WHEAT CULTURE IN INDIA. 



577 



price caused by the transportation for long distances. This lias now been 

 changed by the construction of long lines of railway. Prices for differ- 

 ent parts of India are somewhat equalized, and foreign markets now 

 govern the local prices. To show the difference in transportation, a 

 two-bullock cart will carry thirty mauuds, 2,400 pounds, or 40 bush- 

 els, 12 miles in one day for 1 rupee, or 40 cents, which is 1 cent a bushel 

 for 12 miles, or a bushel 1 mile for one-twelfth of a cent. At this rate 

 carting wheat from Cawnpoor by bullock cart to Calcutta, a distance of 

 dS4 miles, would cost 57 cents a bushel. The freight per ton by rail 

 the same distance is $5.70, or 15.43 cents a bushel. This gives a differ- 

 ence of 41.57 cents on each bushel, the value of the railway to the 

 whciit shipper at Cawni)()or. Wheat shipped by rail from Cawnpoor to 

 Bombay, via Sabarmuti, a distance of 1,004 miles, costs 22.1G cents a 

 bushel; when shipped from Cawnpoor via Jubbulpoor, a distance of 904 

 miles, the rate is 28.91 cents a bushel, proving in this case that the 

 longest way round is the nearest way home. 



PRICES OF WHEAT. 



The prices of wheat during the second week of May, 1885, were, per 

 bushel : 



At— 



White. 



Bed. 



Saharanpur 



Meerut 



Agra 



Maradab.id.... 

 Shahjehanpoor 



Lucknow 



Cawnpoor , 



In May, 1884, the price of wheat in Cawnpoor was 68 cents per bushel. 

 In May, 1885, it was 44 cents. The price in May, 1885, in Calcutta was 

 73 cents, and in Bombay 78 cents. In English money the price in Cal- 

 cutta was 21.88 shillings per quarter of 492 pounds, and in Bombay 24.57 

 shillings. Sea freights and other charges from Calcutta to London were 

 9.09 shillings per quarter, from Bombay 7.27 shillings per quarter, so 

 that a quarter of wheat from these provinces landed in Loudon from 

 Calcutta cost 31.57 shillings, and from Bombay 31.85 shillings. The 

 price of India wheat in London on May 16, 1885, was 34.5 shillings, 

 thus giving a good margin to both the Calcutta and Bombay shippers. 

 The following prices are for an imperial quarter, 492 pounds, during a 

 series of years : 



37 AO- 



-'85 



