'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎158v] (321/610)

282
Wheat and
Barley.
Productive
Districts.
Mode of
cultivation
and Yield.
landowners and merchants. The good harvests of 1919 and
1920 have, however, reduced prices, and if the harvests
continue to be good and the country is not overwhelmed by
any political cataclysm, conditions should become more
normal and a general decrease in the cost of living may
ensue.
A list of prices of foodstuffs at some of the principal towns in
this area during the spring and summer of 1920 is given on
p. 306.
In amplification of this summary, a more detailed descrip
tion of some of the principal products and the' method of their
cultivation is given below.
Wheat and barley are the staple products of all the high
lands and of the Persian plateau section, and they are grown
up to an elevation of nearly 10,000' in some patches of summer
cultivation (mazra’eh) belonging to villages in the valleys below.
The principal districts in this area which grows large quan
tities of wheat and barley for export surplus to their own needs
are in order of importance:—
1 Khar, Waramln, and 3 Shahriyar, 3 Sauj Buiagh (supply
Tehran).
Khamseh (supplies Gilan).
Rahmand-Zahrah, South of Kazvin (supplies Kazvin and
sends surplus to Tehran).
Kujur (supplies the surrounding districts, i.e. the rice pro
ducing Caspian lowlands and the mountain valleys of
Nur, Laura, Talaghan, and Alamut, which cannot feed
their population).
Kalardasht.
Do Hazar (a valley tributary to th^ Seh Hazar of Tuna-
kabun).
Dailiman (supplies the East of Gilan).
The crops are divided into ‘ unirrigated ’ (daimi) and ‘ irri
gated’ (abl). In ‘ yailaq ’ districts of undulating country
with a fair rainfall, the ‘ unirrigated ’ crops are more extensive, *
1 Khar is watered by the HablehrM and is very rich soil.
* Varamin is watered by the Jajarud. Its supply is less reliable than the
Hablehrud. „ . , _ ' ,
* Shahriyar and Sauj Buiagh are watered by the Kara] and Kharrud and
1 Qanats.’ The soil is more stony and inferior to Khar and Varamin.