Delhi. 



Representative. 



Safeguard 



against 



Famine. 



Exports. 



TRITICUM 



VULQARB THE WHEAT PLANT 



Trade 



it sold at 1902, 7-37 seers ; 1903, 8-12 seers ; 1904, 8-31 seers ; and 

 1905, 8-33 seers. Wheat in Bombay during the term of years mentioned 

 has manifested much more violent fluctuations than in Calcutta. Thus 

 in 1895 it sold at 13-18 seers, and in 1897 at 6-66 seers. In Delhi, wheat 

 is naturally very much cheaper than in either Calcutta or Bombay ; and 

 its record years were, for cheapness 1885, 22 '5 seers, and for dearness 

 1897, 9*91 seers to the rupee, while during the last four years ending 

 1905 the prices were 1902, 15-14 seers; 1903, 15-26 seers; 1904, 15'0 

 seers ; and 1905, 12-95 seers. The price in Delhi is representative of 

 all towns within the wheat-producing areas, such as Lahore, Lucknow, 

 Cawnpore, Kaipur, Patna, etc. A careful scrutiny of the returns of 

 the wheat production and trade for India gives no sort of justification for 

 the opinion that the exports to foreign countries are raising the price of 

 wheat to the people of India, while on the contrary the annually increasing 

 surplus has even now assumed the position of a valuable safeguard against 

 famine. 



PRODUCTION AND EXPORT TRADE OF WHEAT. The wheat 

 exports of one year are very nearly entirely drawn from the area of pro- 

 duction of the year previous. Similarly it is often the case that the area 

 of production in the British provinces is spoken of as that from which 

 the foreign exports are drawn, thus neglecting the Native States, which 

 undoubtedly contribute considerably to the amounts shown as exported. 

 A mean average yield per acre for all India would be a perfectly misleading 

 figure, since the range between irrigated manured land and dry land without 

 manure (without taking into consideration the difference in yield between 

 pure and mixed crops) would be perhaps three of the former to one of the 

 latter. But accepting the official returns as they stand, we obtain an 

 average for the ten years ending 1905-6 of 24,299,149 acres, with a yield 

 of 7,170,551 tons (or 143,411,020 cwt.) of grain, while the actual figures 

 for 1905-6 were 26,226,200 acres and a yield of 8,560,340 tons (or 

 171,200,000 cwt.). The decennial average is perhaps the safer figure to 

 employ in all comparisons, since it is considerably below the actuals for 

 the past few years and errs on the side of under- rather than over-stating 

 production. It would, however, serve no useful purpose to strike averages 

 for the exports from India, since these are open to none of the errors 

 mentioned. The following abstract table exhibits the exports from India 

 for the years 1902-7, and contrasts these with the chief items of wheat 

 imports into Great^Britain : 



Exports from India to Foreign Countries. 



Mean Yield. 



Decennial 

 Average. 



Exports from 

 .India. 



1102 



