CEREALS 71 



some common term in which to express all food-grains, 

 and we must include those pulses, etc., which are used 

 to supplement the grain diet. Since the exportable 

 surplus is that which under a given set of conditions can 

 be spared from the food supply of the Indian people, 

 the term selected must be one that expresses the relation 

 of the products to the people, or, in other words, the 

 food values of the several grains and pulses. These food 

 values are known. In these food-grains the importance 

 of the nitrogen is so predominant that, for our purpose, 

 we sufficiently measure the food value of any one of 

 them if we measure its nitrogen content and ignore the 

 carbohydrates and the fats. 



In other words, we sufficiently represent the total food 

 value of a given crop if we show what is the aggregate 

 nitrogen content of that crop. This we can do in respect 

 of each of the foods in question; and it follows that we 

 can estimate the total food value of all such foods taken 

 together. This I found in 1908 to be about 6,105,000 

 metric tons of nitrogen. A similar calculation as regards 

 that portion of the food-grains which is retained for 

 consumption in India appears to give a figure of about 

 4,830,000 metric tons of nitrogen. 



We can further say approximately what is the daily 

 nitrogen requirement of the average native of India. On 

 this physiological side of my subject I am indebted to 

 Dr. McCay, of the Indian Medical Service and Professor 

 of Physiology in the Medical College, Calcutta. The 

 sum of his information is this and we cannot pause to 

 discuss Professor Hindhede's criticisms that with a 

 population composed of men, women, and children in 

 the proportions found at the last census of India, the 

 nitrogen requirements of the people would, upon the 

 total of all India, including native States, be 5,024,000 

 metric tons. It is interesting to find that there is some 

 approximation between this figure and that of 4,830,000 

 metric tons which I mentioned above as representing 

 the total nitrogen content of that quantity of food-grains 

 which is usually retained in this country for internal 

 consumption. The difference is about 4 per cent., and 

 this may well be accounted for by pulses and other 



