1904. J 



Indian Wheat Crop. 



209 



of the great plains of America. These wheats the De- 

 partment of Agriculture distributed to growers in suitable 

 localities, and the production of macaroni wheat has since in- 

 creased with remarkable rapidity, the estimated crop of the 

 two Dakotas alone in 1903 being 10J million bushels. This 

 description of wheat thrives in abundant sunshine, resists smut 

 and rust, and is a strong grower, yielding largely in excess of 

 the ordinary bread wheats, which often produce indifferent crops 

 in the semi-arid regions of the North. It is used primarily in 

 the manufacture of macaroni, vermicelli, and other edible pastes,, 

 and also for blending with low-grade flour. 



The final general memorandum on the wheat crop of India 



for the season 1903-4 shows that the area harvested was 



27,773,000 acres compared with 23,092,000 

 Indian . . . , . , . . 



Wheat Crop acr es in 1902-3, the estimated yield being 



9,387,500 tons against 7,766,100 tons last 

 year. This season, it is stated, has been exceptionally favourable 

 for wheat, and the good crop of last year has been exceeded by 

 20 per cent, in area, and 21 per cent, in yield; yet, with an 

 addition of more than 4J million acres, the harvested area is 

 still below the level of the early nineties, that is, before 1895-6,, 

 when began the series of bad seasons that so sorely afflicted the 

 central and western regions of India. But in the principal 

 wheat-growing tracts of Northern India, where the crop is most 

 prolific, and from which the supplies for export are so largely 

 drawn, the area is the largest on record, the excess over the 

 highest other year being 975,000 acres in the United Provinces, 

 and 360,000 acres in the Panjab, where cultivation has extended 

 on the Chenab and Jhelum Canals. In the United Provinces 

 the season was not quite so good, and in Bengal about the same 

 as last year ; but in the Punjab and in^the North- West Frontier 

 the copious rain in March was highly beneficial, and an ex- 

 ceptionally good harvest resulted. 



