'Seistan. Irrigation report of the Perso-Afghan Arbitration Commission, 1902-1905. Volume I. Report and appendices. Simla: Government of India Foreign Department, 1906' [‎72v] (149/500)

58
[Chap. X.
t , -nfjtnfie for the science having never raised crops
immemorial, and have a natural p ^ r i ver ; in this respect Seistan is just
except from irrigation with w probable that the duty in Seistan will be
like Egypt. It is, therefore ™“ e it t a " n P th e Punjab, if ever the administrations of
higher in the spring crop t a pa ; ns t o the expansion of cultivation,
the country devote thc requ's P , at the Band-i-Seistan which
We are, moreover cons,denng Ae duty on W] distrlbutaries tQ
is adjacent to ’at Warmal, Adimi, Takht-i-Shah or Kala-
extreme ends o the cubivated t ac a m . ]es 1q . whereas the dufa
Kang beyond D Nad V^' ,a [® ""/aken on the supply at the head of large canal
quoted for the Punjab c ^ o[ deep and dlfficu ,t canal [rom the
neare^areatc^be irrigated while the distributing canals are often a hundred
mile VheTude's^on the five large Punjab perennial canals on the supply enter,
in, the head of the canal for the three years ending .900-0. were as follows-.-
s Acres a
Western Jamna Canal
Bari Doab Canal ..i
Sirhind „
Chenab ,>
Swat River »
Average
cusec.
.. 128
.. 158
•« 15 ^
132
... 184
... 151
Again on the Western Jamna, Bdri Dodb, Sirhind and Chenab Canals from 1899.
Voooto 100.-02 the mean spring crop duty was .S3 acres a cusec (w*
Punjab triennial report for this period). While m the Chief Engineer s Report
on the project for the Upper Jhelnm, Upper Chenab, and Lower Ban Doab Canals
the duty at the distributary heads for a new canal like the Lowerf Chenab is
stated to be 208 acres per cusec, and for an old canal like the Upper* Ban
Doab it is 234 acres a cusec.
Under these circumstances, if suitable works are constructed in Seistan
and placed under skilled and impartial control, it may be expected that the duty
on the supply at the Band-i-Seistan will not fall short of 175 acres per cusec
in the spring crop season ; and in fact in time it^ should rise above the duty
of 234 acres per cusec obtained on the Upper Bari Doab.
The duty in the autumn crop season will not be so good as that in North.
ern India in the same season. The hot
Tha autumn crop duty. weather in Seistan is cloudless and dry; a
high wind blows throughout the hottest months and causes great loss of water
by evaporating the moisture, as much from the soil and the plants, as it does
from the surface of the water. Whereas in the Punjab the supply is eked out
by timely falls of rain, and the winds are only of moderate velocity. The great
effect of this hot dry wind is seen on the supply in the River Helmand which
increases in volume as soon as the wind abates ; this only occurs when the weather
becomes cool early in September, then periods of calm set in. The volume deliver
ed by the river is diminished in the same way in every distributary and water*
course. So this duty must of necessity be poorer than that which obtains on the
canals in Northern India.
As the volume to mature the autumn crop is, on the average of years, less
than the volume available for early sowings of spring crop, and since the duty
of water in the hot season is so much less than it is in the autumn, it will not be
economical, or wise to spread the water towards the end of the hot season over
a wide area, but the moderate supply should be concentrated on a selected
small area to get the best results. Since the river is in flood in early spring
it will always be possible to give floodings to all lands under command to sow
* See notes on Irrigation Works in the Punjab prepared for the Commission on Famine Protective
Works.
t 1 he branches of this canal have been working for various periods from 5 to 12 years.
X This canal has been working about 50 years.