TRITICUM 



VULGARE 

 Area 



THE WHEAT PLANT 



Three Chief 

 Forms. 



Governed by 



External 



Considerations. 



Exports of 

 Greatest Value. 



Famine. 



Displaces 

 Cotton. 



Bent-paying 

 Crops, j 



Extreme 

 Fluctuations. 



Yield. 



Distribu- 

 tion. 



Panjab. 



II. Prov. 

 0. Prov. 



Bombay. 



preference to that which involves the discovery of an intermediate 

 " host." [Of. Butler, Volunteer Wheat and Rust, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 1907, 

 ii., pt. i., 99-100 ; Maxwell-Lefroy, Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind., 1907, i., No. 2.] 



AREA OF PRODUCTION. The chief wheats exported from India 

 are the Muzaffarnagar soft white (dudhi) and the Bombay and Central 

 Provinces hard white (bakshi) above indicated, but the wheats most 

 popular within India itself are those produced in the Pan jab. With the 

 vast majority of the people of India wheat is not, however, a necessity of 

 life ; it is indeed rarely if ever eaten by them. Wheat becomes an import- 

 ant article of food in the Panjab only. In India as a whole, therefore, 

 its cultivation is governed more by external than internal considerations. 

 When the markets of Europe give indications of profit, its cultivation 

 is immediately increased. But the mere fact of a definite proportion 

 of this foodstuff being produced as an article of export (far from being a 

 source of danger) is of the very greatest value to India, since, when the 

 necessity arises, exports can be stopped by increased local demand and a 

 new source of food thereby rendered available. It is not to be wondered at, 

 therefore, that exceptionally good harvests in Europe and America are 

 immediately followed by lessened cultivation in India. The effect of 

 famine on wheat exports may also be clearly demonstrated : The exports 

 for the ten years ending 1899-1900 averaged 12| million cwt. ; in 1900-1, a 

 year which followed a serious famine, the exports were only half a million 

 cwt., and two years later (1903-4) they expanded to 26 million cwt. If 

 wheat displaces any crop it would be cotton, certainly not the food-grains 

 of the people. Few cultivators are likely to be found so ignorant as to 

 grow the millets on the rich lands on which alone wheat and cotton can be 

 successfully produced. The best lands have always been devoted to rent- 

 paying crops, that is to say, to export crops such as oil-seeds, wheat and 

 cotton and only during times of famine would these lands be thrown 

 under the millets and other necessitous food crops. 



From these and such like considerations it may readily be understood 

 that the area in India (British and Native States) normally under wheat 

 manifests extreme fluctuations. Thus in 1891-2 it was 27,032,772 acres 

 with a production of 6,093,741 tons of wheat ; in 1893-4 it stood at 

 28,716,735 acres with 7,268,982 tons ; in 1895-6 it had fallen to 24,071,320 

 acres with a production of 5,380,342 tons. Then it rose in 1898-9, and in 

 the very next year, 1899-1900, fell to 18,687,782 acres with 5,357,142 tons. 

 For the three succeeding years it fluctuated around 23 million acres, 

 and in 1903-4 suddenly expanded to 28,413,743 acres with 9,641,145 tons ; 

 and in 1905-6 stood at 26,226,200 acres with a production of 8,560,340 

 tons. The Final Memorandum for 1906-7 estimates the area at 29,444,200 

 acres, but the yield at only 8,508,040 tons. 



The provincial distribution of these acreages may now be discussed. 

 The PANJAB (including the North-West Frontier Province) heads the list 

 with its lowest area (in recent years), namely 6,223,600 acres in 1891-2, 

 and its highest record, 10,184,200 acres in 1906-7, with a production of 

 3,588,100 tons. During the past six years it has shown an average of over 

 8| million acres under the crop, and has manifested on the whole a steady 

 expansion. Then follow the UNITED PROVINCES, which normally fluctuate 

 between 6 and 1\ million acres. The CENTRAL PROVINCES stand next in 

 order, with a normal area of from 2 to 3 million acres and Berar adding 

 about half a million more. Then comes Bombay with from \\ to 2 million 



1092 



