Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/492

 — FYZ

414

From this latter well one local bigha can be watered in a day, or cutit. about 10 acres in six weeks, and a fresh irrigation is required at the end of every six weeks therefore such a well will water only ten acres, and the interest on its cost, Es. 65, at 15 per cent., will be almost Rs. 10 per annum, One rule, therefore, may be laid down, that from Re. 1 or Re. 1 per acre. to Rs. 2-8-0 per acre must be added to the cost of irrigation for the interest upon- the cost of construction, allowing interest at 15 per cent., and calculating the cost of wells to vary from Rs. 100 to 250, as the depth of the water-level beneath the surface varies from 10 to 25 feet, and the length of the shaft from 15 to 40 feet.

As a rule, in this district, opium is watered seven times tobacco, seven; wbeat, three barley, peas, masiir, once sugarcane, ten times. Wheat will require a double well for every 12 acres; ppium, tobacco, for every five; peas, mastir, for every fifteen.

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The first cost of the well, it will be remembered, depends on the length of the shaft, whicb must be sunk 5 or 10 feet below the water-level in order to get a copious supply ; the current cost of the labour will depend upon the distance of the water-level from the surface, because the farther The following table it is off the less ground will be watered in a day. gives an approximate estimate of the cost of irrigating an acre once

Distance of water from surface

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