A History of Agriculture in India v1.c10.s3.2

v1.c10.s3.2

The Upper Gangetic Plains. These plains include Rajasthan to the east of the Aravalli Hills, Bundelkhand, Malwa in Madhya Pradesh, and the Jhansi Division of western Uttar Pradesh. The indigenous vegetation of this subregion is that of a dry country. The trees in the dry season are leafless for the most part and the grasses and herbs get desiccated and burnt up in the hot season. The principal forest is that of Ajmer, flanking the Aravallis and other hills which bound the subregion on the west. The average rainfall is 635 millimetres. At the close of winter, temperature rises rapidly during March, and humidity goes down. High temperature shooting up to 45.6°C in the shade, and desiccating hot westerly winds from the rocky Aravalli Hills and the sandy deserts of Rajasthan, often accompanied with dust-storms in May and June, have produced a typical desert vegetation of xerophytes, with adaptations to guard against dry conditions and with devices to conserve moisture. The commonest trees are the leafless *Capparis decidua*, *Salvadora oleoides*, with tough leathery leaves, *Acacia nilotica* (*A. arabica*), *Prosopis cineraria* (*P. spicigera*), *Balanites aegyptiaca*, *Diospyros cordifolia*, *Ficus rumphii* and several species of *Tamarix*, with reduced scaly leaves. The wastelands between the villages are more or less barren, with only occasional patches of *Ziziphus nummularia* and *Salvadora persica*. Other trees more or less restricted to western India are *Moringa oleifera*, *Acacia senegal* and *Prosopis cineraria* (*P. spicigera*) accompanied with the common trees of the drier parts of India, especially *Butea monosperma*. Considerable [Figure: Fig. 12. A dry deciduous forest containing Boswellia serrata and Acacia catechu in Madhya Pradesh (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute)]