (187/568)

178 AGRICULTURE AND LAND TENURE
(а) In the south : in the marsh-lands of the lower Euphrates,
especially in the neighbourhood of Suq esh-Shuyukh, and on the
lands watered from the Tigris and its distributaries near and below
Amara.
(б) In the west: in the lower and moister parts of the country
along the Hindiyeh and Hilla branches of the Euphrates. On the
Shatt el-Hindiyeh a recent drop in the water-levels has caused
the conversion of large areas of rice-land into wheat and barley
fields. On the Shatt el-Hilla rice is grown along the Dighareh canal
and about the Khor el-Afej.
In Arabistan rice is grown in the Fellahlyeh and Hawlzeh districts
and in the Dizful plain.
In the plains of upper Mesopotamia there is rice-cultivation in
districts at the fpot of the hills where streams from the highlands
provide an abundant water-supply, as at Nisibin. Rice is raised also
in some upland plains and valleys where the drainage from the
surrounding hills collects.
In Irak rice is generally sown broadcast on the silt deposited by
the falling floods. Some at least of the rice-growing tribes of southern
Irak do not use ploughs and therefore have been dependent on the
lavish inundation of their fields by water heavily laden with silt. In
southern Irak, on the lands watered from the lower Tigris, there
are three kinds of rice, differing according to the method of cultiva
tion. These are (i) Mrfi : this is early broadcast rice, sown in May
on the higher middle ground levels below the wheat and barley, and
ripening at the end of August; (ii) athli : this is late broadcast rice,
sown in June on the lower middle lands below Mrfi and ripening
about the middle of October; it needs watering until September at
least; (iii) shittal : this is accounted the best rice for eating; it is
raised almost entirely from immature plants of the Mrfi and atlili
transplanted with the falling of the floods to lower levels which have
been covered with some depth of water for upwards of three months;
it does not mature until November. In western Irak there is a red
rice which is sown at the end of February and reaped in July, while
a white rice is sown in May and June and reaped towards the end of
September. SMttal is little grown in the Hilla region. '
The size of the rice crop in Irak is much subject to fluctuations,
owing to its dependence on the height of the river-levels during the
flood season, which vary from year to year. Heavy crops of rice are
harvested, but the quality is as a rule coarse. 1 Rice straw, called buh,
is used as fodder for cattle.
1 According to one authority the rice that is put on to the Baghdad market
includes four principal kinds— nakkazeh and 'amharhu, the best varieties, of which