LINUM 



USITATISSIMUM 

 Trade 



attained 



THE LINSEED PLANT 



Last Year's 

 Exports. 



Grown 

 almost 

 exclusively 

 for Export. 



Safety-valve. 



Prices affect 

 Production. 



United 

 Kingdom. 

 Germany. 

 France. 



Vicissitudes. 

 of Seasons. 



Iligh Value. 



Rent-paying 

 Crop. 



Local 

 Consump- 

 tion. 



Three Separate 

 Returns, 



their highest record, namely 11,182,009 cwt., valued at 

 Ks. 6,32,87,256, but sank in 1905-6 to 5,788,860 cwt., valued at 

 Ks. 4,11,55,398, and in 1906-7 still further to 4,378,826 cwt., valued 

 at Rs. 3,25,98,578. The linseed consumed in India represents only 

 about 5 per cent, of the production, hence it is not far from correct 

 when it is affirmed that the traffic as known to us to-day is entirely 

 a consequence of the British administration a gift to the agriculture 

 of India which covers an area of land, profitably utilised, of approxi- 

 mately four million acres, and gives a production of half a million tons of 

 oil-seeds, which represents a contribution to the earnings of the farmers 

 of three and a half million pounds sterling. Moreover, it is a crop 

 that may be used as a safety-valve, and be increased or decreased accord- 

 ing to the owner's advantage. In other words, land is thereby profitably 

 cultivated, in excess of ordinary food necessities, which may be thrown 

 under food crops as occasion arises. But for these very reasons, the traffic 

 is subject to the greatest possible variations. Production depends greatly 

 on local necessities of food, the prices ruling in Europe for linseed, and 

 the relative values of linseed and cotton for the time being. The Argentine 

 Republic has within recent years become India's most formidable rival. 



Out of the total exports in 1904-5, India's record year (total 11,182,009 

 cwt.), 3,885,776 cwt. were consigned to Great Britain ; 2,746,965 cwt. 

 to Germany ; 1,889,846 cwt. to France ; 1,173,647 cwt. to Holland ; and 

 673,874 cwt. to Italy. 



Linseed, like wheat, is very readily influenced by the vicissitudes of 

 bad seasons, caused either by drought or blight. But so important a 

 position has the Indian supply secured in the markets of the world, that 

 when the quantity decreases the price, as a rule, rises, thus compensating 

 the producer. But perhaps the most instructive lesson to be learned 

 from the study of the areas of production of linseed, in relation to the 

 returns of foreign exports, is the circumstance that while linseed holds 

 the third position in area, the value and quantity of the seed exported 

 from India are usually very nearly the values and quantities of all the other 

 oil-seeds taken together. And from this standpoint alone, therefore, is 

 derived a fairly tangible conception of the consumption of oils and oil- 

 seeds within India itself, and full confirmation obtained of the statement 

 already made that linseed is grown primarily for the purpose of export : 

 it is a rent-paying crop. 



Internal Trade. The returns published officially regarding the move- 

 ments of linseed by road, rail and river afford the only really definite 

 conception of production and sale that can be learned. The traffic regis- 

 tered as carried by these routes during the five years ending 1906-7 were, 

 1902-3, 5,922,967 cwt. ; 1903-4, 8,884,004 cwt. ; 1904-5, 12,051,507 cwt. ; 

 1905-6, 5,278,659 cwt. ; and 1906-7, 4,859,773 cwt. Analysing the 

 record year (1904-5), the total shown under foreign exports (disregarding 

 for the moment the traffic in the oil) came to 11,182,009 cwt., or say half 

 a million cwt. less than the deliveries registered by the railways at the port 

 towns and that surplus may, therefore, be taken as the amount used up 

 by the local mills or carried forward into next year's stock. A certain 

 discrepancy has, however, to be accepted, due to imperfections in the 

 returns and unavoidable duplications. Still, it can fairly be said that the 

 figures compiled by one department (Railways) provide the exact quantity 

 shown by another (Foreign Exports), and a third line of reasoning jm'ght 



730 



