518 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



every 25,000 people, while this country has a mile for less than 500 in- 

 habitants. The careless cleaning of the grain and the mixing of the 

 different kinds, diverse in quality, has also tended to keep the price too 

 low for active supply for exportation. 



It is now proposed to increase India railway facilities, and the home 

 government is asked to assist in the extension. Mr. YV. W. Hunter, of 

 the viceroy's legislative council, laid before a committee of the British 

 Parliament, in June last, a plan for building 7,328 miles, of which 3,896 

 are deemed indispensable for providing relief in case of threatened 

 famine, while the remaining 3,432 are held to be desirable it* individ- 

 uals are willing to build with the aid of a proffered right of way and 

 land for stations. Five years are allowed for the completion of the 3,896 

 miles, at a cost of £28,250,000, requiring an expenditure of over five 

 and a half millions sterling per annum. 



Mr. Hunter also stated before the committee, that as a result of a 

 series of expeiiments and investigations in India, wheat could be 

 produced, with hired labor under good supervision, at about 12$. a 

 quarter, or Is. 6d. (about 36 J cents) per imperial bushel. The imperial 

 bushel is very slightly larger than our Winchester bushel. He declared 

 that wheat had certainly been sold at profit at 16s. to 18s. per quarter 

 (48§ to 54 J cents per bushel). 



LAND AREAS OF INDIA. 



The following tables on the areas of the different presidencies and 

 provinces of British India, with the area of cultivated, culturable, and 

 unculturable land, and the area under the principal crops, are taken 

 from the fifteenth number of the Statistical Abstract for British India, 

 an official publication for which these tables, with others on Indian 

 agriculture, were condensed from the administration reports and land- 

 revenue returns of the different Indian governments and administra- 

 tions. The tables are prefaced by a statement that the information 

 they contain is far from complete. In the year to which they relate — 

 the official year 1878-'79— the total area under British administration 

 in India was about 004,000 square miles, while the native states com- 

 prised an area of 575,000, making a total of 1,479,000 square miles. 

 The sum of the areas given in the column on the areas of the different 

 presidencies and provinces in the table immediately below is 670,536 

 square miles, or a little less than three-fourths of the area of British 

 India, and considerably less than one-half of the whole country. The 

 portions of British India which are omitted include Bengal, comprising 

 156,000 square miles, for which no information of the kind given below 

 is collected. In the case of Bombay, the Northwestern Provinces, and 

 Oudh, the figures in the column headed " Area unculturable w embrace 

 a considerable amount of land which should more properly have ap- 

 peared under the head of " Cultivated area." The reason given for 

 their being thus misplaced is that, being wholly or partially free from 

 assessment to land revenue, no information was received as to their cul- 

 tivation, notwithstanding the fact that in large part they were really 

 cultivated. With these explanations the first of the tables referred to 

 is presented : 



