This study has been
divided into four principal parts. In the first part the physical
background has been described. The chapter on structure and relief
purports to give only an outline in the context of which the other
physical and cultural factors may be considered. Detailed descriptions
of areas studied closely in the field or from large-scale maps
has been given under agricultural regions. The account of climate,
hydrography, vegetation and soil similarly treats only of essentials
in relation to agriculture and its problems. The factor of variabil¬
ity of rainfall in Barbary has been given.special attention and
some correlations have been established, i.e. between autumn rainfall
and the total area sown and between spring rainfall and the yields.The second part treats of the cultural background. In this
section, two aspects have been studied in special detail. European
colonization in Barbary and its impact on the native cultivators
of Barbary has been discussed in relation to its history and development. The modes of life and settlement in Barbary have been described
regionally after a detailed examination of physical, cultural and
economic factors.In the third part a number of outstanding agricultural
problems have been examined in considerable detail with special
reference to recent developments. The account of irrigation
embraces the traditional and modern systems, their influence on
crops and on the cultivators. Settlement of newly irrigated regions
has also been examined in some detail. For Barbary the problem
has been documented by studies in the field. Thereafter, water¬
logging and saline soils, soil erosion and dry-farming are treated
rather generally mainly on the basis of documentary material.
Attention has however been drawn to the most pressing problems to
be faced today and the types of solutions that have been attempted.The final part includes first an account of land-use and
agricultural methods.followed by a brief description of the product¬
ion and distribution of principal crops. Then, in the chapters on
agricultural regions, all the factors described earlier have been
integrated. Most of the micro-geographical studies made in the
field and from 1:50,000 maps are incorporated into these chapters.
The division of Barbary into agricultural regions and their
detailed description with the help of sample regional and farm
studies thus constitutes the principal result of this study.A brief account of present attempts towards modernisation
is followed by the Conclusion in which several constructive
suggestions have been made in relation to the population problem
and the low standard of living.Throughout the study, the emphasis has been placed on
Barbary which was the region studied in the field and on which
a large proportion of documentary research war carried out.
West Punjab stands, as it were, in the background. A fuller
understanding of the agricultural landscape and of the problems
of agriculture which has followed the study of Barbary may
later lead on to an attempt at a closer survey of West Punjab
on the basis of field work