'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎159v] (323/610)

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Quality.
In Kalardasht and other districts in the highlands of the
Caspian provinces water is utilized for irrigation if required but
the rainfall is often sufficient.
In the impoverished strips of land in the Elburz valleys the
yield seldom, if ever, exceeds, and frequently is less than, five
fold.
*Ploughing is done by oxen with primitive little ploughs and
steep hillsides are often ploughed with great labour. It is
usually only done once in autumn before sowing, but land left
fallow sometimes receives a preliminary ploughing in spring.
Wheat must be sown in the autumn, barley can also be sown
in the spring, but autumn sowing is better. For “ unirrigated ”
crops one or two falls of rain are required in autumn, before the
frost, to cause the seed to sprout, and several falls in the spring
to prevent the blades becoming parched by the hot sun.
Irrigated drops require one or two waterings in autumn and
usually three in the spring, the first called “ khaki,” to soften
the soil, the second “ gulab ” to make the ears sprout, the third
“ dahnab ” to make them swell, and sometimes also a fourth,
the amount of artificial irrigation required depending of course
on the amount of the rainfall.
The crops are harvested from June to August according to
the elevation, when they are cut with small hand sickles, and
after a few days carried to the threshing floor (khurman), and
trodden out by oxen to separate the grain from the straw, which
is stored as “ bhusa ” for fodder during the winter.
Villages in the Caspian lowlands fetch their requirements
of wheat and barley from the hills, and the Mazandaranis also
imported them from the Turkomans. The Turkoman supplies *
* Oxen usually plough from morning to noon, when they go to graze. In
‘qlshiaq ’ districts, e.g. round the town of Saveh, seed is sown thickly in order to
produce a thick crop and protect the roots from the sun. In ‘yailaq ’ districts on
the other hand seed is sown thinly to give free access to sun and air. The richer
the soil the shallower is the ploughing. Apart from the sowing, the depth of
ploughing, and the flat or hilly nature of the land, other factors of course are the
quality of the oxen and the will of the worker. The amount of seed which can be
sown in the area ploughed in a season by one pair of oxen accordingly varies
very greatly in different districts, from a minimum of 1 to 2 kharvars to a maxi
mum of 8 to 10. In the Kazvin Area the amount of seed sown is i Tabrfzis (13
or.) of millet or 2 Tabrfzis (13 lbs.) of wheat or 21 Tabrfzls (16 1 lb?.) of barlev
per 250 square zars (approximately metres) or 300 square zars if the soil is
sandv (rfgzar).
“ Bazr ” or “ Tukhm Afshan ” is the term applied to the area ^pwn with a
particular quantity of seed.
The extent of land cultivated each year by a village is expressed by its seed
capacity in number of kharvars (e.g. “ Chand kharvar bazr,” or “ tukhm,”
'• afshan darad ” ?) or, less commonly, in terms of the number of yoke of
ploughing oxen (Chand joft gav darad ?).