WlUiAT CULTUILE IK INDIA. 



579 



])OTt Of wheat from India he has ruined himself in the process. 2sothin^ 

 isclearer than that wheat cauuot be growuat a piolit iu the United States 

 if the selling price is less than 33s. the quarter iu the London market. 

 With the present rates for wheat in Europe, the American farmer is sim- 

 ply ruined, and the American papers have shown conclusively that the 

 .Western farmers are getting less for their wheat at the place ot' pro 

 ductioa than it had cost them to grow it. * • * Another year ot 

 equally low prices would shut up thousands of farms in the far West, and 

 already it is reported that the area under wheat this year in the States is 

 15 per cent, less than in 1SS3 and 18Si. The American farmer is obliged 

 to force his wheat on the European market, as he must convert his prod- 

 uce into cash, and there is comparatively no internal demand iniiis own 

 country for it. * * * The Indian producer grows a variety of crops 

 and can sell the most profitable produce and store the rest. When 

 wheat prices fall, he buries his wheat and takes his sugar or his barley 

 to market. Again, there is a great internal demand for wheat in India, 

 and this is capable of great expansion whenever wheat is cheai). Thou- 

 sands of persons in every district will eat wheat in preference to barley 

 or bajra (a kind of millet) whenever it falls below 20 seers a rupee, 

 (which is 1 cent a pound). As it rises above this rate the internal 

 consumption contracts. * » * The producer is getting lower prices 

 than he probably expected, but he is not being ruined like his American 

 rival, and he is getting a better price at the place of production than 

 the latter. If Indian wheat prices were regulated as American wheat 

 prices are, solely by the English market, and if Indian wheat had to be 

 sent to Europe for sale at any price, we should then witness ruinously 

 low prices in the up-country markets." 



YAEIETIES OF WHEAT. 



There are a number of varieties of wheat in India, but they may gen- 

 erally be classed iu the markets as of four kinds, white or red, hard or 

 soft, and this classification is recognized in the European markets. 

 The soft white wheat, which commands the highest price in Europe, is 

 grown extensively In Northern India, Eajputana, and Gujurat, The 

 soft red comes next in value and is grown in the Central Provinces. 

 Formerly the hard wheats were preferred by the natives, but the 

 Euroi)ean demand for soft wheat has so influenced the price as to have 

 changed the taste of the natives. 



The principal foods are wheat or barley, millet, and rice, which are 

 estimated as follows : 



Province. 



Percentage, food- 

 growing area. 



Pnnjal) 



Noitbwest Provinces 



IVujral and Assam 



Ciiitral Provinces 



Korar .... 



Bombay 



Madras... 



Mysore ..., 



Total. 



Total pop- 

 nlation. 



i Population 

 eaiinir rirc. 



20, 000, 000 



42, 000, 000 



66, 000, 000 



8, 000, 000 



2, 000, 000 



17,000,000 



31, 000, 000 



5, 000, 000 



1,000, ii(iy 

 4, 000, 00' • 

 46, OUU, OUO 

 3, 000, (iOu 



2. 000. cbo 

 10, OOO, GOO 

 1, 000, 000 



191, 000, 000 



67, OOC, OOO 



