Gazetteer Of The Ferozepore District 1888-89

· 1888 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1Férozepore District.] _

2OHAP. 1.—THE DISTRICT, Yi

3The rainfall is very uncertain, the rainy season sometimes Chapter I.

4beginning in.the end of June, and sometimes being delayed until ae a

5the end of July, and the period of its termination is equally un-

6certain. Late rains are the most beneficial, ag a favourable

7sowing season for the spring crop is of more importance than the

8success of the autumn crop. Fora good spring harvest more

9rain.is necessary in the cold season, about January. The rains

10become more uncertain and partial as well as more scanty as the

11distance from the hills increases. In the Fazilka uplands there

12whs hardly any rain from 1886 to 1889. [I erozepore is proverbial

13for dust-storms, whence the proverb, Kabul ka sarda, Ftrozpur

14ka garda (“ Kaébut for sarda melons, and Ferozepore for dust’’).

15Descriptive.

16ture, and rainfall.

17© <The uplands are very scantily wooded. An enormous area

18of natural scrub-jungle was removed to clear the land for cul-

19tivation in the first fifteen or twenty years after annexation, and

20the uplands were left almost bare of trees. In the Mudki plain the

21clearance 6f the jungle has led to a great increase of sand-drifts.

22The bushes‘and grass which held the loose soil together having

23been removed and the soil having been stirred up by the plough,

24the wind has now great power over it, and it drifts into sand-ridges

25which grow neither corn nor grass. In recent years, however,

26the inundation canals in the Bet and the Sirhind Canal in the

27“Kohi ‘are encouraging the growth of trees and will-effect a

28decided improvement in the climate. The cold weather commences

29about the middle of October and-ends about the middle of March,

30but the mornings and evenings remain cool until the middle o&

31May. The latter part of May, all June, and sometimes all July,

32are extremely hot, and there are only temporary falls of tempera-

33ture until September, |

34~ No systematic thermometrical record has ever been maift-

35tained iu the district. Private observations, however, show that

36iny mber and January the ‘temperature ranges in houses

37) m 40° and 70°, whilst during June and July (with closed

38¢ ‘its range in houses not artificially cooled is from 92° to 97°.

39Sa Table No. ILI. shows, in tenths of an inch, the

40oper, | Tentha of total rainfall registered at each of the rain-

41| aninch, gauge stations in the district for each year,

42from 1883-84 to 1888-89. ‘The fall at head-

43quarters for four years is shown in the

44jecccs | li margin. The distribution of the rainfall

45teer03 | os. throughout the year is shown in Tables Nos.

46a : . IIIA. and IIIB.

47» * Owning to the dryness of its climate, Ferozepore has acquired Disease.

48the name of being exceptionally healthy, and this reputation is

49‘still deserved as regards the city and cantonments, and also as

50regards all the upland plains. But in the irrigated lands of the

51‘Bet, and also in the towns of the Zira Tahsil standing on the lower

52‘bank betweor the Bet and the sandy country, fever is terribly

53‘prevalent in the months of September, October, and November.

54dn Zira current business is often stopped, neither suitors being

55‘ble to attend the offices, nor the oflicials able to hear them,