two streams only command small areas. The Lower Swat Canal was
begun in 1876, but the tribesmen were hostile and the diggers had to
sleep in fortified enclosures. The work was not opened till 1885. A reef
in the river has made it possible to dispense with a permanent weir. The
country is not an ideal one for irrigation, being much cut up by
ravines. But a large area has been brought under command, and the
irrigation has more than once exceeded 170,000 acres. In 1911-12 it was
157,650 acres, and the interest earned was 9-3/4 p.c. The Upper Swat
Canal, which was opened in April 1914, was a more ambitious project,
involving the tunnelling at the Malakand of 11,000 feet of solid rock.
The commanded area is nearly 450,000 acres, including 40,000 beyond our
administrative frontier. The estimated cost is Rs. 18,240,000 or over
L1,200,000 and the annual irrigation expected is 381,562 acres.

[Illustration:

{ Kabul River Canal.
Areas commanded by { L. Swat Canal.
{ U. Swat Canal.

Fig. 47. Map of Canals of Peshawar district.]

CHAPTER XIV

AGRICULTURE AND CROPS

~Classification by Zones.~--In order to give an intelligible account of
the huge area embraced by the Panjab, N.W.F. Province, and Kashmir it is
necessary to make a division of the area into zones. Classification must
be on very broad lines based on differences of altitude, rainfall, and
soil, leading to corresponding differences in the cultivation and the
crops. For statistical purposes districts must be taken as a whole,
though a more accurate classification would divide some of them between
two zones.

~Classes of Cultivation.~--The broadest division of cultivation is into
irrigated and unirrigated, the former including well (_chahi_), canal
(_nahri_), and _abi_. The last term describes a small amount of land
watered from tanks or _jhils_ in the plains and a larger area in the
hills irrigated by _kuhls_ or small artificial channels. "Unirrigated"
embraces cultivation dependent on rain (_barani_) or on flooding or
percolation from rivers (_sailab_). (See Table II.)

~Harvests.~--There are two harvests, the autumn or _kharif_, and the
spring or _rabi_. The autumn crops are mostly sown in June and July and
reaped from September to December. Cotton is often sown in March. Cane
planted in March and cut in January and February is counted as a
_kharif_ crop. The spring crops are sown from the latter part of
Septem