Page 70 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

Classes of Crops
The crops were divided into four classes: in the first were placed cane and
the different garden crops; in the second, wheat, indigo, cotton and rice; in
the third, the inferior food crops such as barley, bajra, jowar and grams; in
the fourth, fodders and such indifferent food crops as sanwank and samuka.
The general assessment was Rs. 4 an acre on Class I, Rs. 2 on Class II, Rs. I
on Class III and 8 annas on Class IV, but was varied according to the different
circumstances of the circles, and in some circles from estate to estate. In
exceptional circumstances, sanction was obtained for a reclassification of
crops, e.g., in the villages near Multan town, where fodders were mostly
grown for sale; these were placed in the third class, which in the circle paid
as much as Rs. 1-12-0 an acre. In Alipur, there were some magnificent
estates where the silt had been deposited by the Chenab, and where almost
unlimited manure was obtained from the town; three miles away was a strip
of arid sand which was once a bed of Indus. The crop classification based on
methods of cultivation was the same in both areas, but it was found
impossible to frame rates which could suit both sets of estates, and
throughout Alipur the rates imposed vary greatly. Generally, however,
throughout one circle, though the yield of one well would be much better
than that of its neighbour for the same variety of crop, all that could be
predicted was that the quality of the outturn was an accident over which the
cultivator had no control, and flat rates were imposed on the whole circle. A
great advantage of this system was that it could act as kind of barometer to
record changes in canal supply, and any continuing change on any system
used to come to the notice of the responsible authorities very quickly; a great
disadvantage was that attempts would certainly be made to get the patwaris
to record superior crops as inferior. The system by which the Thal was
assessed at last settlement was excellently suited to its peculiar conditions,
and the only change made was to increase the assessment.
Circles under Fixed Assessment
The Settlement Officer was anxious to assess the Kot Addu Pacca and Nahri
Thal by crop rates; his reasons were that the double cropping was the result
of an uncontrolled canal supply. He saw indications that, if the supply
continued as he found it, water logging would spread and cultivation would
again change. His proposal did not commend itself to the higher authorities.
The revenue payers, on the other hand, rightly feared that the imposition of
crop rates on their double cropping would cause a very large increase in their
existing assessment. They failed to understand that their assessment was in
any case to be increased, and that a fixed assessment, if wrong, was in the
long run more onerous than crop rates. In the Tehsil Muzaffargarh also he
would have preferred assessment by crop rates mainly because of the great
deterioration which he found in many of the estates irrigated from the
Chenab system. The owners were, however, unwilling to change the system;
their chief reason being that they thought their condition could not get worse,
and would improve largely after they were given controlled irrigation. The

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