64 CEREALS 



towing astern of them. But, as mud banks often change 

 greatly in size and form from year to year, one may 

 congratulate the local statistician on the comparative 

 rarity of posers of this particular kind. 



There are large tracts where the food of the people 

 may almost be said to consist of " rice with variations." 

 In the north there are others where wheat predominates, 

 and where rice is scarcely more familiar than in European 

 households. Elsewhere the staple food of the poorer 

 classes may be millets of various kinds ; and in Himalayan 

 tracts one sees food crops not recognized in the plains. 

 Throughout the country considerable reliance is placed 

 on pulses as a supplement to the inadequate proteins of 

 the cereals proper, but these pulses do not fall within the 

 scope of this paper. 



I refrain from quoting a number of bare statistics 

 relating to the area and out-turn of Indian food-grains. 

 It is practically impossible to memorize figures so large 

 as to convey to the mind no visual image or conception. 

 When one discusses crop areas in India, one speaks in 

 figures in which an error of a million acres one way or 

 another might not be noticed, so I will try to make 

 them intelligible by correlating' them with a set of 

 dimensions that are known to most of my hearers. 



In certain of the principal food-grains, like rice and 

 wheat, there is a large export trade. India exports 

 about one-sixteenth of her rice and one-eighth of her 

 wheat. This trade is mainly in the hands of European 

 merchants, though it is served by legions of Indians as 

 cultivators, labourers, carriers, middlemen, brokers, and 

 bag merchants. Successive crop reports, provincial and 

 " Imperial," are published during the growth and garner- 

 ing of these crops. The provincial reports are known as 

 the provincial forecasts; and an Imperial report, though 

 commonly spoken of as a forecast, is officially designated 

 a " General Memorandum " upon such and such a crop. 

 It is an important part of the functions of these forecasts 

 that they should inform the Government and the public 

 regarding the general material welfare of the country; 

 but the fact that they relate only to those crops in which 

 a large export trade is done suggests that this con- 



