TRITICUM 



VULGARE 



Burma 



THE WHEAT PLANT 



Yield. 



Burma. 

 Districts. 



Shan States. 



Southern Shan 

 States. 



Outturn. 



Milling. 



Macaroni. 



set in early, the Tear season is preferred, because the wheat is more 

 productive and it may be followed by cotton. When the rains are 

 late, the Jcain wheat is taken after kadale. The cultivation is the 

 same as for the kar crop, only the season is different. In the hain crop 

 the produce is said to be only about one-half of the kar crop (Mysore 

 Gaz., I.e.). 



Burma. The area in 1905-6 was 35,178 acres, all in Upper Burma. 

 The most important district is Sagaing, which had 24,361 acres in the year 

 in question, while smaller areas are found in Kyaukse, Minbu, Mandalay 

 and Lower Chindwin. The subject of wheat cultivation in the Southern 

 Shan States and in Burma is fully discussed by a writer in Capital (Sept. 20, 

 1906, 587-8 ; Oct. 18, 749-50), who affords much useful and practical in- 

 formation which deserves careful consideration. He there states that 

 " experimental cultivation with the object of ascertaining whether wheat 

 could be grown as a staple crop was begun as early as 1888-9, and the 

 results tend to show that this crop can be successfully grown in the Upper 

 Chindwin district, the Pyinmana Sub-division of the Yamethin district, 

 in Magwe, Maymyo and in the Chin hills. Wheat also succeeded on the 

 river silts in the Toungoo district in Lower Burma, but the outturn was in 

 every case poor." 



The efforts made by A. H. Hildebrand to establish wheat cultiva- 

 tion in the Southern Shan States have been repeatedly told in official 

 publications (Repts. Dept. Land Rec. and Agri. Burma). 



The Agricultural Statistics give the average outturn of wheat in Burma, 

 for a period of five years ending 1901-2, as 635 Ib. for the province as a 

 whole. Separate returns are shown for Mandalay, Sagaing, Minbu and 

 Kyaukse, and these range from 320 Ib. in Mandalay to 800 Ib. in Minbu. 

 It has sometimes been affirmed that Burma was to India a great granary. 

 It certainly produces an immense amount of rice, which is mainly ex- 

 ported but of course is available should India require it. That it could 

 similarly afford a large supply of wheat may very possibly be found to turn 

 more largely on the deficiency of labour supply than on defective climate 

 and soil. 



MANUFACTURES. For the minor uses of wheat straw see p. 116. 

 Very little can be recorded regarding the indigenous industries of milling 

 wheat and producing flour. Loaf -bread (p. 1109) is now produced in 

 the larger villages and towns, and in some few localities (such as around 

 Delhi) the baking of biscuits, specially designed to meet the growing de- 

 mand for imported goods of that nature, seems to be fairly successful and 

 to give promise of a great future. In other parts of India, as for example 

 the towns of Gujarat, the manufacture of macaroni is well understood 

 and fairly largely practised. The use of flour in the production of certain 

 sweetmeats has originated a demand for the commodity. In the Panjab, 

 as already mentioned, wheat becomes the staple food and is consumed in 

 the form of large cakes cooked over the open fire. All over India, there- 

 fore, the chakkiwala or grinder may be met with plying his craft, either by 

 employing women to work the ordinary hand-mill (chakki) or, where a fall 

 in the water-level can be obtained (as for example on the hills), by using 

 the water-driven flour mill. But in addition to such indigenous methods, 

 within the past twenty years or so flour mills after the most improved 

 European fashion have been established and very superior flour may now 

 be procured everywhere, and of such quality as to have checked the imports 



1100 



