Department of Agriculture Bombay Bulletin No. 128 of 1926. Cotton Cultivation in Sind

Further extension of cotton cultivation must be limited till after the more assured supply of water becomes available with the construction of the Sukkur Barrage canals because the present canals in Sind depend upon the state of the river and as the latter is never steady the late flow of the canals and consequently late sowings may expose cotton to the risk of damage by frost in the cold weather [...] Sowing the seed broadcast is the feature of the prevailing system but in Hyderabad District cotton cultivation is more advanced than in the recently colonized tract of the Jamrao and the areas commanded by Dad Nasrat canals in the Nawabshah District. [...] Except in the more recently constructed high level canals like the Jamrao and Mithrao canals in East Sind which are less dependent on the immediate variations in the level of the river the level of water in these canals is never steady but varies immediately with the variations in the level of the river Indus. [...] According to the level of the canal and of the land irrigation is either by flow directly on to the land by flow during part of the season aided by lift during the remainder or entirely by lift where the land is high. [...] The average area irrigated in twelve hours in case of the first watering is ten gunthas by the nar and seven gunthas by the hurla whereas in the case of second watering the area covered in twelve hours is respectively twenty gunthas by the nar and twelve gunthas by the hurla.