18S JOUFXAL, BOMBAY NATTJB.AL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



II. The AciiiicuLTURAL Survey of the Wheats of India. 



The first condition for the improvement of any crop is the 

 acquisition of an intimate knov^^ledge of that crop and of its produc- 

 tion in all its manifold details. In the case of a European dealing 

 with an Indian crop and with an agricultui'e essentially different 

 from that of North Europe, the need for the closest possible studjr 

 of the local conditions cannot be over-estimated. In India the 

 present agricultural practices are firmly established on the basis of 

 long traditional experience. The wheats at present in cultivation 

 in this vast Empire represent the s^irvival of types most fitted for 

 the conditions of the various tracts. Nature has eliminated the 

 unfit, and the experience of past centuries, handed down by tradi- 

 tion has taught the cultivator what soils and what tracts are most 

 suitable for this crop. V.arieties of wheat introduced by sea from 

 other countries, have, in recent times at any rate, had no influence 

 on the crop and have not been adopted by the cultivators. As far 

 as can be ascertained no new forms have been introduced by 

 selection or hybridization as has been the case in Europe and 

 America. From two points of view, therefore, the position is of 

 particular interest. In the first place, we are dealing with an an- 

 cient agriculture, in the second, with a crop which has left almost 

 entirely to natural influences. 



The necessity of studying the kinds of wheat now grown in 

 India needs little explanation. When the crop has been thorough- 

 ly surveyed the investigator is able to see how far the present 

 wheats are suitable for local purposes and also for the export trade. 

 He will perceive where improvements can be made with the great- 

 est chance of success and in what directions his science can be 

 most profitably applied. 



Fortunately in 1906 when this work was taken up considerable 

 progress had been made in the various Provinces in collecting and 

 growing at a central station most of the mixed wheats from the 

 various Districts. In the Punjab and in the United Provinces 

 especially this collection of material proved of the greatest value to 

 us in rapidly ascertaining the kinds of wheat now grown in the 

 Plains. At the same time a laro'e collection of Indian wheats was 



