DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24890#0023
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At this period the prospects of the autumn crops were
very favourable. The average area cropped at this season for
the entire Provinces is rather over 21 millions of acres.
Almost 8 per cent, of this is ordinarily irrigated and 92
per cent, unirrigated. In 1896 almost the full normal area
was sown and over 15 per cent, of it was irrigated. The area
under food crops in this season is ordinarily 82 per cent,
of the whole. In 1896 it was 81 per cent. The area of
autumn crops was deficient in some districts of the Benares
division and in the Lucknow and Gorakhpur divisions owing
to the diminished cultivation of rice. In the districts of
Jalaun and Patehpur there was also deficiency; but owing
to the favourable character of the early rains of 1896 a
larger area than usual was sown chiefly with maize and large
millet in the Meerut division, in Bundelkhand, and to a
smaller extent in parts of the Agra and Bohilkhand divisions.
Thus the prospects at the end of August were gener-
ally favourable. But from the third week of August the
rainfall became lighter, and it had practically ceased entirely
by the fourth week. At its close the totals for the month
were in serious defect in the Agra and Allahabad divisions,
which had received only about 60 and 40 per cent, of the
normal allowance. Bohilkhand and Pyzabad divisions re-
corded moderate excess, and elsewhere the fall was normal or
in slight defect.
With favourable rain in September a good outturn
might have been expected. But instead of fostering weather
in September there came the hot winds and the blazing sun of
May. Barometric conditions were established which brought
the west winds down the Gangetic plain. Over the whole
Provinces early in September the skies cleared, and under the
hot sun and the dry west wind the scanty moisture rapidly
disappeared from the soil. Hope revived when clouds appeared
and some showers fell in the eastern districts about the 18th.
But the current proved too weak, and in a few days the skies
had become clear again and the hot west wind blew as before.
Except for a few moderate showers in Mirzapur and Ballia,
September was, for all practical purposes, a rainless month.
The drought which characterized September conti-
nued into October. Throughout the month the temperature
remained abnormally high, the air unusually dry, and the winds
much stronger and more westerly than they ought to be.
The rainfall of the month was an absolute failure. A few
districts recorded a sprinkling, little more effectual than
a heavy dew. In the rest the record was a blank. The
diagrams in Chapter I bring out clearly the abnormal charac-
teristics which distinguished the monsoon of 1896—particularly
the abrupt termination of the rains at the end of August.
At this period the prospects of the autumn crops were
very favourable. The average area cropped at this season for
the entire Provinces is rather over 21 millions of acres.
Almost 8 per cent, of this is ordinarily irrigated and 92
per cent, unirrigated. In 1896 almost the full normal area
was sown and over 15 per cent, of it was irrigated. The area
under food crops in this season is ordinarily 82 per cent,
of the whole. In 1896 it was 81 per cent. The area of
autumn crops was deficient in some districts of the Benares
division and in the Lucknow and Gorakhpur divisions owing
to the diminished cultivation of rice. In the districts of
Jalaun and Patehpur there was also deficiency; but owing
to the favourable character of the early rains of 1896 a
larger area than usual was sown chiefly with maize and large
millet in the Meerut division, in Bundelkhand, and to a
smaller extent in parts of the Agra and Bohilkhand divisions.
Thus the prospects at the end of August were gener-
ally favourable. But from the third week of August the
rainfall became lighter, and it had practically ceased entirely
by the fourth week. At its close the totals for the month
were in serious defect in the Agra and Allahabad divisions,
which had received only about 60 and 40 per cent, of the
normal allowance. Bohilkhand and Pyzabad divisions re-
corded moderate excess, and elsewhere the fall was normal or
in slight defect.
With favourable rain in September a good outturn
might have been expected. But instead of fostering weather
in September there came the hot winds and the blazing sun of
May. Barometric conditions were established which brought
the west winds down the Gangetic plain. Over the whole
Provinces early in September the skies cleared, and under the
hot sun and the dry west wind the scanty moisture rapidly
disappeared from the soil. Hope revived when clouds appeared
and some showers fell in the eastern districts about the 18th.
But the current proved too weak, and in a few days the skies
had become clear again and the hot west wind blew as before.
Except for a few moderate showers in Mirzapur and Ballia,
September was, for all practical purposes, a rainless month.
The drought which characterized September conti-
nued into October. Throughout the month the temperature
remained abnormally high, the air unusually dry, and the winds
much stronger and more westerly than they ought to be.
The rainfall of the month was an absolute failure. A few
districts recorded a sprinkling, little more effectual than
a heavy dew. In the rest the record was a blank. The
diagrams in Chapter I bring out clearly the abnormal charac-
teristics which distinguished the monsoon of 1896—particularly
the abrupt termination of the rains at the end of August.