Mountain and Submontane Zones.—In the Mountain Zone the fields are often very minute, consisting of narrow terraces supported by stone revetments built up the slopes of hills. That anyone should be ready to spend time and labour on such unpromising material is a sign of pressure of population on the soil, which is a marked feature of some hill tracts.
Fig. 50. A steep bit of hill cultivation, Hazára.
Below 8000 feet the great crop is maize. Potatoes have been introduced near our hill stations. The chief pulse of the mountain zone is kulath (Dolichos biflorus), eaten by the very poor. Wheat ascends to 8000 or 9000 feet, and at the higher levels is reaped in August. Barley is grown at much greater heights. Buckwheat (úgal, trúmba, dráwí), amaranth (chauláí, ganhár, sariára), and a tall chenopod (bathu) are grown in the mountain zone. Buckwheat is common on poor stony lands.
Fig. 51. Preparing rice field in the Hills.
The only comparatively flat land is on the banks above river beds, which are devoted to rice cultivation, the water being conducted to the embanked fields by an elaborate system of little canals or kuhls. This is the only irrigation in the mountains, and is much valued. The Submontane Zone has a rainfall of from 30 to 40 inches. Well irrigation is little used and the dry crops are generally secure. Wheat and maize are the great staples, but gram and charí, i.e. jowár grown for fodder, are also important. Some further information about Kashmír agriculture will be found in a later chapter. For full details about classes of cultivation and crops in all the zones Tables II, III and IV should be consulted.