524 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



depends in chief measure on the occurrence of winter rains. * * * Should the 

 Boil be too dry for germination, a watering must be given before sowing, and this — a 

 comparatively easy matter in canal districts — occasions great labor and delay in dis- 

 tricts which rely on wells for their water supply. [An instance is mentioned in 

 which nearly the whole of the usual crop of a district was sown on well water.] The 

 number of waterings given to wheat varies from one in Rohilkhand, to seven or 

 eight in the drier parts of the Doab, but as a rule three or four waterings are ample 

 even in the driest localities. 



The crop when ripe is cut by sickles and carried to the thrashing floor, where, after 

 having been allowed to dry lor several days, it is trodden out by bullocks and win- 

 nowed by the simple expedient of exposing the grain and chaff to the wind by pour- 

 ing them out of a basket held some 5 feet from the ground. Should there be no 

 wind, an artificial breeze is made by agitating a cloth, but this adds greatly to the 

 expense and trouble. 



COST OF GROWING WHEAT. 



Mr. Fuller gives "a near estimate of the cost of growing and bar- 

 vesting an acre of wheat," as follows: 



Appraising the whole of the labor applied to the field the following may be ac- 

 cepted as a near estimate of the cost of growing and harvesting an acre of wheat : 



Items. 



Plowing (eight times) 



Clod-crushing (four times) 



Seed (100 pounds) 



Sowing .' 



Weeding 



Reaping 



Thrashing on a crop of 20 maunds, equal to 27 bushels* 



Cleaning on a crop of 20 maunds, equal to 27 bushels* 



Total, excluding irrigation, manure, and rent 



Irrigating (three times) : 



Making Avater beds 3 



Canal dues 1 8 



Labor 3 12 



Manure (100 maunds) 



Rent (for second-class land) , 



Grand total .'. 



Rupees. 



Annas. 



10 



United States 

 money. 



31 



* Reckoning the maund at 82.2855 pounds avoirdupois and the bushel at 60 pounds, 20 maunds is a littlo 

 more than 27.4 bushels. This is considerably more than the average product even for irrigated land in 

 the Northwest Provinces, but the figures as to cost are apparently based upon a rather superior grade 

 of cultivation from which a superior crop might fairly be expected. 



tTwo pairs of bullocks (at 3 annas, or 7.3 cents a pair) and two coolies (at 2 annas, or a fraction less 

 than 5 cents each) tread out nearly 340 pounds of grain in a day. 



This makes a cost of about 45 cents per bushel for the wheat pro- 

 duced, which is much above the average yield even of irrigated land.. 



An official document estimates the cost of growing wheat on manured 

 and irrigated land at a little under a shilling per bushel, or inclusive 

 of rent, Is. 6d., or 36 J cents. This includes seed and thrashing. Another 

 official report makes the following average prices [reducing measures 

 of quantity and value] : 



Time. 



First quarter . . 

 Second quarter 

 Third quarter. . 

 Fourth quarter 

 Whole year 



Cents. 



Cents. 



GO. 2 



57.5 



01.4 



G3.3 



62.7 



62. 4 



56.0 



61.5 



60.0 



61.2 



