Almonds are grown in considerable quantities in large orchards. Apricots are grown, but not very plentifully, and principally for oil. Peaches, cherries, pomegranates, and plums are also cultivated, but have not yet received much attention from the villagers. Strawberries grow abundantly in the gardens of Europeans, and gooseberries and currants also succeed. There is, indeed, scarcely a limit to what the fruit production of Kashmir might be if it received attention and care.
Of the food grains rice is the principal. With all the streams running down from the mountains ample water for the copious irrigation it requires is available. The Kashmiris are exceptionally clever in its cultivation, and they grow it up to an altitude of 7000 feet. The fields are terraced carefully to hold the irrigation, and are incessantly watered and anxiously weeded. Lawrence says that in one district alone he has found fifty-three varieties, and certain villages are famous for their peculiar rices. But they may be roughly divided into two classes, the white and the red, of which the former is the more esteemed by epicures, though the cultivators prefer the latter as it is less delicate, suffers less from changes of climate, and gives a larger out-turn. Lawrence gives the average crop of unhusked rice per acre as 17 maunds, or 1220 lbs. Large quantities of rice are exported to the Punjab.
Maize is the next most important crop. In the black peaty land lying along the Jhelum, and in the high villages where numbers of cattle graze and manure is plentiful, very fine crops are grown. As a rule it is grown on dry land, and is seldom irrigated. The stalk forms excellent fodder for cattle. The average yield in irrigated and dry swamp land is 11 maunds, or 880 lbs., and on dry land 8 maunds, or 640 lbs. per acre. As a diet maize ranks after rice, but the villagers, when money is scarce, will sell their rice and subsist on maize.
Barley is largely grown, but it is not of good quality, and no pains are taken in its cultivation.
Wheat receives better treatment, but the wheat flour of Kashmir is not esteemed. The average production on dry land is 7 maunds, or 560 lbs. per acre.
Millet is another food grain grown in Kashmir, but not very generally.
Buckwheat is cultivated in the higher villages.
Pulses are not much grown. Mung (Phaseolus Mungo) is the best, and is often sown in rice lands which require a rest. Others are raáh (Phaseolus radiatus) and mothi (Phaseolus aconitifolius). Peas and white beans are occasionally cultivated; in the gardens of European residents they give excellent results.
Oil-seeds are largely grown, and now that a company for oil-pressing is being started, still more attention is likely to be paid to them. The Kashmiris do not use ghi (clarified butter) in their food. They consequently require vegetable oils for that purpose, and as mineral oils are too expensive, they use them also for lighting. The principal oil-seed grown is the rape, of which there are three varieties. An average crop is 3 maunds, or 240 lbs. per acre. Large quantities of linseed are also produced, of which an average crop would be 1½ to 2 maunds, 120 to 160 lbs. per acre. Til (Sesamum indicum) is a very common crop. It yields 1½ maunds, or 120 lbs. per acre. Til is also extracted from the walnut and apricot. Rape seed gives the best oil for lighting purposes, and linseed for eating.
Cotton is grown to a small extent all over the valley, and both the fibre is used for home-manufactured cotton cloth, and the seed is used as food for cattle.