TRITICUM SATIVUM. 



and being thus especially fit for the production of fine flour {maida), while in the wheats 

 of the latter class gluten predominates, rendering the grain especially productive of semo- 

 lina (sup). Grains of the first class break easily, with an opaque pure white fracture, 

 whilst those of the second class are difficult to break or bite, and appear more or less 

 translucent. Soft wheats are in most demand for the English market, but hard wheats 

 command a market in Mediterranean ports for the production of maccaroni, and are 

 preferred by the Natives of the country as the more wholesome for general consumption. 

 Each of these classes may be sub-divided into two sub-classes distinguished by the grain 

 being white or red, and the varieties included in each of these sub-classes may be further 

 grouped according as the ear of the plant is or is not furnished with awns or " bearded." 

 To mention some of the vernacular names which are of most general application, daudi 

 or dudia is the name of the variety which stands at the head of the list of soft white 

 wheats, and which has been pronounced by English* experts to be equal in value to the 

 finest wheats in the English market. Mmidia or murilia (lit. shaved) is the term applied 

 to beardless wheats j generally white, but not so markedly so as the daudi. Hard 

 white wheats are called badha in the western portions of the Provinces. Pissi generally 

 denotes a soft red wheat, and kathia or lallia a hard red wheat. Gangajali (a common 

 term in the Bombay market) is applied to many different varieties, and its only general 

 application appears to be mixed red and white hard wheats. A curious round berried 

 variety, which somewhat resembles pearl barley, is called paighamhari, and was apparent- 

 ly an introduction from Arabia. 



Wheat is grown to a larger extent than any other crop. The area under either 

 wheat or mixtures in which wheat has a place, amounts in the whole of the N.-W. 

 Provinces and Oudh to some 72 lakhs of acres, 5 if lakhs of which are in the 30 

 temporarily settled N.-W. Provinces Districts, constituting 46 per cent, of their total 

 cropped area, and 21 per cent, of the area under rabi crops. The cultivation of wheat 

 grown alone reaches its maximum in the Meerut and Rohilkhand Divisions, where 

 winter rains may be safely reckoned upon, and it is in these Divisions that the finest 

 varieties have their home. In the drier Districts of the Agra and Allahabad Divisions 

 and Bundelkhand wheat is rarely grown by itself, and is generally sown with either 

 barley or gram, which by their superior hardiness continue to eke out a crop in cases 

 where the wheat would fail from insufficient moisture. 



This is clearly shown in the subjoined table : — 





Meerat 

 Division. 



Rohilkhand 

 Division. 



Agra 

 Division. 



Allahabad 

 Division, 



excluding 

 Jaunpur 

 District. 



Benares Divi- 

 sion, including 

 Azatngarh, 

 Basti and 

 Gorakhpur 

 Districts only. 



Jhansi 

 Division. 



Kamann 

 Division, 

 including 

 Tarai 

 District only. 



Percentage to total 

 rabi cropped area of 

















Wheat alone, 

 Wheat in mixture, 



43-5 

 12-7 



47-8 

 14-2 



26-7 

 12-2 



9-2 

 221 



15-0 



14-9 



11-8 



60-8 



58-4 

 8-2 



Total, ... 



56-2 



620 



38 9 



31-3 



29-9 



72-6 



66 6 



* 6ee Dr. Forbes Watson'a report on wheat samples collected hy the Indian Government and forwarded to the India Office 

 in 1878. 



