'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎14r] (32/470)

The main limiting factor of wheat-growing appears to be the capital involved,
owing to the higher prices of this grain.
An increase of more than 30 per cent, in the number of faddans under
cultivation is reported for the year 1918-19 as compared with 1917-18. The
feddans are probably individually 20 per cent, larger than last year, so that an
increase of about 50 per cent, is to be expected on the harvest 1919, as compared
with harvest 1918.
On the right bank, Diyalah, cultivators have been sowing on rain alone, pending
the opening of the new head. On the whole the weather has proved unfavourable
for this. An early rain fell, which, although beneficial in itself, unfortunately,
caused floods, which broke the ‘Awaijah Dam, and since then rains have been poor
and infrequent. As a result, much barley has been sown only to germinate and
die. The opening of the new Khalis head will, however, ensure a plentiful supply
of water in time to get the crop along, before the spring growth begins.
Government seed has been supplied again in this District, but it was undoubtedly
again too late to be of the maximum value. The cultivator cannot afford to stop
his cultivation in order to bring up seed to his land. He has in November neither
the time, the men, nor the animals. If Arabs are to purchase Government seed
in quantity, it should be available on the spot not later than September. In any
case, they would prefer to see the stuff at the time of ordering.
The Karun wheat which was brought up was, on the whole, good, but that brought
into this district was variable in quality and in no case approached the standard
of the original sample.
Pests .—Wheat and barley being under extensive cultivation are not subject
to pests to any very great extent. Crows are more than a nuisance in the sowing
season, and their activities are ably seconded by pigeons.
Rust is prevalent amongst the wheat, and this may be one of the reasons for
the popularity of barley as opposed to wheat.
A seed dressing which would at one and the same time protect the wheat from
rust and make it unpalatable to crows, would probably pay the cultivator even
under the present extensive system of cultivation.
The principal summer crops are rice, maize, juwar, cotton and millet.
Rice was usually a poor crop this season. In the first place it was almost
universally infested with dinan, an inferior, almost worthless, millet. As much
as 90 per cent, of this was found in a so-called sample of rice, and of the remaining
10 per cent, about 5 per cent, was dirt.
Many reasons are given for the presence of dinan, but the real reason is probably
that it ripens shortly before the rice and many seeds fall out on to the ground.
Here they lie dormant, until the ground is again under rice, even though one or
two years may have elapsed, and then, under certain conditions, such as shortage
of water, the millet crowds out the rice, rendering it an almost negligible part of
the crop. Only by good cultivation and the screening of the seed can this weed
be eliminated.
If, a month before the rice planting, the land were well irrigated, the dinan
would probably germinate and could be killed by a single ploughing, which would
also be beneficial to the rice crop. Failing this, in the following year the land could
be ploughed and the dinan cut before it seeded, and used as fodder. Under present
conditions, however, it will be difficult to bring the Arab to perform this (to him)
unnecessary and senseless work.
Early in the year it was noticed that much of the rice in the district had failed
to ear out properly. This was put down by the Arabs to unfavourable weather
conditions at the time of harvest.
Later on, the plant became weak and stringy at the nodes and, just before
harvest, it lodged on the ground in many cases. Samples were sent to Baghdad
and Basrah, and the disease has been temporarily associated with urfu and eelworm
disease prevalent in India. No account of remedial measures is yet to hand, but
it seems probable that no treatment, except a complete destruction of all rice straw,
and resting the land from rice over a period of years, will give satisfactory results.
Maize —Was also on the whole a poor crop. It suffered largely from a plague
of locusts earlier in the year, and the later-sown crops were, on the whole, kept short
of water. It would seem that the late-sown crops siatid a better chance of yielding
well; but, up to now, the information is not definite^ A good deal of Indian maize