108 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VITL. 
The admixture of earth made by middlemen and merchants for the purposes 
of trade will last till the speculative dealmgs of the Bombay wheat traders 
are superseded by sales based, nob on sample for forward delivery, but on 
the quality and condition of the wheat ag it reaches the home markets. 
Even steam wheat threshing, which is being introduced, cannot under present 
conditions produce a perfectly clean sample, for particles of earth of the 
size and specific gravity of the wheat grain must remain, Still the percentage 
of such impurities is greatly reduced, say, to under one per cent., while the 
refraction allowed is 3 or 4 per cent. Steam threshing cheapens the preparation 
for the market, sets free the plough cattle from a harmful process, and gives 
the chance to the grower of a larger share of the profits, which now unneces- 
sarily goes into the pockets of middlemen.” 
In Bombay, as has been said, the wheats which are grown are not largely in 
demand in England, and there is no prospect of a largely increased area. The 
growth ef wheat is not as greatly influenced by the price as some suppose. 
Wheat is a late sown crop, and its area depends on the area of suitable land left 
available after cotton or the early cereals have been provided for. Where cotton 
is an early crop, its area is made as large as the season will allow, and in other 
places land fit for wheat is always sown with other crops when the early rainfall 
gives prospect of their success. There are not extensive areas of land now 
uncultivated fit for wheat cultivation, nor will the extension of railways in this 
Presidency have as large an effect im encouraging the growth of wheat, aided by 
brisk export demand, as some writers allege. ‘There is hope that the out-turn of 
present areas will be increased, perhaps very greatly increased, by better culti- 
vation and more liberal use of manure. But the manure must come from 
outside in the shape of artificial manure, and the improvement in cultivation 
must be first studied and then taught by experiment, without which no large 
increase in yield can be expected. 
The usual division into hard and soft white and hard and soft red applies to 
the Bombay wheats. ‘The spelt variety is classed as a hard: red. It is import- 
ant to specify clearly the areas in which each variety is successful. 
Hard white is the dry crop wheat (hansia, &c.) of all Guzerat, except certain 
parts of Ahmedabad ; and of the Deccan (wivla). It shares with hard red the 
wheat tracts of Khandesh, while in that district hard white (ans?) is also 
largely grown under canal, channel, and well irrigation. In the Deccan a very 
fine variety of hard white (Jakshz) is grown in the elevated plateau of Parner 
Taluka as a dry crop, and it is well known all over the Deccan and Bombay 
Karnatak as the best irrigated variety, though its growth is circumscribed by 
its great liability to rust; and in these provinces the result is, that spelt, which is 
